The faithful 4th bus
The conversation takes place in the tidy atmosphere of the Kalnciem quarter, with its ancient wooden architecture, which, by the way, is also the district of Jānis Ozol’s childhood days: he lived in the nearby Slokas Street and wanted to become the driver of the 4th bus: “Yes, yes exactly the driver of the 4th bus, because we drove to our family’s garden with the bus of this number, and watching the driver press the many buttons on the front panel of the bus, as well as change the gears, I liked to dream that I too would get to all this one day,” smiles Jānis.
Buses are hardly able to remember anything, even more so: their ability to attach to someone sincerely and faithfully is questionable, but the irony of fate is that the 4th bus follows Jānis: “The bus has now changed its route and is going to Piņkai – to the place where on Mondays and on Wednesdays there are rehearsals for the choir “Mask”: “Now my choirs travel more with this bus, but yes – the bus and my paths still lead to the same places.”
Garden school, visible from the window of the house
In Jānis Ozol’s life, not only a bus is fatal, but also a house, about which there is a whole story: according to the territorial distribution, or rather, according to the place of residence, Jānis had to study in a nearby German school, but since Jānis’ family’s home was opposite a completely different one school – the legendary Dārziņi, and you could see it from the window – the parents took their son to the forge of Latvia’s most outstanding young musicians: “Not very willingly, but they accepted me. Dad struggled a bit, but it was probably not that difficult, because I had already sung in the children’s vocal ensemble “Atvasites”, I was even a soloist, because my hearing was good,” remembers Jānis.
Garden holiday in the family circle. 2 min
The Great Teacher
At the Garden School, Jānis met one of the most important people in his life, whom he calls the Great Teacher, who – oh, what an honor! – happily agreed to greet his students on their anniversary. It is Ozola’s namesake brother, the excellent conductor and pedagogue Jānis Ehrenštreits, with whom, it seems, everyone in Latvia associates the Dom Choir School and the boys’ choir movement in general, especially the Dārziņškola boys’ choir, which once played together with Maestro Raimonds Paula.
“Jānis and I met when he was seven or eight years old,” Ehrenstreit begins his speech warmly. “He was a bit lanky, like a real choir boy, but Jānis had a very respectable quality: he never flinched, he had that attitude from an early age.”
Ehrenstrait for Oak2min
Ehrenstreit also noticed that Jānis lived very close to the school, in the opposite house, but he was one of the last to arrive at the school. But the Great Teacher says it very subtly. “Let’s put it this way: Jānis had a very deep sleep and a good nervous system,” smiles the experienced teacher. “Jānītis entered the morning rehearsals when the others had already sat down and started rehearsing their voices. And he entered very nicely: quietly, without knocking on the door – as if two centimeters above the floor.”
Ozols, now an internationally recognized musician, now blushes a little after the Teacher’s amusing memory of his childhood sleepover. “I’m not a morning person these days: waking up early always causes difficulties for me. But here is Ehrenstreit – he is my Teacher number 1! He trained us with sincerity and love,” Jānis comments with respect, reverence and sincerity at the same time. Because really: Ehrenstreit had hundreds of students, hundreds of boys who sang in his choir over the years, but he remembers everyone!
Ehrenstreit’s prophecies, which Oak reveals publicly for the first time
After evaluating Ozol’s musicality and abilities as a conductor, Ehrenstreit returns to the first values: the family and Jānis’ three children, which require constant vigilance and care, which, according to Ehrenstreit, belongs to the formula of masculinity.
“Jānis is also one of those great ones for fine artistswho also had his own recipe blog and who inspired us with his cooking shows,” Ehrenstreit rejoices and, congratulating his former choir boy on his birthday, expresses his confidence that “Jānis Ozols will also be the chief conductor of the next Song Festival, that the Maska choir will become about the world top choirs, and the Jūrmala choir competition for a place where such choirs can meet! Happy birthday!”
Touchingly thanking the Teacher for his congratulations, Ozols is surprised: “Look, look! Ehrenstreit hit the top ten! This is the first program in which I officially announce: starting next year, the Jūrmala International Baltic Choir Competition will become the big stage of the European “Grand Prix!” “
Loud and long applause should be heard now, because for choirs this level means the same as the “Formula 1” stage for car drivers, the National Basketball League for basketball players or the National Hockey League for hockey players. Today, in music, we are still playing in the world’s top league! What’s more – we get the leading places there!
“Cosmish”
“Cosmish” – it calls itself not only the once so popular and professionally skilled the chapel members of the group “Cosmos”, which also made Jāni Ozola a celebrity. The word “kosmīši” also refers to the family members of the guys in the group: wives and children. Probably because playing music in the band was a way of life that affected the members of all the boys’ families, as well as because the time of the band’s existence in the history of Latvian music marks an important, specifically “Cosmos” way of musical thinking.
“Our first performance was at the then president Vaira Vīkes-Freiberga. It was December 20, 2002, when we were still a completely unknown group, we didn’t even have a name yet – we got to “Cosmos” only later,” remembers Jānis. “We started with academic music, including the compositions of Pēter Vaskas, he himself evaluated our performance very positively at the time. But later, especially after our first disc, which became surprisingly popular, even gaining the status of a gold or platinum disc, then came “Jaunais vilnis” and “Eurovision”, and we were forced to say goodbye to classical music. Unfortunately,” Jānis Ozols, a member of the famous group, spread his hands.
“Cosmos” high-speed train run and the view from the conductor’s stand
It is needless to say that after such a long period of intensive music together on various stages of the world, the guys still feel close mutual ties: “During Kovid, by the way, we went to the sauna with the kosmiš guys – the band members. And we lived there for three days. That’s how we was such a creative camp, and we wondered: what to do? Maybe we should unite and start doing something together again? We also looked at old videos, because Šipiti (group member Jānis Šipkēvics – ed.) always had a camera with him at concerts, he has filmed a lot. And funny: we all looked and none of us remembered: where was it? Where was it? And where was it? – at that time we performed so many concerts that we were not at home at all: a concert, quickly home, I went to the rehearsal of the “Mask” choir, left again, another concert. And so countless times, until the places get confused, the stages get confused, the years get confused and you don’t even remember the seasons,” laughs the former member of “Cosmos”, adding that at the same time, nothing compares to the honor and joy of standing here in Latvia on the platform of the conductor’s stand, in the beautiful In the forest park, in a crown surrounded by choristers and spectators.
“You bastard, you did it.” 2min
2023-11-25 07:12:50
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