A big added value to the festival is the opportunity to donate to Ukrainian children?! How did the idea come about?
There are many who think that we are collecting money for weapons, the army, I emphasize that we are collecting money for children, we are worried about children, we want them to have the opportunity to come to Latvia to rest, to sleep in peace and quiet, without sirens and the sounds of explosions. The donation is made in cooperation with “Ziedot.lv”. We hope that people near the television screens will be responsive and call the number – 9000 6861 (call price – 4.27 euros) at least once. You can support the initiative by donating on the website zidot.lv also now. I organized the festival mainly so that people would not forget that the war continues, nothing is over. Everyone is preoccupied with their own problems, and the situation in Ukraine remains in the background, it should not be.
PHOTO: Alice Schultz, f64
This year there were also parties after each day of the festival?
Yes, we held small events, the purpose of which is to thank the artists for coming, to show that I appreciate them and their talent. It’s time to be together. Artists from Ukraine, Estonia, England, Portugal and Latvia performed this year. The artists thanked for being invited and told us to invite other years as well, nothing is better than hearing that they want to come again.
Your friends Alla Pugacheva and Maksim Galkin also supported you every day!
Maksims sang in Latvian, Alla supported – it was very beautiful, like all unplanned things. We often meet Maksim and Alla on a daily basis too, if we are all in Jūrmala and have not traveled anywhere.
The main thing is the opportunity to be together. The Russian press also took advantage of the fact that Alla and Maxim supported me at the festival. I invited Ukrainian soldiers who are undergoing rehabilitation at the Vaivaru Rehabilitation Center. I took a picture with them, Alla was not even there, but the Russian press “edited” her in the photos to start discussing whether to grant Alla the status of a “foreign agent”.
You yourself often come across Russian media propaganda!
Before the festival, they wrote not to buy tickets, that I had an argument with Alla, that Pugačova was asking for a huge amount of money to perform, everything was done to discredit the festival, to create awareness that you should not go, that it is a political event. I don’t care myself, I don’t read the Russian press, I only know what someone tells me.
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PHOTO: Alice Schultz, f64
You are referred to as a “nursing mother” in almost all articles!
I was asked a question about myself then, and I answered as myself. During the USSR, each of us, the people who were not in power, supported the USSR. People living at that time know how low wages were. Thank God it all fell apart.
Do you miss Russian TV shows, concerts in arenas and the glamorous life?
For the last 15 years, I have been traveling around Ukraine with concert tours, everything happened to me on time, as it should happen, and I had said that I would not go to Russia. The last tour in Ukraine was just before the war – at the end of 2021. Most of my musicians are Ukrainians, and the dancers are also Ukrainians.
What about friends and acquaintances from Russian show business who once performed at your festival, and friendship in the wind, it does not cause a feeling of bitterness?
Everything is very simple – everything comes and goes in the distance. I think they are just afraid to speak, the situation is terrible, if they say what they really think, they will go to jail, there is terror there. I could never even imagine that we would experience this. I felt more changes in my life during the pandemic, when I literally retired in one day – I couldn’t go anywhere. Right now I have my goal, why I work!
PHOTO: Alice Schultz, f64
why do you work
Let people not forget that there is a war. I tell every musician that as soon as the war ends, we will all meet at concerts in Ukraine. Before the pandemic, the last “Lyme Rendezvous” was in Odessa, it would be nice to return later and start again with Odessa as well. I would like to go to Ukraine now and give moral support, but you have to understand the possibilities, if you were 20 years younger, you would have been there a long time ago.
I watch the news every day, I’m up to date on everything, I try to look at everything calmly, precisely because I’m worried. I can’t stay a day without information.
2023-08-19 11:00:12
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