Žemyna Trinkūnaitė

Žemyna Trinkūnaitė got the first taste of Lithuanian folk music in the house of her parents, well-known enthusiasts of Lithuanian folk music. Later she learned to play kanklės (Lithuanian traditional zither-type instrument) at the Balys Dvarionas Music School. Having joined folk bands (VISI, the folk band of the Vilnius Academy of Arts and Kūlgrinda), she sung, played kanklės, and began to create compositions for this instrument. Her first CD “Devynstygės kanklės – 17 kompozicijų” (“Nine-string Kanklės – Seventeen Compositions”) released in 2013 found its way to the top 11 of the most surprising music albums of Lithuania. The second CD “Devynstygės kanklės – 21 kompozicija” (“Nine-string Kanklės – Twenty One Composition”) was released in 2016, and the third, “Devynstygės kanklės – 19 kompozicijų” (“Nine-string Kanklės – Nineteen Compositions”) in 2019. In 2021, two digital albums were released: "Dainos ir aranžuotės" ("Songs and Arrangements") – an album of arrangements of her original songs and compositions (recorded together with Donatas Bielkauskas, Jorigė Jurgutytė, Niels Bakx and Artūras Sinkevičius), and "Upės" ("Rivers") – an album of traditional kanklės music (together with Vėtra Trinkūnaitė). Žemyna has given concerts in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, United States of America, Sweden, Russia, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan. Although her compositions are original, they are based on the motives and harmonies of Lithuanian folk music. Trinkūnaitė does not notate her compositions and performs them from memory, thus every time they sound differently.