The leader of the group “Dakota” Edvīns Zariņš / Article has passed away

Edvīns Zariņš was born in Riga in 1954, grew up with his grandmother in Čiekurkalns and at the age of 4 he started learning to play the violin, which he also learned at the Riga Children’s Music School. As a teenager, the next musician became fascinated with sports – hockey and football were played, and Zariņš was also involved in martial arts.

But at the age of about 14, he got his first guitar. First, of course, copied foreign bands, Edwin joined the school first, then the TTP club ensemble as a guitarist and began writing his first songs. Gunārs Freidenfelds became the leader of this group, unofficially called “Prauli”. And Edvīns Zariņš calls the 1972 “Liepāja Amber” his first great stage experience.

The next ensemble was formed with Kaspars Dimiters and Ivars Godmanis, whose repertoire consisted of songs by the group “Creedence Clearwater Revival”.

After serving in the army, Zariņš joins the musicians of Bauska, their party ensemble gradually becomes the staff of the local house of culture, which in 1979 was named “Dalderi”. Almost since then, Zariņš’s repertoire has included the self-composed song “Yellow Curtains”. “Dalderi” existed until 1983, in the following years Zariņš continued to play music on his own, until 1988 he renewed “Dalderi” with other musicians, but the life of this project was not long either.

In 1996, Edvīns Zariņš formed the country group “Dakota”. At that time, this style was not yet very popular in Latvia, so in the first years of operation, the team of musicians led by Zariņš often performed in Lithuania, where the first concert of this ensemble took place. “Dakota’s” first album (“Klaidoņa pasakas”) was nominated for the Latvian Music Record of the Year Award, the second (“Evening Five”) and the third (“Everything Will Be”) won it, almost all of their songs are composed by Edvīna Zariņa.

In 2013, Edvīns Zariņš was admitted to the Latvian Musicians’ Hall of Fame in Liepāja, according to him Latvian Radio Archive.

We offer to listen to the 2015 Latvian Radio interview with musician Edvīna Zariņa:

–