AIDS Day Event
On 1 December, the Andrejsala’s Machine Shop hosted the events for students and youths about the AIDS day, and during the event, there was shown an animation film created by the students of the Visual Communications department of the Latvian Academy of Arts – Piekritu – iekritu (I agree and I fall in).
By displaying understanding and support to those who were infected with HIV/AIDS, the event organizers requested the audience to paint stones and create an exhibition.
Representatives of the organization Youth against AIDS organized a quiz, during which the participants acquired new knowledge and answers to questions on HIV/AIDS, and representatives of Dia+Logs presented a lecture on HIV/AIDS with the purpose to contribute to people’s awareness regarding the equal rights of HIV infected individuals in every area of life.
Dance Music Event of “Skaņu mežs” (Forest of Sounds)
On 7 December, the Andrejsala’s Carpenter’s Workshop (club Colonel) hosted the untamed music forum’s “Skaņu mežs” (Forest of Sounds) event 1-2 cauri!, which focused on the hard end of the latest dance music trends. The concert hosted an American electronic music performer Drumcorps or Aaron Spectre, the Norwegian duo Next Life and the Estonian artist and musician Andres Lõo.
Techno Carnival 4
On 15 and 16 December the Garages on Andrejsala (for the first time), the Welding Shop and the Carpenter’s Workshop were filled with the spirit of techno music and packed with fans, too. The event had been advertised as “an unprecedented masquerade with this planet’s best electronic music” and that was taken care of by the famous guests from the UK (Paul ‘Damage’ Bailey and Max Duley) and Lithuania (Anna Lua) as well as local DJ’s and musicians.
A splendid visual image of the event was provided by Riga’s best video artists, who did create an unforgettable atmosphere thanks to the video installations made especially for this carnival. During the event, films were shown, exhibitions were held, and special art installations were presented both indoors and outdoors. It goes without saying that the organizers offered a number of entertaining activities and show programs characteristic of a carnival.
Ilva Kļaviņa’s and Raids Kalniņš’s One-Man Exhibitions
On 19 December, the project hall Canteen (Ēdnīca) of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (the Hull Shop) saw an almost simultaneous opening of two one-man exhibitions presenting the works of young, but totally different artists: Ilva Kļaviņa and Raids Kalniņš.
At the exhibition Avots (The Source) Ilva Kļaviņa presented her new paintings created under the influence of the Andrejsala environment as well as paintings that appeared in recent years, but that had not yet been seen by the general public. In the new series of works, the artist alluded to the atmosphere of factory shops – wall textures and paintings, functional design of heating radiators. The abstract fragments of old industrial interiors allow to paint compositions with tonal shades.
Raids Kalniņš’s exhibition Nelaime ciematā (Misfortune in a Town) was the first opportunity for the general public to take a closer look at the creative works of Raids Kalniņš. In the Latvian world of art, Raids is a personality standing apart. He takes a pleasure in dealing with comics in a consistent series-like narration format. With his nervous, sensitive “handwriting”, the artist has created horror-like landscapes and necrophilic motives, and in every one of his artworks, he narrates another misfortunate story. In paintings, Raids brings to life a successful last year’s grass firer, the dead coming out of graves and evil ghosts victimizing the unhappy ones. By using graphical and painting media, the artist develops diverse compositions based on necrophilia and horror story plots.
Legendary Latvian Rockers Rūsa Present Their Debut CD on Andrejsala
Everyone who arrived on Andrejsala almost on the eve of the New Year – on December 27 – at Andrejsala’s Carpenter’s shop, which roofs the club Nobody Writes to the Colonel... witnessed an unprecedented event in the Latvian music world: the legendary heavyweights Rūsa (Rust) celebrated the release of its first CD. One could say that there is nothing unusual to it these days, if not for a certain fact: this year Rūsa celebrates its 20th birthday...
In autumn 1987, Rūsa was formed by bass guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Viesturs Polikarps together guitarist Žerārs Filips. As the time passed, the band’s line-up changed several times, however, Viesturs has survived all those changes and has brought his trio to the recording of their first album. That is why he can be considered the group’s leader and its only driving force that, for all these years, has remained loyal to the same music style – energetic, loud rock music with a positive feel to it plus fairly straightforward lyrics in Latvian. Rūsa is sometimes called a Latvian answer to Motorhead, but Viesturs is sometimes compared to its leader, also a bass guitarist and vocalist Lemmy Kilmister. “When we started playing, I had absolutely no idea about Motorhead. If folks have found some kind of analogy, I am not going to protest”, – says Viesturs.
It took the band two years to record the album Uz pērkonkrēsliem (On Thunderstorm Chairs), and it includes a number of songs well known to the band’s fans – Lai dzīvo 8. marts (Long Live the 8th of March), Cik ilgi (How Long), Par nogurušām rotaļlietām (Of the Tired Toys) etc., which have always been a part of Rūsa’s concert repertoire. The major criterion for the choice of material was the way it sounded. The latest songs are represented in the album by some three or four of the new ones. One song is totally new, which comes as a bonus to the main part of the album. We recorded it with the present team, which now includes guitarist Jānis Levits and drummer Pauls Ozols,” told Viesturs. Indeed, the songs on the CD have been played much, and they are played well. One should not be surprised at the fact as 11 songs that originally were intended to be included in the album had been recorded with the former line-up, which included two recognized personalities of the Latvian hard rock scene, namely guitarist Guntars Endzelis and drummer Taras Kuzmenko.
During the CD presentation at Andrejsala’s Carpenter’s shop, Rūsa played all the songs of the album. Both the existing and the former line-ups came on stage to perform, giving the listeners a great opportunity to hear and compare two Rūsa’s in one evening. “The idea to hold a CD presentation came unexpectedly, and we did not have a chance to advertise the event well – the information on that was only on some websites. In spite of the fact, the news reached our fans, and there were quite a few listeners during the concert. They did establish the location of Andrejsala and arrived at the event. By the way, Andrejsala is an absolutely fantastic venue for events like that to be held here. It has a good aura, however, I have got a feeling that it is only attended by friends of artists and musicians as well as their friends’ friends. The event organizers should inform the general public about the location of Andrejsala, so that anyone who could be interested in whatever taking place there could learn and come. When I arrived on Andrejsala for the first time, that huge map with locations at the gate help me a lot to understand my whereabouts, but I really doubt it whether all people pay a lot of attention to it”, – Viesturs gave his opinion. He also promised to apply himself to record the latest songs for the second CD of Rūsa. Let us wait and see and also hope that its presentation will also take place on Andrejsala!
Listen to the songs by Rūsa: Lai dzīvo 8. marts (Long Live the 8th of March) and Mēs draugi (We Are the Friends)!
