The Sound Poets release first album in Latvian

Egils Kaljo | 

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It seems Latvian popular music has been at a nadir recently. New faces have been few and far between, with the more recent work by better known names like Prāta vētra and Astro’n’out not quite exceeding expectations. Latvia, much like elsewhere, is awash with reality show singers who, after a while, begin to all sound rather depressingly similar.

However, the tide may have turned, as Tavs stāsts, the latest album by the group The Sound Poets, and their first album entirely in Latvian, is a joyous reaffirmation of the treasures that can still be found in Latvian popular music. Combining musical and lyrical talent, this album is one that we have been waiting for for a long time.

The genesis of the Sound Poets is in the group S.P.D., which formed in 2007. S.P.D.’s debut album, Sound Poetry, featuring songs entirely in English, was released at the end of 2008. Two of the members of S.P.D. then went on to form the Sound Poets in 2011, having released a few singles since then, now bring forth their full album Tavs stāsts.

Even though there was a long wait before their album was released, the Sound Poets remained firmly in the public consciousness with a number of songs that became hits during the past few years. Songs like ‘Kalniem pāri’, ‘Nāc līdzās’, and ‘Emīlija’ provided a tantalizing preview of the forthcoming album, Tavs stāsts, which was finally released in 2013, and the long wait was certainly worth it.

The Sound Poets pay particular attention to melody and arrangements, and their musical style could be compared to groups like Coldplay and Arcade Fire. The group, made up of Jānis Aišpurs (vocals and guitar), Normunds Lukša (guitar), Gints Bīmanis (bass), Undīne Baloda (cello), and Pēteris Lunde (drums), were also noticed by the biggest Latvian band, Prāta vētra, and were invited to be the opening act on their 2012 tour of Latvia. Aišpurs also provides the lyrics for all the songs.

The attention to detail and arrangements is evident in all the songs, particularly the first single off the album, ‘Emīlija’. From the tender piano motif in the beginning, to the melodic vocals, which then moves into a driving middle section, with its crashing crescendo at the climax, and then fades out with just the piano, this song takes the listener on a particularly emotional journey.

Perhaps the most beautiful song on the album is ‘Nāc līdzās’, where the author sings about leaving messages on windowpanes with his breath. Featuring an uncredited (at least in the CD booklet) appearance by the choir Kamēr… singing harmonies, ‘Nāc līdzās’, with its pleading, earnest lyric, is one of many high points of this album.

‘Kalniem pāri’ shows the band’s more up-tempo side – the thundering baseline brings a sense of dramatic urgency to this song about the trials and tribulations that occur in every relationship – how even if you make it over one mountain, there will still be more mountains to cross. This song also displays the rather remarkable vocal range of Aišpurs, who deftly moves from full voice to falsetto in a memorable vocal performance.

The title track, ‘Tavs stāsts’, is of a more philosophical nature, about how one must write their own story and how it may be praised and derided throughout time. Aišpurs’ use of falsetto here may remind the listener slightly of singers like James Blunt, with his vocal leaps and, at times, fragile voice.

The album closes with the pulsating, deliberately tempoed song ‘Augšup’, a somewhat meditative work, balanced on the bass guitar. With its repeated refrain, or perhaps mantra, ‘tas pieder mums’ (it belongs to us), it brings the album to a satisfying conclusion, as the guitar slowly fades out at the end.

The only critique I have of the album is actually of the booklet – though all the lyrics are included, they are handwritten, to simulate notes in a notebook. Though this certainly is charming, and belies the personal nature of the lyrics, the words are quite often unreadable!

Tavs stāsts is a refreshing and memorable entry in the field of Latvian popular music. With their attention to the craft of songwriting and details of melody making, Tavs stāsts breathes new life into the world of Latvian popular and rock music. Not content with simplistic, generic songs, the group manages to bring together lyrical prowess and musical skills to make for some of the best songwriting recently heard in a Latvian release. Hopefully this signals a new rebirth in Latvian music – the Sound Poets have, with one album, made their mark in a rather dramatic and memorable fashion.

The Sound Poets on draugiem.lv – http://www.draugiem.lv/thesoundpoets/

The Sound Poets website: http://www.thesoundpoets.lv/lv

Details

Tavs ståsts

The Sound Poets

I Love You Rec,  2013

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Track listing:

1. No sevis vairs nav bail

2. Mēģini vēl

3. Emīlija

4. Nāc lidzās

5. Laiks

6. Izrāde

7. Impērija (Anunnaki)

8. Miglis

9. Kalniem pāri

10. Tavs stāsts

11. Augšup

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

Šovasar Rīgā notiks starptautiska diasporas konference

Latvians Online | 

Šā gada 30.jūnijā un 1.jūlijā Rīgā notiks starptautiskā diasporas konference “Latvieši pasaulē – piederīgi Latvijai. 2013”, aģentūru LETA informēja Eiropas Latviešu apvienības (ELA) komunikāciju referente Lāsma Ģibiete.

30.jūnijā Kaņepes Kultūras centrā plānots saviesīgs vakars, savukārt 1.jūlijā Saeimas centrālajā ēkā jau no plkst.8.30 noritēs konferences pamatdarbs.

Sākumā iecerēta ievadsesija ar vairākiem referātiem par aktuālām tēmām un tad darbs tematiskās darba grupās. Konferences ievadsesijā tiks diskutēts par trim tematiem – “Reemigrācijas plāns. Aizbraukuši, lai atgrieztos?”, “Vecā trimda un jaunā emigrācija. Ieilgusī stereotipu laušana” un “Atmiņu politika. Kā apvienot atmiņas?”.

Ievadsesijai noslēdzoties, tālākais darbs tikšot organizēts piecās tematiskās darba grupās. Vienā no tām būs pedagogi un ārpusskolas aktivitāšu veidotāji, kurā runās par finansiālo atbalstu, skolu vajadzībām, metodikas attīstību, identitātes veidošanu, projektu iespējām, labās prakses piemēriem. Tikmēr darba grupā par komunikācijas platformas izveidi aktuāli būs tādi temati kā mediju semināra darba turpinājums – darbs pie “globālā latvieša”, kā uzrunāt pēc iespējas lielāku auditoriju un reklāmdevējus, sadarbība ar sabiedriskajiem medijiem.

Savukārt darba grupā “Jaunieši” diskutēs par studentu un jauno nozares profesionāļu tīklošanās, gatavošanās jauniešu forumam 2014. gadā, repatriējušos jauniešu integrācijas problēmām Latvijas vidē, bet darba grupā “Kultūras darbinieki” apspriedīs sadarbības stiprināšanu kultūras jomā – amatiermākslā un profesionālajā mākslā, Kultūras kanonu.

Piektajā darba grupā projektu un organizāciju vadītāji runās par diasporas organizāciju sadarbības praksi ar Latvijas vēstniecībām, valsts un pašvaldību iestādēm, NVO, pieejamiem resursiem mītnes valstīs un Latvijā diasporas kopienu spējas stiprināšanai, tīklošanu un diasporas organizāciju savstarpējās sadarbības pieredzi.

Kā akcentē Ģibiete, konference “Latvieši pasaulē – piederīgi Latvijai. 2013” ir viens no centrālajiem Eiropas Pilsoņu gada Latvijas nacionālajiem pasākumiem. Dalība konferencē ir bez maksas, un tā paredzēta kā turpinājums pērnā gada konferencei.

ELA konferenci rīko sadarbībā ar Kultūras ministriju, Ārlietu ministriju, Izglītības un zinātnes ministriju un Pasaules Brīvo latviešu apvienību.

LETA

Latest WikiLeaks release has few surprises regarding U.S.-Latvia relations

Andris Straumanis | 

The latest release of diplomatic documents by the controversial WikiLeaks media organization contains few if any surprises about U.S. foreign policy regarding Latvia during the Cold War, but does rekindle some interesting stories.

WikiLeaks on Feb. 8 unveiled its Public Library of US Diplomacy (Plus-D), beginning with the release of more than 1.7 million documents created from 1973-1976 when Henry Kissinger was the U.S. secretary of state under President Richard M. Nixon.

Several hundred of the documents relate to Latvia, with many focusing on individual pleas for visas to the United States. A total of 182 documents are tagged “Latvia,” 103 are tagged “Latvian,” and 264 are tagged “Riga,” although a number of documents carry more than one of the labels.

Among the more interesting documents are cables related to the case of Arnolds Ozoliņš Sr., a naturalized U.S. citizen who had returned to Latvia in 1962 to visit his mother. When he tried to leave Soviet-controlled Latvia, he was denied permission. In October 1973, according to one cable, Ozoliņš visited the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to discuss his 10-year struggle to gain Soviet permission to leave the country. American diplomats, according to the cables, declined to become officially involved in the Ozoliņš case, although they did on occasion remind Soviet officials about the situation.

Perhaps the best known name to appear in the documents is that of popular Latvian composer Imants Kalniņš, whose efforts to reunite with his American lover were the subject of two cables. Kalniņš had met the poet and novelist Kelly Cherry in 1965 in Moscow and the two fell in love, according to Cherry’s 1991 book, Exiled Heart: A Meditative Autobiography. According to a pair of cables from the U.S. embassies in London and Moscow in late 1973, American officials relayed messages between the two. In one, Kalniņš is reported to have said he would move from Cēsis to Rīga so that he could be in a place where foreigners were allowed to travel. Then Sen. Walter Mondale, a Democrat from Minnesota, and the late Rep. Millicent Fenwick, a Republican from New Jersey, were reported to be interested in the Cherry-Kalniņš case.

Several documents touch on U.S. broadcasts to Latvia over Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America (VOA). One particular cable from November 1976 noted the “severe criticism” an American consular officer received from Pēteris Jērāns, vice chairman of the Latvian SSR Radio-TV Committee (LPSR Valsts TV un radioraidījumu komiteja), regarding the VOA Latvian Service. In a nearly three-hour “debate,” Jerāns took to task the Americans for failing to reciprocate by broadcasting content from the Soviet Union over U.S. airwaves. “Warming up to the offensive,” the cable reads, “Jērāns then launched into a stinging attack on VOA Latvian Service. He at first asserted that many of the service’s broadcasters themselves had hands quote dripping with blood unquote, referring to alleged murderous activities in collaboration with Nazi occupying forces during World War II. Later he waffled a bit, implying that perhaps it was not so much VOA employees themselves, as émigré Latvians chosen by the VOA to be interviewed. But he never fully backed off his charge.” At one point in the debate, the American diplomat asked Jērāns about heavy Soviet border fortifications and restrictions on travel. The fortifications, Jērāns “asserted with a straight face, were to keep out hordes of émigré conspirators (and) saboteurs,” according to the cable.

Other documents examine topics such as suspected Nazi war criminals; the cost and quality of food in open-air markets in Rīga and Ventspils; and the 1974 censure by the Australian Senate of Don Willesee, the country’s foreign affairs minister, for comments he made regarding recognizing the Soviet incorporation of the Baltic states.

The searchable database of Kissinger-era diplomatic cables is available at wikileaks.org/plusd.

New York Times article

A June 1974 article in The New York Times raised questions about Soviet treatment of people seeking access to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, including naturalized U.S. citizen Arnolds Ozoliņš Sr., who had returned to Latvia to visit his mother. (Graphic by Latvians Online)

Description of image

American novelist Kelly Cherry told the story of her love affair with Latvian composer Imants Kalniņš in her 1991 book, Exiled Heart: A Meditative Autobiography.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.