A citizen of the world with a busy concert schedule
The extravagant and communicative guitarist Reinis Jaunais had released his ninth album “Vārdi” already in May, but until now he had not been able to play it publicly for the Latvian public – from May 21 to the end of June, Reinis had about 20 concerts in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy.
Also after the July 13th concert at the Wagon Hall, Reinis (this time together with The Flamenco Thief or Craig Sutton from Great Britain, whom he met at a festival, and now both have helped each other several times in organizing concerts) visited some places here in Latvia, but now plans to go to Vilnius, Kaunas, Tallinn and Helsinki, as well as participate in the “Hoovus” festival in Estonia. Reiņa Jaun’s name can also be found on the posters of the “Summer Sound” festival (of course, in the penultimate line) – on August 5, he is scheduled to perform on the “Extravaganza” stage together with Daniele Mammarella (Italy). If you add to all of this the photos of Reinas seen on social networks from small concerts in New Zealand and other no less distant places, then it becomes clear that we are dealing with a real citizen of the world, and a damn musically talented one at that.
Less words this time, more music
A bit of the official biography. Reinis Jaunais is a guitarist, singer and composer from Riga, who since 2013 has released a new album of original music with intense (and enviable) regularity almost once a year. The studio masterpiece “Bērziņš Jaunais Smukais” was also released last year together with two more virtuoso guitarists – Jānis Bērziņu and Ginta Smuko. Reinis has performed in most European countries, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, performing his original music.
However, he is also known as a great storyteller. When the reviewer saw and heard this musician “live” for the first time – it was some three years ago in the covid-free “Rīga rhythms” -, Reinis forced himself to write in the “This should be seen again” section of the notebook with his adventure stories inserted between the compositions as if by chance. That’s why it was all the more surprising to hear Reini and his team play the first four or five compositions non-stop at the already mentioned concert in the Wagon Hall without any conversations. As Reinis later admitted, this time he deliberately left the speaking to the end of the concert so that he could play more, but he still had to slow down to tune the guitar, which you can’t do in complete silence…
Astonishes both with guitar playing and visualizations
Together with Reini, the fantastic new generation cellist Erna Daugaviete and multi-instrumentalist Harijs Vagrants performed together with Reini, who brought the mood of global music to the program, playing the Persian santur, the “rav vast” drum, the Indian harmonium and other instruments that the average Latvian listener probably doesn’t even know the names of. It was supplemented by the Drawing Theater led by the director Vari Klausitaitus and the illustrator Lote Vilma, who is also known as a poet, creator of the program “Bronchitis”, author of the books “Tornis” and “Meitene”. During the concert, a large-scale painting was created right there on the stage, born out of improvisation, which was another amazing aspect of this musical performance, because this kind of concert visualization had not been seen before.
Reinis himself was once again enthralled with his guitar playing, which did not lack either “finger style” demonstrations or the involvement of modern technology in the form of “looping”, which all together created an exciting performance. This time, I would also like to highlight Erna Daugavieti, who was allowed by the main character of the concert to play her heart out, to sing, and even to play her first and only composition (at least it was announced by Erna herself) “Vētra”, which will also have a video in August – I must say, don’t miss it, because it is an excellent piece! After the concert, Reinis was not let off the stage for a long time with standing ovations (he himself hardly wanted to leave it either…), while later the guitarist thanked his listeners on social networks: “Thank you so much for being at the concert, friends! It’s been several days, but I’m still flying. I had never received so much resonance, recordings dedicated to the event, “story mention” and other things after one concert! Thank you very much for the kind words – they encourage and inspire me to continue. You are great!”
For the first time, it does without instrumental compositions
About the album itself. In the creation of its 13 songs, poetry created by six contemporary authors is used – in “Vārdos” you can hear lines of poetry by Anna Sintijas Ivanova, Mārs Salējs, Nora Jakovelas, Daiņas DeiijĆels, Jana Egles and Haralds Miller played in Reina’s original music. The new work was mixed in both stereo and “Dolby Atmos” version by Kaspars Bārbal in the studio “Lauska”. Cellist Erna Daugaviete participated in almost all the songs, “I lost myself” was sung by Katrīna Dimantas, and in “Pārdomās” wind instruments were played by Krists Kazaks from the group “All Day Long” and Kapteinis Reinis.
Here again, Reinis Jaunais presents his suggestive and masterful guitar playing in his own special manner, accentuated with finger taps on the body of the guitar. The viewer’s favorite compositions are “Marsa Parks” and “Pārdomas” kept in jester tempos, the song “Domu krūbi” is also interesting, while the composition “While the sky is still blue” should be noted thanks to Daugaviete’s elegant cello playing. The song “Loneliness” is almost a rock song, but it’s hard to agree with myself whether it can be marked with a plus or minus because of its uniqueness, due to the questionable text and the strange structure of the song. Overall, this album is certainly commendable.
“For the first time, no instrumental composition is included in any of my albums,” emphasizes Reinis. “Before I started writing music for this album, I read a lot of poetry collections. These poets must have created more magnificent word combinations than I could ever write myself! I deliberately chose authors who often undeservedly go unnoticed in the musicians’ environment. With my new album, I also try to break the stereotype that it is difficult to create songs using the words of young poets, because it is said that the poems lack rhythm and rhyme. It was a good motivation for me to start creating new songs.”
2023-07-23 02:15:22
#Reinis #Jaunais #stops #Latvia
