In Tukums, the 85th anniversary of composer Pauls Dambis was celebrated with an open-air concert “Convening” / Article

Celebrating the 85th anniversary of the composer Paul Dam, the Tume Mixed Choir’s open-air concert “Convocation” took place in Tukums, featuring three of his most popular song cycles – “Sea Songs”, “Shepherd’s Voices” and “Dance Songs”. Paul Dambis is considered to be a composer who opened a new page in choral music in the seventies of the last century.

This summer’s concert cycle has resumed with the open-air choir’s concert “Convocation” in the world cultural space “Tukku Maggi”. The first concert is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the composer, pedagogue, conductor and organist Paul Dambis, without whose songs no choir competition took place in the last century. He is also considered to be the initiator of the new wave of folklore.

Musicologist and choir conductor Ralph Schmidberg pointed out: “The idea is to take the code of a folk song. Respectively, an original composition is created, preserving the lyrics of their folk song, their code, feeling, landscape and mentality, but creating it completely original as their original composition, using the most daring techniques known at that time in our latitudes. ”

The works of the dam were the most popular in the seventies and eighties of the last century. At that time, they were mostly performed by professional musicians, such as the Ave Sol chamber choir, but today they are also performed by amateur choirs.

“The quality of choirs, as well as the quality of amateur choirs, has grown if you look at the 70s-80s in such a cross-section of history. years, and today, amateur choirs can also dare and meet them, ”admitted Schmidberg.

In honor of the composer, three of the most popular cycles of Dam’s songs – “Sea Songs”, “Shepherd’s Voices” and “Dance Songs” were performed by Tume’s mixed choir.

Dambis has no real connection with Tukums, but the conductor of the Tume choir has a personal connection, so despite the pandemic, the goal was to prepare at least a small program.

Conductor of the Tume Mixed Choir Rūdolfs Bacāns pointed out: “When barely ten people were allowed to gather, we in Smārde in very cozy conditions, in the gazebo in the cold, in the rain, but we have learned.”

The concert also featured several solo songs, but the “darkers” are already forging a plan on how to implement Dambju’s vocal cycle in the words of Imants Ziedonis.

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