LATVIA -on September 15 at 19.00 Ventspils Big Band invites you to the first jam of the autumn season in the Small Hall of the “Latvija” concert hall. In this jam, the concert program “Laikmeta impresijas” created by the special guests of the concert – Arta Jēkabsones (vocals) and Tom Rudzinskas (saxophone) – will be heard, the authors of which reflect the search for identity and meaning of the Latvian exile writers group “Elles Ľeķis” in America in the musical language of that era – in the sound of a jazz big band. .
The connection between jazz music and “Hell’s Hook” artists is significant and serves as the central axis of the concert program – these poets were in New York during the golden years of jazz music, and, similar to musicians’ continuous search for the form and message of music, they created new poetic styles, form innovations, asymmetric verses, the destruction of linear composition and associative imagery, thus involving Latvian poetry in the circles of world poetry aesthetics.
Referring to the search for the meaning of poets’ works in the new world, with lightness over ignorance and difficulties, not shutting down, but integrating into world trends, while not losing oneself and one’s national identity, also in the center of the newly created compositions – themes of identity and belonging, questions of existential and the meaning of Latvianness, which are also relevant at this moment. In the new works, the words of poets (Linards Tauns, Gunārs Saliņš, Rita Gāle, Elza Ķezbere, etc.) and jazz music, as well as motifs from Latvian popular music and folk melodies of the time, reflecting the artists’ dual belonging, contrasts and internal conflicts in life, and memories of Latvia. The sound of music will intertwine with documentary audio-visual recordings.
Arta Jēkabsone and Toms Rudzinskis have proven themselves in their artistic activity as professional, internationally recognized musicians and authors who have also spent part of their professional lives overseas. This concert program will be an opportunity to combine the performance of both Latvian jazz music talents in a valuable and lasting collaboration.
The Ventspils Big Band has been operating since 2010 under the leadership of saxophonist, producer and music teacher Renārs Lāčas. The concert line-up consists of students and teachers of the Ventspils Music High School, who boldly follow new challenges and gladly play not only world-renowned and well-known music, but also Latvian composers and contemporary original compositions.
The concert is organized by the “Kurzeme Philharmonic” with the financial support of the municipality of Ventspils. The concert program was made with the support of the State Cultural Capital Fund. Tickets can be purchased in the ticket sales network “Biļešu paradīze”, as well as at the box office of the “Latvija” concert hall.
