Latvian romantic pop band Otra Puse, which traces its musical roots to 1991, is set for a two-week winter concert tour of the United States that will take it to seven venues in the east and the Midwest.

The concerts will begin Dec. 30 in Philadelphia and conclude Jan. 15 in Milwaukee, according to band manager Inese Vīksnāne. The band’s repertoire will include its own songs as well as material from composers Raimonds Pauls, Imants Kalniņš and others.

The band is fronted by singer Normunds Pauniņš. Other band members include Ivars Makstnieks on keyboards and Arnolds Kārklis on guitar.

Pauniņš and Makstnieks joined the band in 1991 when Aigars Grāvers, former guitarist for the legendary band Jumprava, began pulling together a new group, according to the Otra Puse website. Kārklis, once the guitarist for the Latvian-American rock band Akacis, started playing with Otra Puse after he moved to Latvia in 1993. In 1997, Otra Puse dissolved as its members pursued other projects. Pauniņš, for example, went to London where he learned how to deejay and now also appears in Rīga clubs as DJ Norsky.

Recently, Pauniņš, Makstnieks, Kārklis and others have reunited and are recording again. This year Otra Puse has released two music videos. One is “Ave Pali,” which features a duet with Pauniņš and Aija Andrejeva, who formerly performed under the stage name Aisha. The other is “Dejo ar lietu,” released in October.

The band received the Latvian recording industry’s 2009 awards (Latvijas Mūzikas ierakstu gada balva) for best pop album for Nakts vai rīts and top radio hit for the album’s title song.

Besides Nakts vai rīts, Otra Puse has released two other albums, Pēc lietus (1995 on cassette, re-released in 2006 on compact disc) and Piparkūku sirsniņa, a compilation featuring the band and other artists performing to benefit SOS Children’s Villages Latvia.

Concerts are scheduled:

• Dec. 30 in Philadelphia. The concert begins at 2 p.m. in the Philadelphia Society of Free Letts (Filadelfijas Brīvo Latvju Biedrībā) hall, 531 N. 7th St., Philadelphia. For further information, contact Jolanta Mockus by email at jopina3@yahoo.com.
• Dec. 31 at the Latvian center Priedaine, 1017 State Rout 33, Freehold, N.J. The concert begins at 8 p.m. For further information, telephone +1 (732) 610-8227.
• Jan. 7 in the Washington, D.C., area. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Latvian Community Center, 400 Hurley Ave., Rockville, Md. For further information and to reserve a table, contact Kaspars Videnieks, +1 (301) 340-8391.
• Jan. 11 in Indianapolis. The concert begins at 7 p.m. in the Latvian Community Center, 1008 West 64th St., Indianapolis. For further information, contact Gunārs Kancs by email at GKrunch@aol.com or by phone at +1 (317) 844-8750 or +1 (317) 496-5440.
• Jan. 13 in Minneapolis. The concert takes place at 7 p.m. in the Latvian Ev. Lutheran Church of Minneapolis and St. Paul, 3152 17th Ave. S., Minneapolis. For further information, contact Maija Zaeska by email zaeska@frontiernet.net or by phone at +1 (763) 972-2521.
• Jan. 14 in Chicago. The concert starts at 7 p.m. in the Zion Latvian Ev. Lutheran Church, 6551 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago. For further information, contact Andra Alena by email at amunion777@gmail.com or phone at +1 (847) 431-2451.
• Jan. 15 in Milwaukee. The concert is set for 3 p.m. in the Latvian House, 8845 W. Lynx Ave., Milwaukee. For further information, telephone Andris Magurs at +1 (920) 296-0863.

For further information about Otra Puse, visit the band’s website, www.otrapuse.net.

As expected, the Saeima has rejected a bill that would amend Latvia’s constitution to make Russian an official state language.

The Dec. 22 vote was a formality, because regardless of the parliament’s decision the issue must now be put to a national referendum. One of the paragraphs the bill would change establishes Latvian as the state language, and that constitutional provision may only be amended through a referendum.

In a special session, the Saeima killed the bill on its first reading. Sixty MPs voted against sending the bill to committee, no one voted in favor, and one MP abstained. MPs from the largely ethnic Russian political party Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs) walked out of the meeting before the vote.

The legislation would change five paragraphs of the constitution, giving the Russian language equal status to Latvian. The bill has been pushed by the pro-Russian group Dzimtā valoda (Native Language), led by the controversial Vladimirs Lindermans. A citizen initiative held in November garnered 187,378 signatures in favor of the constitutional amendments, forcing the question before the Saeima.

After the Central Election Commission on Dec. 19 certified the results of the signature campaign, President Andris Bērziņš on Dec. 20 submitted the legislation to the parliament.

However, in a letter to Saeima Speaker Solvita Āboltiņa, the president pointed out that making Russian an official language would mean renouncing the core ideas that led to the founding of the Latvian state.

He added that the proposed legislation would not help unify Latvian society.

In the Saeima, Jānis Ādamsons of the center-left Harmony Centre spoke in favor of the bill, but concluded by announcing that his party would not participate in the “farce” of the vote. The more than 180,000 people who signed on to the initiative did so not because they are against Latvians or the Latvian language, Ādamsons said, but because they are opposed to the politics of the right wing.

“We are our country’s patriots,” Ādamsons said of Harmony Centre, according to a translation of the meeting’s transcript. “And we are concerned about Latvia’s future, because this is the land where our children and grandchildren will live. In the past 20 years, the right has allowed tens of mistakes in the areas of economics, finance and social issues. It will soon become clear that they have also allowed tens of mistakes in national politics.”

Ādamsons and the other Harmony Centre MPs then left the chamber.

Raivis Dzintars of the right-wing National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) spoke against the bill, telling the remaining MPs that the legislation is an attack on the foundation of the Latvian state.

“In fact this spits in the face of those Latvians who already experienced 50 years of bilingualism, but without the opportunity to vote ‘No.’ In fact, with an aggressive campaign financed from abroad, an active struggle against Latvian statehood has been declared,” Dzintars said.

The Central Election Commission must now prepare the national referendum. According to media reports, the referendum may be set for Feb. 18.

Canada’s foreign minister has appointed a new ambassador to Latvia, the government has announced.

John Morrison, who most recently has been his country’s ambassador to Serbia, will replace Scott Heatherington, who has been stationed in Rīga since 2008.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird made the announcement on Dec. 19, according to a press release from Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).

Morrison holds a bachelor’s degree from McGill University and a master’s degree from Cambridge University. He joined Canada’s Department of External Affairs, now DFAIT, in 1985. Morrison’s diplomatic appointments have included service in Malaysia, China, Taiwan and Japan, as well as in the department’s headquarters in Ottawa.

From 2005-2008, Morrison was the deputy head of mission in Canada’s embassy in Moscow.