Zobens un Lemess (ZL) is an independent alternative culture festival organised by a small group of metal music enthusiasts, creating its own multi-layered world. It is a place where sound, knowledge, and time spent outdoors meet and interact. ZL brings together contemporary extreme music, living history, and Baltic cultural roots — as a lived experience.

It is a space where metal and folk music coexist, black T-shirts and light linen garments share the same ground, rest stands alongside storytelling and lectures. Each person arrives with their own “self”.

Those who feel at home here are the ones who shape the ZL world — musicians, reenactors, craftsmen, artists, researchers, volunteers, and visitors. Each with their own role, each with their own presence.

ZL deliberately distances itself from the superficiality of carnival-style festivals and the excesses of consumer culture. It is a festival for those who love music and are open to exploring history and the cultural roots of Latvia. The essence of ZL lies in its people, and the festival’s open atmosphere is defined by mutual respect and a shared understanding that this is a common space — one in which everyone participates and, in their own way, takes responsibility.

EXTREME MUSIC

Extreme — or heavy — music forms the foundation of ZL. It defines the festival’s energy, atmosphere, and attitude.

The programme embraces a wide range of extreme music styles — from black metal, death metal, and doom metal to folk metal. ZL has always placed particular emphasis on folk metal and pagan metal as a natural continuation of Baltic cultural sensibility.

Alongside extreme music, folk music and its motifs are also present in the ZL world. A reminder of roots, rhythm, and a way of perceiving the world that has shaped us and continues to resonate today.

ZL does not chase big names. It seeks authenticity, dedication, and a sound with its own distinct identity.

“We do not strive for very big names if that would force the festival into compromise and a commercial path — that would mean entering a system, raising ticket prices, and losing our atmosphere. ZL is about strong heavy music and an authentic environment. That is why we seek out and highlight names from the underground scene — among them are musical originals with real creative power. Metal fans appreciate the festival’s atmosphere, the dedication of its participants, authenticity, and an independent path in music.”
— Festival organiser

LIVING HISTORY

Living history at ZL is not an illustration, decoration, or thematic backdrop. It is a practiced experience — a direct engagement with material culture, skills, daily activities, and people who do not merely represent this field of knowledge but actively attempt to approach it through practice. It is hands-on work and, in a sense, also experimentation — exploring how people actually lived in specific times and conditions.

Since the very first festival in 2015, living history has been the second main pillar of ZL, alongside extreme music.

The Ancient Village brings together historical reenactment clubs from Latvia, Lithuania, as well as Estonia and Finland. Their areas of specialisation span a broad time frame — from the Late Iron Age to everyday life in the early Middle Ages.

ZL’s approach to living history is not about staged events or entertaining “returns to the past”. It creates a space where visitors can expand their perspective through direct experience: conversations, shared activities, household objects, clothing, weapons, materials, and practices. Everyone is invited to participate, ask questions, observe, and engage.

The Ancient Village embodies a pagan worldview and a relationship with nature, with mythology and folklore present as a living cultural foundation. Baltic roots here are not a stylised motif. Living history is meant to be experienced — step into the Ancient Village, ask, engage, take part.

ENVIRONMENT

The environment at ZL is more than just a location. It is part of the experience itself.

The festival adapts to the landscape, respects the site, and encourages responsible coexistence. Care for the place and shared life in an open, friendly atmosphere within a heavy music context are not imposed rules — they are collective choices. Losing yourself in the whirl of the crowd by the stage is as natural as placing a cigarette butt in a mobile ashtray instead of throwing it on the ground.

ZL was the first festival in Latvia to introduce deposit cups. Mobile ashtrays have long been part of the festival culture as well. “For a clean Latvia” — small choices create an environment where we ourselves want to be.

HISTORY AND PATH

Before the beginning, there were beginnings. Two Latvian festivals left lasting marks on the country’s alternative music scene: Baltijas Saule (which featured a heavy music programme in several years) and the metal festival Metalshow (2006–2010, 2017).

Zobens un Lemess began in 2015 in Lone, by Lake Sauka in Selonia — a rural Latvian landscape that became an unforgettable starting point. Three festivals were held there between 2015 and 2017.

Since 2018, a new era unfolded in Zemgale — at the Bauska hillfort park, which served as ZL’s home until 2025. The park is currently undergoing reconstruction, but ZL remains faithful to Zemgale. In 2026, the festival takes place in Vecumnieki — a location that welcomes ZL with openness and courage at this stage of its journey.

The path continues. Locations change, the core remains.
Extreme music, living history, and people — in one space, at one time.

Invitation

Zobens un Lemess is a place for those who know why they come.
Those who listen.
Those who participate.
Those who understand that culture exists only where presence is real.