"If you were to ask a Lithuanian about his country's traditional culture, you would most likely hear about Lithuanian songs and love of singing. Only a few decades ago, most women of Dzûkija (Southern Lithuania) still knew a hundred songs; the most accomplished singers remembered as many as four hundred. There is a saying that people sang more than they spoke." -- Rytis Ambraezevièius

The "sutartines" indigenous Lithuanian folk song tradition has influenced numerous composers and their works. This unique music, its patterns and its performance practice, is important for understanding certain Lithuanian choral music in the same way that understanding Finno-Baltic runic song helps one interpret the music of Estonian composer Veljo Tormis. In the simplest "sutartines" form, two women sing concurrent melodies, the resultant counterpoint being characterized by dissonant seconds. More complicated versions of sutartines are also described below.