Latvia’s new president, Edgars Rinkevics, addressed the participants of the closing ceremony of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga on 9 July 2023, LSM reports. Speaking to the “wise, capable, and tenacious Latvian people,” Rinkevics noted that the festival has allowed people from all across Latvia to reaffirm each generation’s loyalty to their roots and love for Latvia. “The song affirms the path of our nation, our Latvian identity, our belonging, our awakening and statehood; with song we have achieved freedom, with song we have gone to war, and with song we have won victory,” Rinkevics stated.