On Sunday, September 5, on the 85th birthday of the poet Knut Skujenieks, Daumants Kalniņš’s concert program “Security” with the words of Knut Skujenieks will premiere at the Music House “Daile”. But already now we are meeting with Daumants Kalniņš in “Klasika” studio.
Inta Zēgnere: We are looking forward to September 5, when your concert program with Knut Skujenieks’ words “Security” will finally sound. She had to wait a long time … Maybe tell me how it came about?
Daumants Kalnins: I don’t even really remember when it was the beginning – probably in the spring of last year:
when this “stopcock” was broken, I also kept Knut ‘s poetry in my hands longer – I started to select poems and gradually, gradually create something.
We already thought about last autumn, which moved to this spring, and now – to 5 September. The path has been in stages – we have been both more active and passive, but I think that it is happening right now, perhaps right: first of all, because on September 5, Knut Skujenieks has a beautiful anniversary, and where even more beautiful to congratulate the poet. , if not to make music with the words he created, giving him these songs …
And we have the great honor and pleasure that Knuts Skujenieks himself will be with us at the Music House “Daile” on his anniversary.
What was the first impulse – why Knut Skujenieks?
It’s hard to talk about those impulses. In a way, it was a logical continuation of my creative work so far, composing my own music – now several years ago I had a concert program with the poetry of Fričs Bārds, and it seemed that these Latvian greats should continue – their poetry says so much …
As a musician, I don’t want to challenge myself to write words, but as a singer, I don’t like to sing about anything, and the great poets with their life and wisdom, which they put into their poetry, help me a lot, tell me and guide me in musical thought.
Initially, the idea was to create this program with several poets, and Knuts Skujenieks was one of them, but the first one to open the most poetic collections.
Starting to read the first poems from the collection “Seed in the Snow”, I realized that it is unlikely that there will be anything to add to them, that Knut will have to create a separate program. That’s how it went on.
I ticked on the poems of his that addressed me the most, that drew me into the story and feelings, and that’s how this program came about.
If I visualized it all, it could look like this: suddenly a pandemic has reached Latvia, the streets are empty and Daumants Kalniņš approaches the bookshelf, sees the collection of the 60s “Seeds in the Snow”, opens it and the creative process begins. Was that about it?
Almost … It is the case that my friends, also the organizer of my concerts Anda Zadovska, the director of the Music House “Daile”, occasionally give a collection of poems on his birthday. And one of the gifts three years ago was the poetry of Knut Skujenieks. But it’s true – when everything stopped, there was more time to read this collection of poems.
At that time I had gone to the countryside and it seems that I gradually started to do something about poetry, about music. After that, the idea arose how to direct it, with which musicians to try, with whom to challenge a new self and not follow the usual path.
Although in the choice of instruments – in this program, for example, accordionist Artūrs Noviks is with us. As a songwriter, it was a certain challenge for me – how to write for an accordion and how to find the best application for it. It also seemed to me that the color of the accordion suited Knut’s poetry very well.
More and more – in the record.
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