Riga, February 4, LETA. This year, the group “Eolika” will receive the “Golden Microphone” annual award for music recordings for a lifetime contribution to the development of Latvian music, the representative of the award Gunita Strazdiņa informed LETA.
“Eolik”, originally called “Rainbow”, was created by students of Emils Dārziņš Special Music High School Boriss Rezņiks, Zigmunds Lorencs, Jurijs Kuzminovs, Eduards Novikovs and Juris Griņevs to raise money for a class excursion to St. Petersburg.
On October 28, 1966, their first performance took place, earning 40 rubles. The performance was so successful that the next offers to make music followed. They played at parties at schools in Riga, singing “The Beach Boys” songs in English, but soon began to compose themselves, most notably Lorenz and Reznik. Raimonds Pauls invited the new talents to the program of the Riga Stage Orchestra in 1967, when the name “Eolika” was adopted – inspired by the harp of the wind god Eola, says Strazdiņa.
In 1972, Reznik formed a new ensemble of musicians, who for five years was the accompanying stage ensemble for the LSSR Philharmonic soloist Alexander Sotikov. In 1977, a new, completely independent program with rock ande, jazz and blues compositions was sung, soloists Ilona Bāliņa and Ilona Stepanova, who were replaced by Ligita Zeile. “Eolika” won the All-Union Pop Competition in 1978, receiving a concert trip to Cuba, and performed in the Soviet Union and socialist countries.
Strazdiņa reminds that in 1980 the actively composing Rezņiks included singers Olga Rajeckas, as well as Daina Dobelnieks and Viktoras Zemgals. After Stepanova’s return, the Latvian “ABBA” became.
In addition to Reznik’s music, the repertoire also included works by Alexander Kublinsky and members of the group. With the songs “You Laugh in a Dream”, “The World, the World”, “Your Coming”, “Autumn Garden”, “Strawberry Field”, “I’m Not Jane’s Foundation”, “Daugava” and other popularity, as well as high places “Microphone “in song polls, several records have been released in Latvian and Russian. “Eolika” often performed on Moscow television, gave concerts in the USSR and socialist countries, further trips to the German Democratic Republic and Afghanistan.
After Rajecka left in 1985, Ruta Saleniece, Vija Ruskule and Andris Riekstins continued to sing. In 1987, Reznik’s rock opera “Robinson Cruz” was staged. In 1990, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the quartet with concerts, the activities of “Eolika” slowed down.
In 1996, with the release of the album “Collection” and performance at the festival “Liepājas dzintars”, the vocal quartet of the group “Eolika” returned to the stage. In the following years, new songs were recorded, record albums were released, and many concerts took place.
This year, the winners of the Music Record of the Year Award “Golden Microphone” will be announced on February 26, at the Riga Art and Media Technical School, and anyone interested will be able to watch it live on the channel “TV3” and the portal “TV3play”.
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