Riga piano

[fredhoupt]

Just bought an apartment sized Riga upright.  Very inexpensive.  I cannot find out any info on the brand.  It is a low end product and will do me just fine until I can leap up to a Yahama product at some later point in my life.  Anyone know much about who makes this piano and any stories about them would be fun to read. 

[rocklandpiano]

Lira produces 600 to 700 pianos a year, compared with the more than 7,000 uprights and grands it annually assembled from domestic parts during Soviet times. Its bright new showroom in northern Moscow displays a sampling of its instruments, including a model named after Tchaikovsky, a $2,000 instrument advertised as an "economy" piano for the middle class.

But the bulk of pianos for sale in Russia are better-known imports, which piano experts say typically have better sound and are of higher quality. Those instruments are bought by serious musicians and well-to-do Russians who consider a piano a desirable adornment to a spacious living room.

[fredhoupt]

What is the connection between Lira and Riga pianos?