Leģendas released to celebrate Ojārs Grīnbergs’ 70th

Egils Kaljo | 

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)

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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.

Mediņš’ complete collection of Dainas just released

Egils Kaljo | 

Now available for the first time on compact disc are the complete Dainas by Jānis Mediņš for solo piano.

Performed by pianist Jonathan Powell and released by the Toccata Classics record label, 24 Dainas (TOCC 0097) is a collection of piano works that Mediņš composed over the course of his career.

The CD booklet includes a lengthy biography of Mediņš in English. Mediņš (1890-1966), the brother of another famed Latvian composer Jēkabs, was one of the most significant Latvian composers in the first half of the 20th century, and among his works are the opera Uguns un nakts (1913-1919) and the ballet Mīlas uzvara (1934). After Soviet occupation, Mediņš resided in Sweden. One of the more amazing facts noted in the biography is that Mediņš carried the score for Uguns un nakts in his backpack for 10,000 km in his journey from Vladivostok to Latvia.

Jonathan Powell specializes in late Romantic composers, and is currently based in Poland. Powell has performed all over the world and has recorded a number of CDs and has worked with many well known orchestras and conductors.

The Tocatta Classics label has released a number of CDs of the works of Baltic composers, including works by Latvian Pēteris Plakidis, Estonian Veljo Tormis and Lithuanian Vytautas Bacevičius.

For further information, visit Jonathan Powell’s website at http://jonathanpowell.wordpress.com/ and the Toccatta Classics website at http://www.toccataclassics.com/. For further information on Jānis Mediņš, visit the website of the Latvian Music Information Centre, http://www.lmic.lv (information in Latvian and English).

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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.

Amendments to citizenship law not likely to be approved before Jan. 1

Andris Straumanis | 

Despite earlier expectations that revisions to Latvia’s Citizenship Law would be approved and take effect by Jan. 1, it appears almost certain that work on the legislation—which includes allowing dual citizenship—will continue into the new year, according to a member of parliament.

MP Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, a member of the Reform Party (Reforma partija) and secretary of the subcommittee reviewing the proposed amendments, told Latvians Online in an email that she does not see how it will be possible for the work to be concluded by the end of the Saeima’s autumn session.

The autumn session wraps up on Dec. 27 and the winter session is scheduled to open Jan. 8.

The Citizenship Law Amendments Subcommittee of the Legal Affairs Committee has been meeting regularly since the amendments passed their second reading in the Saeima on Sept. 6. Among the amendments is language that would allow dual citizenship for a broad range of individuals, including recent emigrants to many European countries as well as World War II-era exiles and their descendants.

As of the second reading, the amendments also state that the changes would take effect Jan. 1.

However, the legislative process calls for the full Legal Affairs Committee to approve the amendments before they are sent on to the parliament, Lībiņa-Egnere wrote.

“Given that debate about the bill at present is still taking place at the subcommittee level,” Lībiņa-Egnere wrote, “I have to admit that I do not see how, by the end of the Saeima’s autumn session, it can be reviewed by the responsible committee before the third reading nor passed by the Saeima on the third and final reading.”

The Citizenship Law Amendments Subcommittee is scheduled to meet twice more this year, on Dec. 18 and 19.

In a Nov. 25 interview on the Latvian Radio show “21.gadsimta latvietis,” subcommittee Chairman Ilmārs Čaklais of the Unity party (Vienotība) said he understands the impatience with which many Latvians are awaiting approval of the amendments.

“Our goal is to approve a quality document,” Čaklais said, adding that he expects passage early in the new year.

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