New album features Raimonds Pauls’ choral works

Egils Kaljo | 

Latvian popular music legend Raimonds Pauls, who celebrated his 80th birthday in 2016, is unquestionably the most significant figure in Latvian music in the second half of the 20th century. Composing the music for literally thousands of songs, including timeless classics such as ‘Mežrozīte’, ‘Mēmā dziesma’, and ‘Tā es tevi mīlēšu’, to name just a few, he long ago ensured his place as the most significant Latvian composer in modern history.

Though Pauls is best known for his popular songs, as a prolific composer he has written in many different genres, including jazz and choir music. Recognizing the significance of his contribution to Latvian choir music, the State Choir Latvija and conductor Māris Sirmais recorded an album of Pauls’ choir music entitled Rozes gars, released in 2016.

As popular as Pauls’ music is, his choir songs are not as well known. His best known choir song – ‘Manai dzimtenei’, a regular part of the Song Festival repertoire, actually began life as a pop song (and, it should be noted, is not included in this collection). Beyond that song, choir songs by Raimonds Pauls are not frequently encountered in choir repertoires. Perhaps that is one of the reasons Sirmais and Latvija decided to record and present these songs, as there are many hidden and neglected treasures among Pauls’ choir works, and reveal many facets of Pauls’ compositional style.

The choir song ‘Rozes gars’ (lyrics by Jānis Peters), which gives this collection its title, is dedicated to composer Emīls Dārziņš. It is an appropriate dedication, as the work could be considered a spiritual successor to Dārziņš’ romantic and emotional works written at the turn of the 20th century. The choir, with their at once precise and emotive performance, provides the necessary tenderness and delicacy for this work.

One of Pauls’ earlier choir compositions is his music for the famous Latvian epic poem ‘Tālavas taurētājs’ by Rūdolfs Blaumanis. The poem, about a trumpeter who sacrifices his life to ensure King Miervaldis and his people are awoken in time to defend against plague of demons that are approaching the castle, provides a number of different stylistic opportunities to musically present the events. Still, though, perhaps due to being one of Pauls’ early choir compositional attempts, though the music closely follows the story, it does seem a bit ‘academic’ at times. Here is the heroic section, and here is the tense section, and here is the mournful section, and so on. However, Pauls’ music does provide an appropriately theatrical interpretation of Blaumanis’ poetry.

Most of the compositions on the album are very brief – three minutes in length or less. However, Pauls is clearly most comfortable and adept with these miniature forms. For example, the song ‘Grezna saule debesīs’ (lyrics by Inese Zandere, and originally composed for the youth choir Kamēr… as part of their World Sun Songs project). This short song, with its jazzy elements and complex and colorful chords, paints a beautiful portrait with Zandere’s lyrics about the sun and the Daugava River.

Of course, Raimonds Pauls’ talents for catchy melodies also imbue many of the works in this collection, such as ‘Lielais vaicājums’, featuring Pauls himself on the piano. With its easy, rolling melody alongside the spiritual text by long time Pauls lyrical collaborator Jānis Pēters, the song is one of many examples of how Pauls’ melodic talents can easily fit into a choir setting.

The collection comes in a handsome velvety book, and includes all the lyrics, as well as biographical notes on Pauls, Sirmais, and the choir in Latvian, English, and Russian.

With the State Choir Latvija, undoubtedly one of the best choirs in the world, and with veteran and visionary conductor Māris Sirmais, these choir works by Raimonds Pauls come alive on Rozes gars. Not that Raimonds Pauls’ compositional talents were ever in any doubt, but this collection shines a new light on this somewhat less familiar section of Pauls’ oeuvre. Rozes gars is a fitting tribute to the choir music of Raimonds Pauls – a composer who has been an essential part of Latvian music for more than half a century.

For further information, please visit the State Choir Latvia website

State Choir “Latvija”

Rozes gars
2017

Track listing:

      1. Rozes gars
      2. Izšuj mani, māmuliņa
      3. Gaismiņ, teci man pa priekšu
      4. Taurenis lilijas kausā
      5. Gleznotājs
      6. Bērzu birzīte
      7. Man pazudis cīrulis
      8. Piena krūze
      9. Tēvis, māmuliņa
      10. Grezna saule debesīs
      11. Ja man saule roku dotu
      12. Dārzs ziemā
      13. Nīcas dziedātājas pirtnieku mates piemiņai
      14. Akmeņi Vidzemes jūrmalā
      15. Tālavas taurētājs
      16. Div’ Piebalgas pravieši
      17. Šūpļa dziesma
      18. Rotaļu dziesma
      19. Vairs nesēro…
      20. Smejies, puce
      21. Maniem vecākiem
      22. Pie savas mates
      23. Ozols
      24. Lielais vaicājums

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.

ImantaDimanta un draugi mirdz!

Aija Abens | 

Burvīgs pavasara vakars 25.maijā sagaidīja apmeklētājus grupas ImantaDimanta diska atklāšanā Trīs Māsās, vecpilsētā. Jāatzīst, ka man šī vieta bija sveša (padomju laikos Mākslas darbinieku nams), bet ieejot mīlīgajās un drusku ezotēriskajās telpās, uzreiz likās, ka šī ir ļoti piemērota vieta šim pasākumam.

Grupas sastāvs liecina par latviešu tautas mīlestību pret mūziku, kā arī tās spēju apvienot latviešus no visas pasaules – Imanta Nīgale dzimusi ASV, Katrīna Dimanta un Kristaps Strods ir Latvijas bērni, Krišjānis Sils dzimis Vācijā un Ingus Purēns mūžu sācis Austrālijā. Taču visi atraduši savas vietas Rīgā, kur dzīvo un muzicē, citu nodarbību starpā.

Slavenākie pop muzikanti bieži veido diskus ar noteiktu tēmu. ImantaDimanta neatpaliek. Disks Izauga matei brīnuma meita liecina, ka grupas dalībnieki cītīgi piestrādājuši pie satura – visas dziesmas veido stāstu par meitas iziešanu tautās, izmantojot tikai tautas dziesmu tekstus. Taču izpildījums neatgādina ‘tipiskas’ tautas dziesmas, vairākām dziesmām oriģināla mūzika un tautas meldiju apdares savijās ar tekstiem, izveidojot kaut ko jaunu, aizraujošu.

Atklāšanā arī piedalījās viesmākslinieki Baiba Indrēvica ar kokli un Kaspars Indrēvics ar perkusijām. Tas, ka grupas dalībnieki ilgi piestrādājuši pie diska parādījās uzstāšanās laikā, visi bija cieši saliedēti un enerģijas pilni.

Ir skaidrs, ka grupa pati iedziļinājusies tekstos un izjutusi to dziļāko būtību, ne tikai atsevišķu dziesmu izvēlē, bet arī komponētās meldijās un apdarēs, kas vai nu liek kājām kustēties, jeb pavēl arī klausītājiem pārdomāt tekstā teikto.

Imantas un Katrīnas spēcīgās balsis labi sader un spēj pielāgoties dažādiem mūzikas žanriem – “Pavasara vakarā” mūzikālai apdarei ir ‘kantrī’ piegarša, kas noteikti varētu būt ‘hīts’ Bauskas kantrī festivālā. Rotaļīgas tautas dziesmas pāriet domīgās, un tā aizkustina, ka var pat nobirt pa asarai (“Viena saule, viena zeme”; “Vecu ļaužu valodiņ’”).

Pats disks gaumīgi izveidots un ir prieks redzēt, ka tautas dziesmu teksti atstāti tikai latviski! Neparādās neveikli tulkojumi, bet gan tikai aprakstošs teksts par dziesmas saturu un būtību, lai angļu valodas pratēji varētu saprast dziesmas jēgu. Paldies par to!

Apmeklētāji no dažādām pasaules malām bija tik daudz, ka trūka sēdvietu. Diska prezentācija saveda kopā sen neredzētus draugus un radus, kas kavējās pie alus glāzes, gaidot kārtu dabūt ImantaDimanta un draugu parakstus. Ar pacilātu garu un disku somā, devos mājās, gaišajā, pavasarīgajā vakarā.

 

Surprises Possible in Local Council Elections in Latvia

Kārlis Streips | 

The local government election that will be held in Latvia on Saturday may lead to a few surprises, the main issue having to do with the capital city of Rīga, which has been governed or misgoverned, according to one’s views, for the past eight years by the Harmony Party in tandem with the rather clumsily named Honor to Serve Riga. Polls show that fewer than one-half of voters are prepared to vote for the tandem again, and that leads to the question whether the dozen other parties can accumulate sufficient votes to deny it the majority. Not all of them, of course, will surpass the 5% vote barrier that is needed to win any seats at all, but if the three or four parties that have a chance to do so end up winning 31 or more of the seats on the City Council, then they will have to put together a coalition. They do not see eye to eye on all matters, and there is also the possibility that Harmony/HSR will try to peel off some members to form its own majority. I personally hope that the other parties will take the majority and will be able to form a stable coalition, because Harmony in my eyes is unacceptable for its excessive and entirely incomprehensible friendship with Russia and specifically with the pocket party of the Russian tsar, United Russia. The issue of whether that will happen depends in part on the fact that right now one-quarter of voters say that they have not yet decided for whom to vote. If they break in the direction of Harmony, it will probably continue to run the city for another four years with all that that implies.

Populism has been rife in this campaign. Parties are promising free health care for seniors, free public transportation rides, free health insurance for the elderly, etc., nowhere explaining where exactly the money for such largesse would come from. There have also been entirely peculiar promises. Aknīste is a small town in southeastern Latvia, and one party there is promising that if elected, it will withdraw the Aknīste Administrative District from NATO. Needless to say, that is not a local government issue, though it would certainly be interesting to see a little island of non-NATO territory amidst a sea of alliance territory. Elsewhere a party is promising to organize free tractor driving courses for young people. I truly don’t know for how many people the ability to drive a tractor is important in this day and age.

There are also some interesting candidates in Riga. The Harmony/GKR coalition is led by the incumbent mayor, Nils Ušakovs, who has attracted much opprobrium for his habit of communicating on Internet Websites both in Latvian and in Russian. The New Conservative Party (which is no longer particularly new) is fielding two former employees of Latvia’s anti-corruption agency, Juta Strīķe and Juris Jurašs, who have long claimed, not without reason, that the Rīga City Council is a den of corruption. An alliance between the Latvian Alliance of Regions and the For Latvia’s Development party is fielding Mārtiņš Bondars, a former chief of staff to Latvia’s former president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. In other towns, there are council chairs who have been in office since God was a teenager. The people of Ventspils will probably reelect the venal Aivars Lembergs even though he is on trial for serious financial and other crimes. Uldis Sesks will probably win another term in Liepāja after 16 years at the helm, ditto Mayor Andris Rāviņš in Jelgava. All in all, there are 8,945 candidates from 599 different parties, alliances of parties or alliances of voters (this is permitted in local government elections, but not national ones). A bit more than 60% of them are men, and more than 70% are registered as Latvians; 3.7% are Russians, and if one wants to go afield in this regard, there is one Ossetian, one Finn and one Swede on the list somewhere.

One way or another, Latvians will be electing members of councils in 119 administrative districts and nine cities. There is one administrative district where there is only one slate of candidates, while in other places people are spoilt for choice, with ten or more slates. Latvian citizens living abroad, of course, cannot vote in the election, because for the local government vote, you must be a resident of the relevant district. In Latvia, in turn, there is also the issue of voter turnout. If the weather is nice on Saturday, that will probably depress turnout, although precincts have already been open today, Wednesday, and will be open tomorrow and Friday, as well. No excuse not to vote, in other words. It is the duty of every citizen to vote, and I will certainly go to the polls on Saturday. Though I must say that this is the first election in my whole life where I am not yet certain for whom I will vote.

Kārlis Streips was born in Chicago, studied journalism at the University of North Illinois and University of Maryland. He moved to Latvia in 1991 where he has worked as a TV and radio journalist. He also works as a translator and lecturer at the University of Latvia.