Viļakas ethnographic group "Abrenīte" has a vocalist who performs folk songs.

She was born in 1931 in Viļakas ("Keši") to a huge family. Tekla and her sisters began singing in the church chorus as children. All of the sisters went to sing psalms to their neighbors with their mother, Maria Bratushkina, who was also a brilliant singer, and they sang at wayside crosses in May nights. Tekla participated in Viļakas' Catholic youth club as a theatrical performer and then as a prompter. Brother Mateusz Bratushkin studied at the conservatory, but everything was interrupted by the war and Siberia.

Tekla's involvement in the folklore ensemble started in 1985, when pupils at Viļakas High School, guided by teacher Lúcia Bondares, got interested in their grandparents' traditional music. Her grandson used a tape recorder to capture Annele Bondares singing wedding songs. Tekla obeyed and said, "I can sing like that too." Several wives of "Ilziņu" gathered, including Mihalīna Šaicāne, Anna Dubkeviča, Stefania Brokāne, Helena Medne, and Tekla, to ensure their statements were not hollow. He began singing songs that he had acquired from his grandparents and mother. Later, additional spouses joined us, and so the ethnographic ensemble of thirteen singers was formed. Meetings with folklore collectors and scholars, as well as the transcription of traditional songs, followed. Latvia's first surprise was the participation of singers from the settlement of Ilziņi on October 31, 1986 in Kr. on Baron's Day.

Tekla Šaicāne makes knitted and crocheted gloves and socks. Following the inaugural folklore festival, "Baltica" began crocheting little, tiny red and white souvenir mittens to distribute to guests. The bread was likewise prepared at home.


Tekla Šaicāne died in 2024 and is buried in Viļakas Catholic Cemetery.