On Saturday and Sunday, July 17 and 18, the R&B Blues Festival will take place for the fifth year in a row in the park of Ropaži Manor on the bank of the Big Jugla, where groups already known in Latvia and artists from Europe and the USA will perform together. It will be world-class music in magical blues rhythms.
“Neatkarīgā” has invited Jānis Bukovski, a soloist of the “Latvian Blues Band” and the organizer of the “R&B Blues Festival”, to a conversation.
How do you feel about waiting for the fifth time of your cherished festival?
The whole team of organizers and participants of the festival are pleasantly excited to see you again with the listeners. Yes, this is the fifth year of the R&B Blues Festival, and we have been preparing for it for a whole year. We are really positive and determined and we know that our listeners will appreciate the work we have put in. At the same time, on behalf of all the organizers, I would like to say a big thank you to both the artists who are with us this year and the Ropaži municipality for their support.
Can you find out who the guests of R&B Blues Festival will be?
There are many artists this year and they are different, but I especially want to highlight the American star Caliph “Wailin ‘” Walter, who is the new, rising blues star from Chicago and is truly honored to be in Latvia within the festival. This year, the festival will also feature such world-famous artists as the Polish musicians’ association Smooth Gentlemen and the domestic Fortress Blues Band, Billy B trio, The Swamp Shakers, as well as Bad Habits and Eddie Dove Band.
And the main thing I want to draw attention to – at the entrance to the R&B Blues Festival both on Saturday and Sunday from 2 pm to 8 pm there will be an opportunity to take a quick free Covid-19 test. Of course, they are free only for the festival visitors – thousands of us, the festival organizers, laboratories ask for their work. But considering all the pros and cons, and realizing that the interest in the festival is huge, we decided to provide this opportunity for those who do not have a Covid-19 certificate. And if the event goes to zero, that will be fine too.
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What will make this 2021 festival special for you?
Just because I am determined and do not give in to various pressures and fears of covidium, that I continue to celebrate life and enjoy good music. And, of course, with the fact that, taking into account all the restrictions, we continue to grow and go to the full bank – this year the festival will take place for the first time in two days! It will be a celebration for both the local musicians who represent this music and not just them. Of course, it will also be a holiday for ourselves and the audience, who are longing for concerts and cool music.
Due to technical reasons, the Ropaži stage is currently undergoing improvement works, which unfortunately are not completed on time, so we have moved a little – two hundred meters to the right of the Ropaži stage, but in the same historic Ropaži park, in the yard of the cultural center. And it must be said that there is no evil without benefit or vice versa, because the festival will take place in this beautiful park, in an area surrounded by old oaks, where everyone will have the opportunity to take refuge in the shade of trees. The Great Jugla is also nearby, and this area creates the feeling of a large but cozy outdoor club. Of course, with the opportunity to dance as well.
How did the Latvian Blues Band hibernate during the pandemic, and what are you still busy with this summer?
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We have been creative all the time. We have a big project with one author of German lyrics, whose everyday life is finance and business, but who fulfills his dream of music – in the name of our friendly relationship, he has given us his songs, which we arrange and write in the studio. It’s blues and rock, and we’re getting out of our comfort zone a little bit. Of course, autumn, winter and spring passed, planning the festival and hoping that it could happen. We are all inundated, too, because we understood: for everything to happen in the summer, we have to do it. And everything happens! We have just returned from the impressive blues festival Blues Express, which took place in Poland for the 29th time. We are preparing for the R&B Blues Festival and we are also thinking ahead. We try to manage everything, to be everywhere, because no one knows what will happen in autumn and winter.
On July 23 at 7 pm we will be in Liepaja, where we will perform our 20th anniversary concert program in the concert hall “Lielais dzintars”. It will feature both songs already known and loved by listeners, and brand new compositions from our upcoming album. Saxophonist Artūrs Sebris, guitarist Jānis Kalniņš and trombonist Kārlis Feldbergs will join us on stage at the Liepāja concert. [Šis ir koncerts, kas pārcelts no 2020. gada 6. jūnija un 2021. gada 19. jūnija; iepriekš iegādātās biļetes ir derīgas.]
And on July 24, we are already moving on – to a big blues festival in Sardinia, Italy. On August 20 and 21, the blues days organized by me will take place in Jēkabpils, where everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy the most outstanding European and Latvian blues groups from Estonia, Germany, Poland and Latvia. And then in September we will be away for three weeks in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Really very active summer, we are in trouble! Nothing is planned for autumn and winter yet, the agents are waiting, afraid. This is logical given last year’s experience.
Then, emotionally, this time is full of creative joy.
Yes, I enjoy every sunshine – every opportunity that opens up to be on stage and meet the audience. We are all human beings, we all long to meet each other, and the people on stage in particular. I’ve been on stage for 23 years, and when I was deprived of that opportunity, I felt like a bear deprived of the pot of honey he ate every day. It is not easy to live in sweet memories, knowing how honey tastes… So now I am very emotionally uplifted, because – everything happens! Of course, when organizing a festival, not without problems, “surprises” and headaches, but I already know what I’m going for. And I am glad to hear good words – about my determination that I have won everything and that the festival will be. Unfortunately, with restrictions, but we did not invent them, they are the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers because of the pandemic. Let people not take evil, and those who are dissatisfied with something, keep their negations to themselves.
How easy or difficult was it to get foreign guests to the festival due to the restrictions of the pandemic?
I didn’t get many of the musicians I wanted, because unfortunately they haven’t managed to get to their vaccine yet and they don’t know when they will. Many of us envy that we have the opportunity to literally run after us with a pot. This is not the case in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, with many still waiting in line. We have privileges, but people do not use them. Of course, everyone has their own choice, I’m just telling what’s going on elsewhere. But the festival will still be powerful. And the weather also pampers us – weather forecasters promise that the glow will release during the holidays. It will be cool!
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For the attention of festival visitors!
– The format of the event will be adapted both for listeners vaccinated against Covid-19 or already infected with the disease in the last six months, who will be able to present a printed or stored certificate (QR code) and for those who will be able to present a Covid-19 test in the last 48 hours or perform a Covid-19 rapid test with negative results within six hours
– A quick free Covid-19 test will be available at the entrance to the R&B Blues Festival both on Saturday and Sunday from 2 pm to 8 pm
– it will be possible to enter the event area from 3 pm
– Free entrance for children under 16 (accompanied by parents)
– Visitors are invited to arrange a comfortable seat so that they can safely enjoy a world-class blues performed by foreign and local artists.
– more information: www.rbbluesfestival.com
Video «Latvian Blues Band» – «Learning To Live»:
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