text: 1873–1940: Origins, independent Latvia The tradition of song festivals originated in the first half of the 19th century in many European countries and later was also organized by the Baltic Germans. The first steps taken in the Latvian environment was during the Song days in Dikļi in 1864, which led to the resounding of a full-scale song festival in Riga during the summer of 1873. 1,003 singers and 30 orchestra players participated in the first festival. Only once has the festival been held outside Riga, in Jelgava in 1895.
  After a pause during World War I and the subsequent Latvian War of Independence, the first edition of the festival in independent Latvia was held in 1926 every five years (with an exception for the 1933 edition, which was brought forward three years to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Song Festival).
  1940–1985: In occupied Latvia and exile
  After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 and World War II, festivals were continued in the Latvian SSR, which were heavily influenced by Soviet ideology and used to praise the occupation regime, with the festival being held every 5 years on important anniversaries of the nation's forced accession as a Union Republic; while the festival was held in 1973 to mark its centennial anniversary, and in 1977 to mark the diamond jubilee of the October Revolution, both events connected to the centennial commemorations of The First Latvian National Awakening.