Category: News

One of this year’s music and artist contest “Supernova 2019” semi-finalists Edgars Kreilis from Jelgava presents his song “Cherry Absinthe”, which now has a lyrics video. Edgars is one of the 16 semi-finalists and in 26th January he will fight for the chance to be in the finals.

Originally for the “Supernova 2019” contest Kreilis announced his song “Fire”, but in the semi-finals another song with the same title entered, then Edgars heard the suggestions for improving the song and decided to change the composition’s title to “Cherry Absinthe”.

The song “Cherry Absinthe” is about a girl that was met on New Year’s Eve. It’s about emotions that take over when you meet someone and about the explosion of feelings – about falling in love. Besides all the feelings, this is also a story about a great party and an adventure – the moment when you forget the absence of the last year and embark on the new one with other goals, wishes and feelings, enjoying the time that we are given.

The story and meaning of the song tells Edgars himself: “There’s is no doubt that behind every successful man stands a strong and a successful woman. And every blossoming relationship starts with a feeling that you can feel in every note of this song. At the moment I’m not sure how others will feel about “Cherry Absinthe”, but I’m confident that every listener will enjoy the great dose of positivism that dwells in it.”

“Cherry Absinthe” was written in the spring of 2018 in the second song writing camp “RIGaLIVE”. Event organisers had created a team that included producer Arnis Račinskis, as well as musicians Jūlijs Melngailis and Edgars Kreilis who were working together for the first time. In this songwriting camp musicians shared their ideas with each other and fulfilled the potential of the song by making it a tuneful story. And that’s how the song “Cherry Absinthe” was born – by three creative minds collaborating and just letting magic happen. Moreover, in the creative process guys decided that contest “Supernova 2019” will be a perfect place to introduce this song to a wider audience, letting it start the way to success.

The music authors of “Cherry Absinthe” are Edgars Kreilis, Jūlijs Melngailis and Arnis Račinskis, however the lyrics were written by Jūlijs Melngailis and Arnis Račinskis.

“Cherry Absinthe” is available on the streaming service Spotify and you can listen to it on the social platform Youtube.

Latvian pop-singer and Eurovision star Aminata, this January, is celebrating her five-year anniversary of being in music industry, and to mark this special occasion releases the single “Catching the Headlights”. Five years ago, after winning Latvian TV show “Jaunā Talantu fabrika”(‘The New Talent Show’), Aminata released her first ever single “I can breathe”.

With the new song “Catching the Headlights” Aminata was willing to recall the beginning of her career: “When writing this song, I wanted to come back to the feelings, which I had when I only started writing songs, 5 years ago. I did not want to think about making this song ‘fit’, about it having certain format. I just wanted to express my feelings in music, in whatever form it takes.”

Aminata worked on the song alongside the Danish songwriter and producer Jonas Brogger Filtenborg and his Swedish colleague Edvin Hjertquist.

“Catching the Headlights”  has sensual, sexy mood. The song does not have a story, it does not describe a certain plot. The main idea of the song is to remind about being present and enjoy the moments of pleasure: “Nowadays, people are running all the time. We have a lot of things planned, a long ‘to do’ list. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, we always worry and forget that life goes by. We forget to enjoy things, to enjoy moments,” that Aminata.

This year Aminata is planning to release her third album, and “Catching the Headlights” is one of the singles, that follows previously released ‘Zero Love’ and ‘Don’t talk about it’. The two first albums – ‘Inner Voice’ and ‘Red Moon’ gained success both in Latvia and abroad, which gives Aminata the inspiration to be braver and work even harder. Together with her team of producers and songwriters Aminata set her creative spirit free and worked productively, which has already resulted in releasing several singles.

The single “Catching the Headlights”  is available in all popular music stream services and can also be heard on radio stations.

Evija Vebere will perform in Polish music club Stodola, before their own star, singer-songwriter MARCELINA.

On 1st of March 2019th, Evija Vebere is invited to perform a support show for Polish singer- songwriter Marcelina. Concert will take a place in Stodola, the oldest and largest music club in Warsaw. This invitation is an effect of Stodola collaboration with the organisation Liveurope.

In October “Riga Room” presents series of unique concerts of the leading Baltic saxophonist Denis Pashkevich performing together with outstanding Danish musicians – guitarist Christian Frank, bassist Claus Kaarsgaard and drummer Carsten Landors.

On October 4th, the concert will take place at the Rocket Bean Roastery, at 29/31 Miera Street, Riga, and will be a retrospective of previous years of musicians co-operation. The concert will feature compositions from the jointly released albums “Outlook,” “Close” and “Yours Faithfully”, which was awarded with the Latvian Music Records annual prize “Golden Microphone 2017” in the category “Best jazz / blues music album”.

On October 5th, Denis Pashkevich, Christian Frank, Claus Kaarsgaard and Carsten Landors will perform in the restaurant “32.augusts”, at Sēļu street 12, in Marupe, and present the program called “Frank & Pashkevich Quartet” Meets Jazz Classics. That means that audience will have the opportunity to enjoy the world-famous jazz standards in the original interpretations of these musicians.

On October 6th, in the newly opened art space “Freska”, the unique event will be presented. Musicians will perform unheard songs from the new upcoming album, which will be recorded this November in studio in Denmark. During the concert solo exhibition of the painter Arnis Jansons “The Happiness Code” will be displayed. Moreover, audience will witness art happening performed by Agija Jansone, who will paint in front of the audience under music impression. At the end of the concert the masterpiece created by Agija with her and musicians autographs will be offered for sale.

Musicians met in 2010 during music seminar in Copenhagen. They decided to collaborate and after several concerts they released their debut album “Outlook”. Two years later came out their second album “Close. In 2016 they formed quintet with world famous pianist Aaron Parks (USA) and released album “Yours Faithfully”, which won Latvian Grammy 2017 as the best Blues & Jazz album. Original compositions by Deniss & Christian are mostly atmospheric ballads full of calm and relaxing sophisticated jazz vibes, saturated with intimacy and hint of melancholy. It is a fusion of Nordic laconicism and a wide range of jazz styles. 

Line-up: Deniss Pashkevich (composer/tenor saxophone), Christian Frank (composer/guitar), Claus Kaarsgaard (double bass), Karsten Landors (drums)

The single  “Listen To The Way That I Breathe” is selected for the international song competition “Eurovision 2019” Pre-Selection show “Supernova 2019” semi-finals.

The story of a video (and song) is about the loneliness, struggle and the inner demons of a musician, looking for a support from the others and a hope in general. Every upcoming performance is an emotional challenge for a musician, but the band is always there for the support.

The video was shoot in different places including “K.K. fon Stricka villa”, “Buratino theater”, “GM Pool”,” Ziemeļblāzma Castle”.

“The shooting of a video was quite challenging because you really had to get over yourself emotionally and physically. First, we had to film in a cold weather outside. After that we had to film under the water. With the lack of sleep from the previous night’s gig, that really did took an energy from us” Guntis recalls.

Laika Upe is a five – piece band from Riga, Latvia. Their uniqueness and sound can be found both in their records and in their energetic live performances that no listener can ignore. Since the formation of the band in 2016, Laika Upe has released two singles. The first single “Debess Puses” was released in the summer of 2018.

The second single “Listen To The Way That I Breathe”  is selected for the international song competition “Eurovision 2019” Pre-Selection show “Supernova 2019” semi-finals. The band will perform in the second “Supernova 2019” semi-finals show that will go on air on the second of february on the channel “LTV1”. The show starts at 9.25 PM.

The song “Listen To The Way That I Breathe” can be found on the biggest music streaming services including Spotify, Google Play, iTunes.

Novus competition for up and coming bands is seeking not only to discover, but also to encourage the most promising music talents. The project is searching for new talents, provides the opportunity to perform on a professional setting at Art Factory Loftas, to be heard by new audiences and music industry professionals.

Competition prizes for the bands-winners include a professional song recording and music video production provided by “Muzikinis Cechas” studio, an opportunity to play at a yearly “Loftas Fest” festival 2018, a live video production by “Square” studio, special prizes from “Converse” company, other performance opportunities and much more.

Last year top three places were taken by all three Baltic countries: Lithuanians “Timid Kooky” – first place, Estonians “VonKuusk” – second place, and Latvians “Ezeri” – third place. “It is quite simbolic that top tree places were taken by the representatives from each Baltic country. We are happy that NOVUS became an international platform for bands to be heard and that this competition is getting more and more interesting for our neighbours. Last year competitors from Latvia and Estonia were very strong, charismatic and musical. It was a great inspiration and push to Lithuanian bands to get to know their neigbours and to learn something new from each other. We hope that this year competition will be even stronger.” – said the owner of Art Factory Loftas Victor Diavara.

Latvian indie rock band Carnival Youth have released a brand-new single called “Love Is the Answer” on 16th of March. Next week the ensemble will embark on a European tour.

“Phrase “love is the answer” came from subconsciousness while thinking vocal melodies in gibberish, mumbling. It seemed funny at first, but after a while we saw a challenge to justify it and after all – it is true. It was a joy of discovery, we tried to follow where it was going and experiment a bit, with choir of trumpets, for example,” says Emils Kaupers, member of the band.

This single marks the period between their latest release – an album with songs in their native Latvian called “Vienā vilcienā” – and their new, upcoming album, which will take them back to writing songs in English.

Latvian DJ and music producer Makree in collaboration with the acclaimed British producer Secondcity has released the single “Never Been in Love”. This is the first out of three songs to be issued under the record label “Ministry of Sound” and BBC Radio1’s Danny Howard’s  label “Nothing Else Matters” . Both of these record labels are owned by Sony UK and are the world’s leading dance music publishers. The public premieres of “Never Been in Love” took place on March 2 at the BBC Radio 1 during the broadcast of the legendary dance music reviewer Annie Mac, but before its official release it was played already on the sets of such world-class DJs as Grammy-nominated Disclosure, Claptone, Danny Howard and Oliver Helden.

““Ministry of Sound” undeniably is the world’s largest dance music record label that works with various Grammy-nominated artists – being part of this giant dance music organizations is an indescribable feeling, especially since my music is played by DJs and music producers who’s music I’ve followed for years, “says Makree. “Cooperation with the Ministry of Sound at the moment is the most significant achievement of my career, but I consider it only as the beginning – with my work I want to bring Latvian dance music to a new level”.

Makree is a 22 year old electronic dance music DJ and producer, in Latvia he has worked with such artists as Dons, Dvīnes, Justs, Aminata and Pyor. Makree’s international debut was in 2014, when in collaboration with Swedish record label “Metron Music” the song “Clouds” was released. The song “Never Been in Love”  was created in collaboration with the British DJ Secondcity whose single “I Wanna Feel” in May 2014 ranked  as nr. 1 in the UK singles chart and also had the first place in the American Billboard Dance Music Top.

Latvian pop-act Markus Riva collaborates with the fan engagement platform Fanvestory to share his exclusive content, merchandise and a part of his future royalty earnings with his biggest fans and supporters.

Many artists are trying to find new ways to attract fans, but more importantly connect with them as streaming and digitalization has taken away one approach for artists to deeply engage with their biggest fans as they can just scroll through Spotify and find the next artist to listen to within 1 second. Exclusivity is disappearing and that is why Markus Riva has decided to take his fan engagement to the next level with Fanvestory.

“I have been attracted to music since the age of three. I am mostly inspired by my friends and the surrounding environment, but of course also by some heartbreaks and rough times I have gone through. I am lucky to be pursuing my dream in playing, performing and creating songs. There is nothing else I’d rather do and I would not be able to do it without my fanbase. I have decided to work with Fanvestory to show gratitude to my coolest fans and share part of my future earnings with them,” says the Latvian pop singer Markus Riva.

“We decided to work with Markus Riva, because there is no doubt he is a natural talent with big international fanbase and growth potential as he has fans from Russia, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and other countries. His creations includes many radio singles that have been #1 songs on the charts of iTunes and radio stations,” adds the CEO of Fanvestory Birgit Karus.

Markus Riva new single “Please don’t give up” , that is given out in collaboration with Fanvestory, was written in London but recorded in Riga with Kaspars Ansons – producer that stands behind previously released track “This Time”, also known as “Supernova 2018” entry. “The idea of the song came into my mind when I was in London last year. I woke up in the morning in Shoreditch district, took a shower, and I had this melody in my mind that I fixed with the guitar that was in a hotel room. I love that kind of moments when you give a birth to a song in those unexpected moments”, says Markus. You will hear a lot of “that kind of moments” in new music album by Markus Riva that is set to be released on 20th of September. It is going to be 5th album in Markus Riva’s career that consists of songs written and inspired by real life moments. The title of the new album is going to be “I CAN” because it symbolises the life of Markus Riva – “with this album I want to inspire people. The title song I wrote for my mother when she was struggling with cancer, unfortunately I lost her last year and it was a a hard time, but good to create and find myself again in music”.

Fanvestory is a fan-engagement technology platform, which allows music fans to support artists and receive exclusive content, merchandise and a small percentage of future royalties from their favourite artists in return. So far, Fanvestory has worked with popular artists like Tommy Cash, Justs and Tanel Padar and is now collaborating with Latvian pop singer and X factor host Markus Riva.

This years’ Summer Sound festival will offer a chance to watch local cinema to its attendees in just two weeks – 3rd and 4th of August.

The cinema tent has found its way back to Summer Sound festival. In it, during the whole of the festival, there will be screenings of classic and modern Latvian cinema pieces, as well as student films. The list of films includes Four white shirts, My friend – a quirky man, Thumbelin, Emīls’ mischiefs, Because of that crazy Paulīne, Soloist needed, Return of Sgt Lapiņš, Butter, short films from students of Latvian Academy of Culture and others.

Speaking of films chosen for cinema tent of Summer Sound is curator of the tent Agnese Logina:” We know well that people are not attending the festival purely for the cinema, but we wish to broaden the spectrum of experience for the attendees. This year the cinema tent will give a chance to get to know different generations of Latvian cinema. For some this might mean watching the Latvian classics for the first time, for some it might be a revisiting of those, but the cinema tent is going to be a place for rejuvenation, good mood, laughter and new findings. The cinema tent is going to screen the classics and also more recent films, especially suited for families with kids, but all of the films are going to be life-affirming pieces motivating contemplation through laughter.”

This year the festival also invites you to attend warm-up concerts for the festival that are going to take place in Liepaja the whole week through – in Petermarket, at Liepaja University and Julianna’s court in July 31st, August 1st and August 2nd. On the City stage 15 local musicians and DJs, including Liepaja inhabitants, will perform. The three stages will host The Coconuts, Mārtiņš Dambis & Co, NiklāvZ, Funky DJ Elegant, The Mary Jane and others. Entrance is free of charge.

The most recent news of Summer Sound festival and the City stage program can be checked out at the Summer Sound official app, downloaded within Google Play Store and Appstore.

Up until now these artists have been announced for this years’ Summer Sound festival – American rockband Goo Goo Dolls, the British rockband Coasts, German DJ Alle Farben, the local Musiqq, Aija Andrejeva, Labvēlīgais Tips, Dzelzs Vilks, Pienvedēja Piedzīvojumi, Rīgas Modes, Igo, Justs, Sudden Lights, Marta Ritova, Astra The 22’s, Rigga Reggae, Singapūras Satīns, rappers Ansis, Edavārdi and Fakts, DJs Toms Grēviņš and Makree, bands Čipsis un Dullais, Inokentijs Mārpls, Soundarcade, Židrūns, The Bongo Club, The Bad Tones, Múr, Buchares, PODRUGA, DJ Uldis Rudaks.

Lithuania-based musician Andis Grīva with his band – Andis Grīva is WWMM, Lithuanian Colours of Bubbles, Garbanotas Bosistas and Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys.

In year 2018, Summer Sound will take place for the 8th time, and has undoubtedly become one of the most important music events of the Baltic summer. That is confirmed by the thousands of attendees that come each year to the wonderful beach of Liepāja to enjoy musical entertainment and relaxation by the seaside for two whole days. Each year, the festival offers more than 50 artists, as well as providing a menu of various entertaining activities.

Summer Sound is supported by Liepāja city, you are kindly invited by A/S Aldaris, and the festival is reccomended by the official radio of the festival – Radio SWH.