Organizers of last year’s Latvian Song Festival in Indianapolis, which ended USD 65,000 in the red, are turning to community groups and individuals with a plea for donations.

About USD 48,000 of the deficit remains to be raised, organizers say. Direct donations and a March 1 benefit concert in Indianapolis are expected to help.

The deficit arose in large part because the number of visitors to the July 4-8 event was less than expected, Gunārs Kancs, co-chairman of the festival’s organizing committee, said in an e-mail to Latvians Online. The two largest shows—the July 6 folk dance spectacle and the July 7 joint choir concert—drew audiences of about 2,100 and 3,000, respectively.

In addition, a large number of visitors who had reserved rooms in the main festival hotels, including the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown Hotel, either failed to arrive, checked out early or moved to other accommodations. That left the organizing committee having to pay for event space that otherwise would have been free. Also lost were complimentary rooms intended for organizing committee members and some artists, Kancs said.

The Indianapolis festival’s deficit is in stark contrast to the USD 172,000 balance recorded by the 2002 Chicago festival. Those funds in 2003 were distributed to a number of Latvian organizations and cultural and educational projects, including the Indianapolis festival, according to a report by Ilmārs Bērgmanis, chair of the Chicago festival. The festival was aided by a USD 165,120 government grant to promote tourism in Illinois.

The Indianapolis festival received funding from other sources as well, including a USD 10,000 grant from the U.S. government’s National Endowment for the Arts and an LVL 7,000 grant from the Latvian government’s Secretariat for the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration Affairs.

Some vendors and artists remained unpaid, Kancs said, but are being addressed as funds become available.

Part of the deficit has been erased by organizing committee members and many artists who had been promised free hotel rooms agreeing to cover the cost of their stay. Some organizing committee members also have donated or loaned money.

The organizing committee has placed an advertisement in the weekly Latvian-American newspaper Laiks encouraging private donations. Central and local Latvian organizations also have been contacted, many of which have already responded with donations, Kancs said.

Tax-deductible donations to erase the deficit may be sent to Mārtiņš Pūtelis, 144 1st Court, Carmel, IN 46033. Checks should be made out to “XII Latvian Song Festival.”

A benefit concert featuring the popular group Čikāgas Piecīši and the local ensembles Idvasa and Ezīši is scheduled at 6 p.m. March 1 in the Latvian Community Center, 1008 W. 64th St., Indianapolis. Admission is by donation beginning at USD 30, but children ages 14 and younger get in free.

A Lithuanian man has been charged with the murder of a 35-year-old Latvian fisherman whose body was discovered in a harbor north of Dublin in October 2006, Irish police have announced.

Sergejs Lavrinovics, 35, was charged Feb. 8 in Cloverhill District Court with the murder of Igors Bandarenko. Lavrinovics had been in custody since December, charged with assaulting Bandarenko.

Bandarenko’s body was found with a rope tied around the ankles and then to an anchor, according to Irish media reports. He was killed sometime between Sept. 18 and Oct. 4, 2006—and just seven months after arriving in Ireland.

Bandarenko is at least the third Latvian national murdered in Ireland in the past two years.

Renārs Tuleiko was murdered in April in Thurles in south central Ireland. Two people have been charged in his death. Irish authorities in December charged Kevin Keohan, 34, of Thurles with murder. Victoria Moverley, 32, was charged in November with assaulting Tuleiko, according to media reports. Tuleiko left a wife and two children in Latvia.

Meanwhile, no has been charged in the November 2006 apparent murder-for-hire of Baiba Saulīte, a mother of two. Saulīte was gunned down at the entrance to her home in Swords, a suburb of Dublin. Several individuals, including her estranged husband Hassan Hassan, have been questioned in the case. Irish police say the investigation continues.

The annual LatRock tour of the United Kingdom this year will feature Latvian rock group Dzelzs Vilks in March and country band Apvedceļš in April, concert promoter Pēteris Pētersons has announced.

Dzelzs Vilks will perform an acoustic set of rock and world music.

Formed in 1991, the band at first played heavy metal but eventually shifted to pop-rock and world music. Dzelzs Vilks today includes four artists: Armands Butkevičs (bass and vocals), Mārcis Judzis (percussion), Juris Kaukulis (vocals and guitar) and Kaspars Tobis (keyboards). The band has released eight albums, most recently last year’s Sārtā rītausma on the
Upe tuviem un tāliem label.

Three concerts, collectively called LatRock5, are planned in March. Dzelzs Vilks will perform:

• March 27 at the Latvian rest home Straumēni, Lilbourne Lane, Catthorpe. The concert begins at 19:30 hours. Tickets are GBP 8 at the door, or GBP 6 if reserved or purchased before the concert.
• March 28 in the Daugavas Vanagi House, 5 Clifton Villas, Bradford. The concert is scheduled at 20:00 hours. Tickets are GBP 10 at the door, or GBP 8 if reserved or purchased before the concert. Music by a disc jockey will follow the concert.
• March 29 in the Daugavas Vanagi House, 72 Queensborough Terrace, London. The concert begins at 19:30 hours. Tickets are GBP 8 at the door, or GBP 6 if reserved or purchased before the concert.

Country band Apvedceļš is relatively new, formed in 2001 in Smiltene, Latvia. Band members include Jānis Krūmiņš (vocals and accordeon), Armands Leimanis (bass), Andis Mincis (drums and vocals) and Juris Paleps (guitar). The group has released five albums, most recently Viss, kas bijis reiz… in 2007 on the Gailītis-G label. In addition, a limited edition album, Brokastu sarīkojums ar solistu, was released in 2006. Performances by Apvedceļš also have appeared on a number of country and schlager compilations.

Apvedceļš is scheduled to perform three concerts in April in LatRock6:

• April 18 in the Daugavas Vanagi House, 5 Clifton Villas, Bradford. The concert starts at 20:00 hours. Tickets are GBP 10 at the door, or GBP 8 if reserved or purchased before the concert.
• April 19 in St. Peter’s Church Hall, Love Lane, Wisbech. The concert is begins at 18:00 hours. Tickets are GBP 15 at the door, or GBP 10 if reserved or purchased before the concert.
• April 20 at the Straumēni rest home, Lilbourne Lane, Catthorpe. The concert begins at 16:00 hours. Tickets are GBP 8 at the door, or GBP 6 if reserved or purchased before the concert.

Tickets for both the Dzelzs Vilks and Apvedceļš concerts may be purchased online from www.wegottickets.com. Beginning Feb. 17, tickets for Dzelzs Vilks may also be purchased at the concert venues. Tickets for Apvedceļš will be available at concert venues starting March 9.

To reserve tickets or further information, telephone +44 (0)7796 080356 or e-mail latrock@googlemail.com.

The first LatRock took place in 2004 and featured Latvian-British bands Arvīds un Mūrsitēji and Cietie Rieksti, as well as Latvian band Logo. Later LatRock concerts have featured Dzelzs Vilks, Mielavs un Parcēlāji and Līvi, as well as Latvian-British bands Alva and Krona.

For more information on Dzelzs Vilks, visit www.dzelzsvilks.lv. For more on Apvedceļš, visit apvedcels.lv. Further information about the LatRock concert tour will be available from the Latvian-British portal labrit.co.uk