“Composer withdraws controversial pro-Kremlin song from Latvian Song and Dance Festival performance”

At the closing concert of the song and dance festival, composer Zigmars Liepiņš’s song “Bless heaven and earth” will not be performed, the artist stated at the press conference today.

The author of some parts of the song is also the singer Kaspars Dimiters, who has been showing a pro-Kremlin position for some time, which is unacceptable to Liepiņš. Therefore, it is decided to withdraw the song from the Song and Dance Festival repertoire.

Liepiņš explained that at the beginning of the year, Dimiters had sent him a link to his song in Russian, which unpleasantly surprised the composer. Liepiņš has asked the singer not to send him such connections anymore, however, the matter has progressed to the point where Dimiters has scheduled the opening of the album on June 5 at the grave of his mother Vijas Artmanes.

“He [Dimiters] has betrayed Latvia, this country and its ideas. I don’t know if he was ever a patriot, but in today’s parlance I might call him a “putriot”. Either it is a business project known only to him, or it is a total change of course in relation to his country. This is unacceptable,” the composer emphasized.

Liepiņš also emphasized that after Dimiter’s activities, it is impossible to be “on the same stage” with him, because it is customary at the Song and Dance Festival that the author is also called after the performance of the song.

Sarmīte Pāvulēna, head of the Latvian National Culture Center’s Song and Dance Festival tradition preservation and development department, told journalists that the artistic team of the final concert “Together Up” respects the choice of the composer and is currently looking for another song to perform at the final concert. It is planned to announce which songs the choir will perform this week.

Liepiņš introduced the journalists to the song “Svētī debesīs šo zemi”. Originally, the song was called “Dun calls” and the author of the lyrics was Gunta Šnipke. The song premiered in the 2008 performance “Captain’s Stories”. In the song “Dun calls” Liepiņš used a fragment from the national anthem.

On the other hand, in 2009, Liepiņš and Dimiter’s musical drama “Vadonis” premiered at the Latvian National Theatre, in which the composer decided to include a fragment of the song “Dun bells”. In this production, the song takes the title “Heaven bless this land”.

Conductor Guido Kokar liked this piece and approached the composer. A completely original song was not written for the 2012 concert of the Kokar brothers. A song called “Heaven bless this land” was performed.