Like many millions around the world, Jānis Čakars was horrified by the events of February 24, 2022. On that day, Russia began an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine that not only shocked, but also changed the world. A terrifying reality began to set in – if Russia was willing to brutally invade one former Soviet republic, then other former Soviet republics (Moldova, Georgia, the Baltic States), perhaps even former Soviet satellite states like Poland and Bulgaria, would likely be next.

Čakars, a professor of communication and digital media at Neumann University, is of Latvian descent, and, having taught Latvian history for ten years at the Philadelphia Latvian School, was well aware of the horrors of Soviet occupation. Like many, feelings of helplessness grew as the grim events unfolded, but Čakars quickly realized that there was still something he could do to help.

When not teaching, Čakars is also a musician, and has played guitar in multiple punk and hardcore bands in Philadelphia for decades. He has played with groups like Citizens Arrest and Grey C.E.L.L., among others. Čakars is also no stranger to activism – he, along with bandmate Derik Moore, compiled a Black Lives Matter inspired collection called 19 Notes on a Broken System in 2020. In a few short days, using his existing contacts in the music scene as well as reaching out to Ukrainian artists, Čakars helped compile Band Together: A Benefit for Ukraine – an album that contains songs by both American and Ukrainian performers. All proceeds from the album go to the charity Razom.

Though many of the songs on the album are in a punk or hardcore style, Band Together has an eclectic assortment of bands, with many styles represented, like folk, post-punk, metal, and others. Ukrainian artists on the record include Morwan, Kat, Pušča, Terrorscum, Sasha Boole, Death Pill, and The Raw. Many well-known American bands participated as well, including punk singer-songwriter Ted Leo, who provided the new song ‘The Clearing of the Land’ (inspired by the invasion), as well as groups like noise rock stalwarts Unsane, Brooklyn-based The World/Inferno Friendship Society, and many representatives of the Philadelphia scene, like Erin Incoherent, FRIGHT, and Cross Control. Čakars’ own bands Grey C.E.L.L. and Citizens Arrest also feature on the compilation. Though some of the songs were written long before recent events, some of the songs are eerily prescient, like the World Inferno song with its lyric ‘We got our dignity, we fought for that’ (bringing to mind the Ukrainian ‘Revolution of Dignity’), as well as Citizens Arrest’s song about nuclear war.

It was fortunate that Čakars could get recordings from some of the Ukrainian artists in time – events being so fast moving in Ukraine, many of the groups’ members have been displaced and some have enlisted in the effort to defend their homeland. Members of Death Pill, the first all-female punk band in Ukraine, were forced to flee, while Kat, from Kharkiv, are enduring relentless, indiscriminate bombing, Sasha Boole is serving in the army, and members of Pušča have been helping the effort by weaving camouflage nets.

Čakars is also planning a cassette release of the album in the near future, with possible releases on vinyl and CD as well. As there has been a lot of interest in this project, there may also be a possibility of a Volume 2, with artists from additional areas, like the Baltic States. Concerts featuring some of the American groups on Band Together are also planned, initially in the Philadelphia area, but potentially elsewhere. There has been a lot of interest in the project, and there have been articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Punk News, NPR, and other sites, and Čakars has an interview planned with the Latvian magazine Ir.

With his decades of performing in punk bands, Čakars even inspired a Latvian band to name themselves after him. The band – Jānis Čakars – was active in the 2010s, but appears to have gone on hiatus.

Čakars is also the editor of a forthcoming book – Information Wars in the Baltic States: Russia’s Long Shadow – which was completed right as the Russian army was massing on the the Ukrainian border.

Band Together: A Benefit for Ukraine is available as a digital download via Bandcamp.

Band Together : A Benefit for Ukraine

Track listing:

1. Morwan – Где-то там вдали

2. Ted Leo – The Clearing of the Land

3. Кат – Атлантида

4. The World/Inferno Friendship Society – Cats Are Not Lucky Creatures

5. Citizens Arrest – Death Threat

6. Death Pill – Расцарапаю Ебало

7. Unsane – Cracked Up

8. The Raw – 3a ветром

9. Grey C.E.L.L. – Opinion Piece

10. Пуща (Pušča) – Jardin de Verre Brisé

11. FRIGHT – Hands Claw Open Eyes

12. Terrorscum – Battered Knees

13. Under Attack – Mentally Collapsed

14. Cross Control – Diadem

15. Erin Incoherent – Songs for the Revolution

16. Sasha Boole – Плющ (Ivy)

Review of book by Alfrēds Stinkuls, Mati sarkanā vējā (Hair blowing in the red wind), Lauska, 2020

Thirty years have passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but, in certain ways, it seems like a lifetime ago. It is difficult to imagine a world that included things like the Berlin Wall, the Baltic countries under occupation, and the Iron Curtain. However, thirty years in the overall course of history is a very brief period, and things that seemed to be in the rear-view mirror may very well unexpectedly appear again. This is especially true today, when what was recently thought to be unthinkable has become all too real.

That is why Alfrēds Stinkuls’ autobiography, entitled Mati sarkanā vējā, about growing up and living in occupied Latvia is particularly timely. Released in 2020, the book covers his life until his emigration westwards from Soviet occupied Latvia in 1986 and provides a revealing view of what everyday life was like in the 1970s and 80s in Latvia, what ordinary people had to endure and suffer through.

What makes Stinkuls’ story particularly compelling is Stinkuls is a self-described ‘hippie’. He had long hair and a beard, which was highly unusual and frowned upon in the Soviet Union, which had little tolerance for anything that resembled dissent and/or free thinking. This got Stinkuls a lot of unwanted attention through the years, and the book is also a story of perseverance against the soul crushing ideology of the authoritarian government. The book also includes many pictures and fascinating document facsimiles.

Stinkuls also kept meticulous notes on the events in his life (either that or he has an exceptional memory), as the book not only includes many detailed episodes from his life but seems to include notes on every concert he ever went to. Not just concerts in Latvia, but attending concerts in Leningrad, such B. B. King in in 1986 (the book also includes a facsimile of a souvenir postcard from the concert, where Stinkuls wrote down the names of all the musicians in King’s band), as well as the North Texas University Jazz Lab Band.

Though the book covers his run-ins with the Soviet authorities (Stinkuls spent time not only in jail on trumped up charges of ‘hooliganism’, but also in a psychiatric institution, where he ended up after the army commission determined him unfit to join the Soviet army), it also covers the absurd, Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the era. One almost comical incident is when Stinkuls’ Shure record player starts picking up a Soviet propaganda broadcast (a jamming signal), and the author goes to the nearby radio station to complain that he could not listen to records. To their credit, the radio technicians investigated why this was happening and suggested Stinkuls put the record player in an iron box (which helped, but only slightly).

More serious was the discovery of a listening device in his apartment – very well hidden in the ceiling with wiring going through the balcony. The Soviet authorities, of course, discover that their active device has been tampered with, and then approach Stinkuls. However, in an absurd twist to the story, the authorities cannot say that it was a listening device (since they were prohibited), so they accuse Stinkuls of damaging a ‘fire alarm wire’. Thus begins one of the more terrifying sections of the book, as Stinkuls and his girlfriend Inguna Galviņa are routinely harassed and intimidated.

Though many of the episodes described in the book give a bleak impression of life in Latvia, there are still many positive and hopeful moments in the book, some even humorous. Stinkuls and many of his friends found sanctuary in the ‘Mežuplejas’ property (located in the central Latvian region of Vidzeme, near the village of Skujene). Many of the events of the book take place on this property, and it becomes a regular gathering place for Stinkuls and like-minded individuals for the next decade and a half to enjoy a bit of freedom, away from the prying eyes of the Soviet authorities.

In the 1980s, it becomes clear to Stinkuls and Galviņa that the situation has become hopeless and untenable, and they both choose to depart Soviet Latvia in one of the few ways possible, to wed a foreigner in a (presumably fictitious? The author does not clearly specify) marriage and emigrate. Inguna is the first to go, marrying a relative of Stinkuls’, and then Stinkuls himself marries an exiled Latvian woman. The Soviet bureaucracy follows him to the very end, when he is denied departure from his original embarkation point of Tallinn, and he then journeys to Leningrad where he is finally allowed to board a train to Helsinki (along with his 11 bags).

Though the story ends here, the reader is left wanting to know more about what happened to Stinkuls after he left Latvia. Did he ever return? How did he make it to California (where he currently lives)? What happened to Mežuplejas? Perhaps the author will continue the story someday.

Mati sarkanā vējā tells the occasionally ordinary, occasionally extraordinary story of Alfrēds Stinkuls and the experience of living in Soviet Latvia as a long haired, bearded hippie. Full of extensively detailed anecdotes and stories, as well as many pictures, Stinkuls’ memoir provides a stark reminder of an era that, while many decades in the past, still reverberates today. Stinkuls’ stories of being a brave, free-thinking individual in an oppressive system are both inspirational and a cautionary tale – that the past is never truly in the past.

The Riga Saxophone Quartet, an ensemble with thirty years of history, has raised the profile of the saxophone as a serious academic instrument with their performances and collaborations with other musicians. Since its inception, the driving force of the group has been renowned Latvian alto saxophonist Artis Sīmanis, and, since 2016, the other members of the ensemble are Katrīna Kivleniece-Cābule on soprano saxophone, Ainars Šablovskis on tenor saxophone, and baritone saxophonist Baiba Tilhena.

In 2021, the Riga Saxophone Quartet released the album Saule tikai (or ‘Merely Sun’) a collection of five modern works composed by Latvian composers, and the recordings display not just the skill of the Quartet, but also the versatility of the saxophone – the diverse styles and sounds that saxophone music can have.

The poetry of Imants Ziedonis inspired ‘Divas fantāzijas’ by Latvian American composer Dace Aperāne, a work that features the RSQ performing together with pianist Herta Hansena. The first fantasy, ‘Uz mēness pusi’ is tender and lyrical, with a dreamy melody in the piano joined by the freely flowing sounds of the saxophones. The second fantasy ‘Saule tikai – aplis’ begins with mysterious, lyrical interplay between the saxophones, becomes playful, and then concludes on a somber note, with rising notes in the saxophones, which then seem to evaporate with the sound of a triangle.

Accordionist Natālija Meļņikoviča joins the RSQ for the recording of composer Mārīte Dombrovska’s ‘Dīvainie sapņi’, a three-movement work inspired by imagination and dreams. Much like dreams, the work is full of unexpected twists, at times reassuring, at times ominous. The sound of the accordion adds to the overall uneasy feel of the work, particularly in the first movement, which begins calmly, then seems to gradually turn into a nightmarish vision. The second movement is like a strange dance, while the third movement has an eerie calm about it, almost like a sense of dread, and then concludes on a more melodic note, but then the work stops suddenly, almost as if suddenly waking from a dream.

Composer Rihards Dubra often has sacred and spiritual elements in his works, and his contribution to this collection, ‘Vidi quattuor angelos’, is a vocal instrumental work with text from the Book of Revelations. The RSQ is joined by mezzo-soprano Ieva Parša, a singer with extensive experience in singing modern works. ‘Vidi quattuor angelos’ is reverent and full of piety, with Parša’s vocals being both reserved and rich with spiritual veneration.

Composer Edgars Mākens has performed with indie rock bands Gaujarts and Manta, is also a composer of theater music, and the inspiration for his ‘Rīgas triptihs’ was the towers, market and bridges of Rīga. The RSQ, joined by percussionist Guntars Freibergs vividly present the images and atmosphere of Mākens’ work – from the solemn ‘Torņi’, a vision of the many famous towers of Rīga – not just church towers like on St. Peter’s Church, but also the radio tower on Zaķusala. The lively second movement – ‘Tirgus’ – allows the RSQ to paint a picture of the Rīga Central Market and all those in it – merchants, shoppers, tourists, all mixing together. The many bridges of Rīga are presented in ‘Tilti’, and one imagines walking along these bridges during sunset, and the RSQ conjures a multi-colored impression of this evening stroll.

Composer and percussionist Rihards Zaļupe provides the rhythmic and perpetually moving ‘Extension in Blur’, a work inspired by photographs by Australian Latvian artist Roberts Birze. The pulse of the work is generated by the Morse code equivalent of the title, and alternates between short and long pulses. The RSQ take these pulses and create a vibrant, energetic musical kaleidoscope.

Revising and updating existing beliefs on what the saxophone is capable of and what kind of music it can play, the Riga Saxophone Quartet provide fresh and varied displays of the saxophone’s capabilities on Saule tikai. From reverent, spiritual works, to lively contemporary visions, to otherworldly visions of dreams and fantasies, the Riga Saxophone Quartet exhibit the many melodic and sonic possibilities of the saxophone.

For further information, please visit the Riga Saxophone Quartet website.

Saule tikai

Rīgas Saksofonu kvartets

Skani, LMIC 096, 2021

Track listing:

Dace APERĀNE “Divas fantāzijas” / Two Fantasies

1. I. Uz mēness pusi / Towards the Moon
2. II. Saule tikai – aplis / Merely Sun

Mārīte DOMBROVSKA “Dīvainie sapņi” / Strange Dreams

• I. Risoluto
• II. Scherzando
• III. Lontano

• Rihards DUBRA Vidi quattuor angelos

Edgars MĀKENS “Rīgas triptihs” / The Rīga Triptych

• I. Torņi / The Towers
• II. Tirgus / Market
• III. Tilti / The Bridges

1. Rihards ZAĻUPE “Palielinājums izplūdumā” / Extension in Blur