The band was founded in 1989 by Jonas Trinkūnas and his wife Inija Trinkūnienė who also were the leaders of the modern Pagan movement Romuva. The band has from the start functioned as the musical expression of this movement. Some of the recorded material has functioned as "musical scriptures" for the Romuva members and the band has regularly participated as an integral part of the movement's events.[2] On the website of Romuva, Kūlgrinda is described as a "ritual folklore group".[3]
The band owes its name to kūlgrinda – a secret Samogitian underwater causeway. Kūlgrinda's music typically consists of straightforward folk music performances with little studio enhancement and a focus on the vocal performances. It has specialised on sutartinės, a traditional form of polyphonic song-chant where several vocalists perform interlocking melodies that through rhythmic repetition create a pattern of musical expression. The musicologist Daiva Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė has compared this technique to the weaving of a multicoloured cloth.[2]
^ abcMichael F. Strmiska. 2012. "Paganism-Inspired Folk Music, Folk Music-Inspired Paganism and New Cultural Fusions in Lithuania and Latvia". Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production. ISBN978-90-04-22187-1. pp. 361-364
