Before Christmas, a new recording of Jānis Ruņģ’s song “Dies'” was made, performed by the mixed choir “Sōla” of the Latvian Academy of Culture. Its arrangement for the choir was created by the composer Andris Sējāns, while the recording was made by the sound engineer Mārtiņš Krastiņš in Riga’s Old Lutheran Church of Saint Gertrude.
The song “Dies'” first saw the light of day five years ago in Jānis Runģ’s debut album “Ārpus pratatus”. While waiting for the Christmas celebrations and celebrating the fifth anniversary of the album, Jānis has decided to realize a long cherished idea to hear the song “Dies'” performed by a mixed choir. It turned out that the arrangement of Jānis Runģ’s song created by Andras Sējānas, the conductor of the choir, and the choristers themselves, seemed absolutely appropriate for inclusion in both their Christmas program and the choir’s 25th anniversary program.
“I first learned about the song ‘Dies'” from the singer of “Sōlas”, Reiņa Vazdik, to whom Jānis had mentioned that he would like to hear this song performed by the choir,” says conductor Kaspars Ādamsons. “But it is one thing to hear about this fact, the other is to receive a recording of the song and also the notes of a high-quality choir arrangement. It happened at a very good time – the summer before the choir camp. The thoughts embedded in the text of Viktoras Kalniņš are also broad and meaningful, which are worth thinking about in everyday concerns. Therefore, we responded to this invitation, which led to the recording in Gertrude’s church in the fall. The choir and I are really happy about this meeting, which is also confirmed by the times we greet the celebrants of our own birthday or name day – the celebrant can then choose any song from the choir’s repertoire that you sang for us, and several times the choice has been exactly “Dies'”.
“This song is very special to me and is connected with an unusual story,” says Jānis Rungis. “One night, I had a vision that I was reading a poem by Aivars Neibarts, or Nyurbulis, and a melody immediately sounded in my head, which I later recorded on my phone. A month later, I approached Aija Andreeva, but she replied that I should sing the song myself, because it would sound much more personal. I spoke to Renar Kaupera, who even came to TRU Music Studio, where we worked on my debut album together with producer Gati Zaki, but Renar also had a similar comment that you should sing it yourself, because if he sang it, it would be like re-singing Imanta Daksha’s songs… I listened to my colleagues and around Christmas time I released the song I sang to the people, receiving many warm reviews. For example, from Jānis Šipkēvics, who wrote on my YouTube profile: “One of the best songs in our language. At all times. Well done.” And I also found out that I have actually created a song using Viktor Kalniņš’s or Vik’s poem “Helper to the atheist” from the 1986 collection “Elektroniskās pāgans”.
Jānis Rungis, after 2018’s “Arpus pratatus”, also released the albums “Dzīvojumi” and “Yggdrasil” which received the “Golden Microphone” in 2020, “Grads” in 2022 and three more film music albums. Two albums were also made with the group “Spāre” of Jānis, Matīs Čudars and Art Oruba – “MASA” (2017) and “kas ir viss?” (2018).
Original version of the song:
2023-12-22 21:01:39
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