The Leģendas series, produced by the Latvian record label MicRec, continues with the third release, a compact disc featuring well known Latvian singer Ojārs Grīnbergs (MRCD 497), to celebrate Grīnbergs’ 70th birthday.

Leģendas, meant to spotlight singers who were integral parts of Latvian popular music in previous decades, began with a release in 2010 dedicated to the late Nora Bumbiere. The series’ second entry was Leģendas Ziemassvētkos, a collection of Christmas songs.

Grīnbergs, who has had a career spanning five decades, rose to fame, as many did in the 1960s and 1970s, after collaborating with Raimonds Pauls. Many of Pauls’ best known early songs were performed by Grīnbergs – such as ‘Mežrozīte’ (though there was also a version performed by Zigfrīds Račiņš), ‘Tev, mana labā’, ‘Sens ir tas stāsts’, ‘Somu pirts’, among many others.

The Leģendas CD collects 26 recordings – mainly compositions by Raimonds Pauls, but also songs by Gunārs Freidenfelds, Uldis Stabulnieks and Ivars Vīgners. The songs by Vīgners, from the children’s puppet theater production of Šveiks, are released on CD for the first time. The CD also has three re-recordings from 2007.

The CD booklet contains an essay in Latvian on Grinbergs by Latvian music journalist Daiga Mazvērsīte.

Track listing:

1. Sens ir tas stāsts

2. Tev, mana labā

3. Mežrozīte

4. Nepārmet man

5. Kam ziedi, mežabele

6. Tik dzintars vien

7. Gaujai

8. Zilie lini

9. Mirdzošais gliemežvāks

10. Somu pirts

11. Dziesma nenosalst

12. Cik klusa nakts

13. Saulrieteņa dzīvībiņa

14. Atmiņu lietus

15. Zvaigžņu laiks

16. Sāpju dziesma

Dziesmas no izrādes Šveiks

17. Piparkūku sirsniņa

18. Šveika songs

19. Šveiks cietumā

20. Šveiks dodas karā

21. Mazliet mīlas un mazliet šūpuļdziesmas

22. Karalauka pasts

23. Fināla dziesma

Papildus

24. Tik dzintars vien (2007)

25. Nepārmet man (2007)

26. Zvejnieku sievas (2007)