Category: News

Latvian alternative/indie rock band “Sub Scriptum” shares new single “Sweet Screens”.

Lead singer Kristers Rudzītis comment of the song: “Everything is possible on screens. Become a superhero or a movie star in a few clicks and you are closer to your dream, or further away from reality! Running along with different fake faces – we lose our real “I”.” This song is in english because it is dedicated to a wider audience.

Sub Scriptum is an alternative/indie rock band from Madona, Latvia that was formed in the summer of 2017. The band consist of four members Kristers Rudzītis (lead vocal, rhythm guitar), Alvis Kozuls (solo guitar), Maikls Drobins (bass), Armands Runcis (drums). The band released their debut album “21.gs. mode” in 2020 The singles that have been the most successful to win the hearts of the audience are “21.gs. mode ” and “Viegli ievainots”. Sub Scriptum has a huge concert experience and have played in many different venues. The most notable concerts are festival Summer Sound, Great Amber concert hall, Liepaja and ‘’Sporto visa klase’’ an event held in Arena Riga. The band is currently working on new music. This spring the band released an EP ‘’Mīlestības”. The single “Kam Tādam” from the EP has gained popularity in Latvian radio stations.  Sub Scriptum has also gained popularity in Ukrainian radio stations with the single “‘’зійде сонце’’.

Sub Scriptum music is characterized by catchy melodies and rhythmic hooks. The band always brings youthful energy to their shows.

A musician and producer from Latvia with an artist name osiits (real name Oskars Gvido Gailītis) releases a new song “Šonakt (Absolūts miers)” – a tribute to a time well spent. A song you must definitely listen to.

“This is definitely not my typical, classical sad song and it’s not a love song either. This is something happy, fast and something you could move your hips to,” says osiits.

Spotify

At the Osokins Freedom Festival, which took place this summer, 32,608.45 euros were collected for the support of Ukraine from event ticket revenues and audience donations. A convoy with the necessary goods for citizens and soldiers has just been seen off on its way to Ukraine, and the delivery of other aid is currently being organized.

This was pianist Andrejs Osokins fourth Freedom Festival, for the second year dedicated to Ukraine and its people as the devastating war there continues. This year for more than a month the Festival took place in Riga and Valmiera, providing a diverse program of events, including concerts, master classes, discussions, meetings of musicians with Ukrainian families, charity actions and other events. World-renowned Latvian and Ukrainian musicians, actors, artists and professionals from other fields performed in the Festival, including “Labvēlīgais Tips”, “Melo-M”, Ralfs Eilands, Katrīna Gupalo, Georgijs Osokins, “Kremerata Lettonica”, Sonora Vaice, Ieva Parša, Edgars Ošleja, Platons Buravickis, Gundars Āboliņš, Dita Lūriņa, Laura Čaupale, Ģirts Krūmiņš, piano quartet “Quadra”, Kristīne Garklāva, Kristīne Rudzinska, Mārtiņš Daugulis, Andrejs Osokins.

For the amount of donations, in cooperation with Ziedot.lv, the association “Tavi draugi”, the Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia, the confederation of associations of Ukrainians living in Latvia “Viche” and “Biļešu Paradīze”, humanitarian, medical, defence and pet help was provided to the war and flood-torn territories of Ukraine. With these funds, two all-terrain vehicles, a drone, thermal imagers, protective glasses, protective gloves, backpacks, meal kits and food for Ukrainian soldiers, hygiene products for Ukrainians, feed, medicines and various things for pets in a shelter in Dnipro “Pegas” for wild and injured animals have been purchased and have already been delivered to Ukraine with several convoys. Soon, technical equipment and other goods urgently needed by Ukrainians and soldiers will also be brought to Ukraine, delivering them to military hospitals, rehabilitation centres and other places.

“When we started this charity campaign, we couldn’t imagine how powerful it would be and how many people would join it! It is important and solemn for us every time a convoy goes to Ukraine with purchased things for the soldiers and citizens of Ukraine, and we are really proud of the people of Latvia, who have so selflessly supported Ukraine for a year and a half. Every donation saves lives and helps those who are hardest hit by the war caused by Russian aggression. I believe that every donation, every action in support of Ukraine brings closer its victory, which will also be the victory of the whole of Europe over the evil. I am grateful to every participant, supporter and all donors of the festival, because together we can achieve much more than alone and together we can feel each other’s shoulder, support and warmth!” said Andrejs Osokins, pianist, founder and creative director of the Osokins Freedom Festival.

The creative team of the festival extends its utmost gratitude to the participants, donors and supporters of the festival, including Riga City Council, Spice and Spice Home, LNK Industries, LNK Charity Foundation, patron Dmitrijs Volkovs, Valmiera County Council, Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia, Confederation of Associations of Ukrainian Living in Latvia “Viche”, Ziedot.lv, “Biļešu Paradīze”, association “Tavi draugi”, social initiative center “Common Ground”, cat help center “Remi”, as well as to the festival venues, sound and light companies, media partners and others.

Video insight into the departure of the convoy to Ukraine on August 1

Donation campaigns continue

Since the beginning of the war, more than 210,000 euros have been donated to Ukraine in various donation campaigns initiated by Andrejs Osokins. During the last two Osokins Freedom Festivals dedicated to Ukraine, a total of 53,250.12 euros were donated to support Ukraine, while more than 160,000 euros were donated in the donation campaigns implemented by Andrejs Osokins on the portal Ziedot.lv, where funds are collected for meal kits and self-heating meals, providing an opportunity to deliver 24,000 self-heating meals and more than 5,000 meal kits to the front in Ukraine since October 2022. During the implementation of this action, a large number of thanks were received from Ukrainian soldiers for the value of meal kits in frontline conditions, their convenient use, the possibility to heat food without fire and electricity, its quality, asking to continue this action. You can donate to the meal kits at the link here: ziedot.lv/maltisu-komplekti-ukrainu-karaviriem-fronte-4479

On the morning of 11 August Múr releases her new single Ārstēšanās (Treatment). The indie pop-rock track has been recorded and produced in London by Madara Murnikova and Daniel Guillermo Sauceda. 

“Ārstēšanās (Treatment) invites to wake to the charm of reminisce with a doomsday perception of lost love” Múr says. She presumes that “necessary treatment for the ones grasping for air will be continuous and endless”. She adds that song meanings transform over time and now the track simbolizes the beauty of aging, self-discovery and new beginnings for her.

The song was originally composed more than 5 years ago and back then Múr listeners heard it and grew fond of it at concerts and Múr’s Sofar Sounds Riga performance in 2019 – 

EZIA, the Latvian singer-songwriter from New York – on September 8th releases her new single “Closing Doors” which will be available on all music platforms.

“Closing Doors” combines the famous NYC metro announcement sound, crispy percussion, and agile synth patterns with catchy melodies and witty lyrics.

“Every time the doors close on the NYC Subway metro, there is an announcement that goes, “Stand clear of the closing doors, please.” I thought about how many people hear this seemingly ordinary phrase daily and what a beautiful philosophy it holds. “Closing Doors” is a song that confronts people who are testing you and unable to commit to a relationship with you despite your many attempts in a humorous and assertive way,” says EZIA.

EZIA, a Latvian-born singer and songwriter, moved to New York in 2018 and has been traveling around for the past few years. Her debut album “Cycles”, which was released in March 2022 gained very positive music critic reviews and was featured on various music blogs. Since the release of her debut album, EZIA has collaborated with many notable artists like Mick Jenkins, Michael Christmas, Katori Walker, and more.

More info on EZIA, including tours, audio samples, news, and reviews is available on www.eziamusic.com, Instagram, and TikTok @eziamusic or Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

Musician Gints Smukais announces a concert series “Landscapes” with American guitarist Ian Ethan Case (Boston, USA) and publishes a music video filmed in the USA. Ian Ethan Case is an acoustic double-neck guitar virtuoso who is considered one of the most creative and engaging fingerstyle guitarists in the world. Both musicians will perform in Riga, Liepāja, Ķekava and Kocēni from October 5 to 8.

Gints Smukais says about Ian Ethan Case: “I am happy that there are many guitar enthusiasts and musicians in Latvia who actively promote fingerstyle guitar playing, but no matter how much of it we have already seen here, travelling to the epicentres of fingerstyle culture, I have come to the conclusion that its expression is even broader than we could imagine. Ian Ethan Case is a great example of that and a great inspiration to me. Listening to his music, I realised that there really are no limits to fingerstyle. We share not only this style of playing, but also the beginnings of a musical journey that started with rhythm instruments. We love rhythm and playing it in melodic cascades through the particular characteristics of the acoustic guitar. I am grateful that our paths have intertwined and now we can create and play together in concerts.”

The two guitarists first met in person in Boston in September 2022 after Gint’s participation in the World Guitar Fingerstyle Championships held in Winfield, USA. In Boston, the two musicians created a video for Ian Ethan Case’s “Aftershocks”, which particularly inspired Gints, so he wrote a second voice for it, enriching and articulating the message of the piece and giving it another rhythmic and harmonic dimension. Video by Ian Ethan Case.

Ian Ethan Case says of his collaboration with Gints: “It means a lot to me to have been able to perform and record this piece with Gints. For this kind of highly detailed, structured, specific piece, it’s almost never possible to bring in an additional musician, let alone another acoustic fingerstyle guitarist. From the first time we performed the piece together, it worked! Gints had taken the serious time to learn every nuance of the piece, plus he had found a way to add his own musical input that would enrich the song rather than detract from it, and that’s not easy. I’m very honoured that he cared enough and felt enough about the piece to put in such serious work, and I’m really looking forward to playing it together in these concerts! I am also really excited to explore Latvia with Gints, as I had some unforgettable moments and feelings when I was in Estonia a while ago.”

With “Aftershocks”, the guitarists invite us to reflect on and be aware of the notes that each of us plays and stands for in life, because everything that is thought, said, and done in this world has a very big echo. It is therefore important to pay attention to what are the things and events that should have the longest resonance and that need to be controlled or even blocked to allow other things to exist and be heard.

The two musicians met during the pandemic, when Ian looked up Gints on the internet after watching a video made and recommended by a friend, also an American guitarist. It was a compilation of five of the best fingerstyle guitarists that you might not have heard of. The video also included a clip of Gints’s original composition “Flourish”, which made a big and lasting impression on Ian. Ian says: “Gint’s performance was not only honest, complex, deep and really refreshing, but it also showed a real exploration of music and a real love of music, which is the most important thing for me.”

In early October, the two masters of the acoustic guitar will meet on the same stage for the “Landscapes” concert series, where they will perform their original compositions and Latvian and foreign melodies familiar to the audience, as well as demonstrate the subtle world of fingerstyle guitar playing, in which all genres can meet.

The concerts will take place:

• 5 October at 19.00 at Kocēni Culture House;
• 6 October at 19.00 at the Small Guild in Riga, with the support of the VKKF;
• 7 October, 18.00, Dole Folk House, Ķekava;
• 8 October at 18.00 at the Culture House “Wiktorija” in Liepāja.

Tickets for the concerts in Riga, Ķekava and Kocēni are available at the “Biļešu Paradīze” box office and online at www.bilesuparadize.lv, and for the concert in Liepāja at www.bezrindas.lv.

The Osokins Freedom Festival for Ukraine comes to an end with a magnificent Gala concert and an exhibition dedicated to the war in Ukraine, during which more than EUR 20 000 were donated to support Ukraine. The Gala concert took place at the Wagner House in Riga on Saturday, 10 June.

The Festival’s Gala concert featured the “Kremerata Lettonica”string ensemble, actresses Dita Lūriņa and Larisa Ponomarenko, as well as the Festival’s founder and creative director, pianist Andrejs Osokins himself. The concert was opened by the President of Latvia Egils Levits and the Ambassador of Ukraine to Latvia Anatoliy Kutsevol. Visitors to the concert also had the opportunity to see a special exhibition dedicated to the Ukrainian war – drawings by Ukrainian children from Kharkiv, Irpin, Kiev and Latvia, the installation “Time” by artist Edmunds Kalniņš, and an exhibition of portraits of Ukrainian women who have found refuge in Latvia, accompanied by sad stories from Grebnevo. On Sunday, 11 June, the cultural space “Ola Foundation” hosted the epilogue of the Festival – a solo concert by pianist GeorgijsOsokins. On Saturday, June 17 festival will close with a Charity concert in Kuldīga.

Ticket revenue from the Festival, together with the funds donated in a special campaign on Ziedot.lv, will be redirected to Ukraine –for humanitarian, medical, defence and pet aid. The campaign will run for two more weeks, giving people who missed the concerts the opportunity to donate to Ukraine, which is especially important after the terrorist destruction of the Kahovkahydroelectric power plant. Everyone can still continue to donate here: www.ziedot.lv/osokina-brivibas-festivals.

On Tuesday, 13 June, a convoy will leave from the square in front of the Congress House for Ukraine to deliver the meal kits and thermal imaging cameras that have already been purchased with funds donated during the Festival to the war-torn areas and flood victims.

“While the war is still going on, blood is still being shed, innocent people are still dying, war crimes are still being committed and evils incompatible with humanity are still taking place, our task is to continue to support Ukraine just as powerfully, to show its people that we are with them even in the most difficult and darkest moments and will do everything to end the war as soon as possible with a Ukrainian victory. Let our support be an important signal to other countries, an incentive to strengthen our assistance to the people and soldiers of Ukraine to achieve our common dream and give a bright future to the next generations! I am extremely grateful to all the audience and donors for their overwhelming support, as this year’s Festival has already raised more donations than last year. It is urgently needed right now, with the counter-attack and the terrorist explosion of the Kakhovka HPP,” says Andrejs Osokins.

This is the fourth year of pianist Andrejs Osokins Freedom Festival, which for the second year has been dedicated to Ukraine and its people. This year, the Festival and its launch events have taken place in Riga and Valmiera for more than a month. It included a wide range of concerts, masterclasses, conversations about current events, special meetings of the Festival musicians with Ukrainian families, charity actions and other events. It brought together Latvian and Ukrainian musicians, actors, artists and other professionals, renowned in Latvia and abroad, including “Labvēlīgais Tips”, “Melo-M”, Ralfs Eilands, Katrīna Gupalo, “Kremerata Lettonica”, Sonora Vaice, Ieva Parša, Edgars Ošleja, Platons Buravickis, Gundars Āboliņš, Dita Lūriņa, Laura Čaupale, Ģirts Krūmiņš, piano quartet “Quadra”, Kristīne Garklāva, Kristīne Rudzinska, Mārtiņš Daugulis, pianists Andrejs Osokins, Dmitry Volkov, Iveta Cālīte, Georgijs Osokins, musicians, artists and actors from Ukraine and many others.

The creative team of the Festival would like to thank all the supporters and partners who made it possible for the Festival to be so ambitious and diverse – Riga City Council, TC Spice and Spice Home, LNK Industries, LNK Charity Foundation, philanthropist Dmitry Volkov, Valmiera County Council, Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia, Confederation of Ukrainian Societies “Viche”, Ziedot.lv, “Biļešu Paradīze”, “Tavi draugi” association, all Festival venues, sound and lighting companies, media and many others.

Photographer: Jānis Romanovskis @gribuvasaru.lv