How I feel Lately: A Conversation with Henrietta Verhoustinska, Sniedze Prauliņa, and Edgars Šubrovskis at the Paul Stradins Museum of Medical History

Henrietta Verhoustinska: You saw the exhibition “How I feel lately” at the Paul Stradins Museum of Medical History. How would you answer the question contained in the title of this exhibition?

Sniedze Prauliņa: Okay.

Polite answer. (Everyone laughs)

Edgars Šubrovskis: We just finished the work of releasing the album. I personally have such a situation that the big stone wished and fell on top of all postponed things, postponed problems. Well, it will probably be over.

Then this exhibition came to you just in time.

Edgars Šubrovskis: Exhibition as an exhibition. (Laughs)

What can you say about it, Snow?

Sniedze Prauliņa: I was waiting for this exhibition, because I knew that one was being planned. I had the opportunity to be at the opening itself. Yes, I definitely enjoyed this exhibition. It’s a pity that it wasn’t already ten years ago, when it was very relevant to me. (Laughs) I found various interesting exits from darker times there.

Can the metaphorical language of art help in difficult times, Edgar?

Edgars Šubrovskis: I watched the plot of “Kultūrdeva”, where the psychiatrist said that one side is a reflection on the problem, and the other side, and that is what is in this exhibition – works that show the way. I was really happy for what she said. Because I think we don’t lack talking (talking about a problem, defining it in five or six ways – it happens), but in this exhibition I was most happy about the works that already outline the picture, how to act or how to change the point of view [..].

Your music, also in the new album “Muļķa stabule”, is not a garden of roses and cheerful hits. It is rather a sometimes light, sometimes dark melancholy. How do you feel about the music on this album?

Sniedze Prauliņa: I perceive this music as true. I think there is nothing fake there, there are no specially arranged flowers to make it more beautiful. We also look for beauty in darker, more gothic moods. You see, we don’t walk around in black clothes.

That is true. (Laughs)

Edgars Shubrovskis:

In sadness, perhaps there is more motivation to look for ways out or reflections. Joy is joy, joy is enjoyed.

There is one song about joy.

Edgars Šubrovskis: I think even several. Creating a wave of joy in music is, of course, also a skill. If it is also done by non-stupid people, then it is absolutely beautiful. But our waves are a bit different.

In the album, you use the poetry of Lithuanian poets Antanas Jonīnas and Henrikas Radauskas and Latvian poets Pēteras Brūvers, Andras Ogriņš, Linards Taunas, and Pēteras Dragunas. There are also texts by Edgar Šubrovskis! Some of the mentioned poets are classics of the 20th century, who have already passed away, and some are today’s middle-aged poets. Does this mean that young people’s poetry doesn’t really appeal to you? Currently, a very expressive generation of young poets has entered Latvian literature. The question is, how did you choose this particular poetry?

Sniedze Prauliņa: We did not look by age.

By year of birth. (Laughs)

Edgars Šubrovskis: Or by personal code. I think you said very well about the new generation that is coming. In Latvian poetry in recent years, something appears from time to time, which can be manifested again in music as well. I try to read Latvian poetry, and my contact with it is very often such that I see self-reflection and there are a lot of works with form. But in the poetry we have found [albumam], is the message that can be sung or shouted, which is perhaps also in rhythm and which tells clearly and cleanly, has been more acceptable to us. The same Jonin is very imaginative, interesting, but he paints a pretty clear picture; it is not a wandering or a careful following in the forest of words, which has been characteristic of Latvian poetry. I am of course generalizing to some extent. It has happened that the purity of the message… I don’t know if it is related to the poet’s age [..].

Are you thinking of recording a song in Lithuanian? In these same songs, the verses sung by Pēteras Brūver can also be sung in Lithuanian [jeb oriģinālvalodā] to combine

Edgars Šubrovskis: Because Reinik, yes? (Everyone laughs)

Not the worst example!

Edgars Šubrovskis: But seriously, we were just at the festival in Žagare and had a joint concert with the Lithuanian musician “Tamsaulė”. She sang both “Arlekīn” and “Ermonika ballad” in Lithuanian. We accompanied him.

Wonderful.

Edgars Šubrovskis: We got to hear. The accents changed slightly (accents are different in the words), but overall there was no fault.

How do your songs come about? Do you need special conditions, workshops, outings outside the usual environment? Is it like that in Anna Akhmatova’s poem “If only you knew from what debris poems grow shamelessly”.

Sniedze Prauliņa: Probably, how great the need is to compose something. Sometimes you just need it yourself. Whether it’s a poem that you have to write yourself or a piece that you have to learn, it’s all the same to me. Basically, I take whatever time God gives me. Anyway, if I get up at six in the morning, I like to do something. Of course, it is also a carefully organized time, so that we can both create something ourselves and then also stage it with the others.

So are there any sessions?

Sniedze Prauliņa: Of course, yes.

Edgars Šubrovskis: Pushing helps me a lot. What I do – often while reading I write out some text and save it. Then there’s a moment where I could sign the songs and I go through those lyrics. Sometimes it happens that both the text and the music are immediately ready. But,

especially when working with this album, the collaboration was extremely strong for us.

Sniedze brought the song “Poet”, I arranged or, for example, I wrote the words, but [Oskars] Jansson took it and wrote the music, or he sent me some motif and I said – these words fit the mood very well. Here we mingled a lot, gave each other songs to sing. We influenced each other very actively, I think.

Were you also influenced by Ingus Bauškėnieks, with whom you re-recorded the album on cassette tapes?

Sniedze Prauliņa: We go to him as if with ready-made material, but we like something…

Edgars Šubrovskis: Sometimes he surprises. When I go to Ingus, I can never tell what’s going to be there, and to some extent we rely on that.

Is that why you don’t record the first album on cassette tapes there?

Edgars Šubrovskis: The tapes are a carrier, that’s one thing, but the touch of the producer – for example, the band is playing, and he suddenly thinks that the guitar will sound not like that, but differently, and it turns out that it’s exactly what is needed. From that point of view, he is capable of performing such miracles in the mix or even in an arrangement. Although we ourselves are big and smart, he can still surprise us. Moreover, not with some rational approach, but directly with the artistic contribution. Yes, his influence is still there.

You have worked in other musical projects. There was, for example, the group “Hospitaļu iela”, “Manta”, and now there is the group “Juuk”. Why is this shift of identities important to you?

Edgars Šubrovskis: The result does not change anything. Contribution is Contribution. (Laughs) It seemed fair – [jaunas grupas izveidošana]. When “Hospitaliu iela” ended and the ensemble “Manta” started, Dambis from the group “Innokenty Marple” said that it should have continued with the same name. On the one hand, maybe it should have been. But “Juuka” has Oscar [Jansons], who has largely influenced the birth of this group; he pa folkline is the main specialist. Just to underline that this is just an addition to the previous group – it is simply not so.

Clear. The name “Juuk” does not have the long “u”, but two “u”. Why is it?

Edgars Šubrovskis: It turns out that in Indonesia, if I’m not mistaken, there is also a long sign for “u”, and

some Indonesian rapper had already borrowed this name – [“Jūk”].

Just that simple. (Laughs) Your previous album “Sikspārņi” is dedicated to a children’s audience. This is an unusual genre for you. Are you going to repeat such a dedication for the younger generation?

Sniedze Prauliņa: Not at the moment.

Edgars Šubrovskis: We are always open to goth children. (Everyone laughs) We are ready to offer them something at any time. In fact, they can come to any of our concerts. I also read Greek myths as a child. Now I read them to my daughter now and then. The madness I have read as a child!

Go ne?

Edgars Šubrovskis: Fairy tales, if you read them… Also in Latvian. For example, the two older brothers decided that they would cut off the head of the third brother, threw him into a well and immediately, immediately married the princess, took him home and lived until the good old man or the dog came and grew his head back.

I feel that folk art is close to you. (Laughs) Sniedze, have you sung the songs you composed yourself, and Edgars – his, or did you mix them?

Sniedze Prauliņa: If I had a list in front of me now… Because to me, every song on this album is like my own.

There are songs where we change and it’s not necessarily my song and only me singing it.

Sometimes you can already imagine while writing. If you’re writing for, say, Oscar, you can imagine Oscar’s…

Edgars Šubrovskis: I gave one song to Sniedze for Christmas.

Sniedze Prauliņa: Yes, Edgars imagined how I would sing it. I received a gift for Christmas – the song “Bundziniece”. Like that.

Edgars Šubrovskis: We have started to change now, it is quite interesting.

What are the plans of the group “Juuk” after making music in the “Kultūrdeva” studio?

Edgars Šubrovskis: I don’t know what else we could start after making music in your studio. In fact, we have reached the peak. (Everyone laughs) As far as this is agreed upon for us, we will do it. You have to follow the group’s Facebook profile, because we will have a very busy July – we will also be in Dundaga, Luznava, in “Labā dabā”. In August, hopefully, we will play in “Zeita” in Līgatne, we are thinking of playing in the new “Totaldobže” in Riga at the end of summer/beginning of autumn. We will probably play in the season opener of “Baloza”.

Sniedze Prauliņa: We did it last year as well. It was very good.

Edgars Šubrovskis: There will be a place to see us!