Rigas Ritmi Festival celebrate its anniversary with musical power - the second day

The international improvisation, jazz and world music festival Rigas Ritmi continue to celebrate its 20th anniversary. On July 3 energy-rich concerts took place both in the Old Riga open-air restaurant No Problem and in the jazz cafe Sidrērija.

 

Already the performance of the group of guitarist Rihards Lībietis, whom he calls more proudly as an orchestra, at the restaurant No Problem showed an energetic musical evening. Using common words in the world of music - a thorough drive and a groove. Or a great feeling, realizing that already with the first chords, the musicians have started to enjoy the evening of the second day of the festival on the stage and the spectators only have to let go and join.

 

As Richard said, instrumental music has a magical power that can take away different sensations. Both mind-boggling and meditative. He proved this perfectly with the group. The most thorough support of Rihards at the concert was another guitarist Gints Smukais, who will perform as a solo artist at the Rigas Ritmi Festival Olainfarm Jazz Nights event on December 11 at the Kaļķu vārti club.

 

Pianist Edgars Cīrulis and his quartet took care of a more intimate, but no less felt atmosphere in the jazz cafe Sidrērija. Kristīne Liede stood out with her wonderful vocals, and the band did not have to look far for recognition - the concert was thoroughly supported by music lovers. You just can't find more space in the former Trumpet concert hall.

 

Meanwhile, the singer Rūta Dūduma performed as the second act of the evening in restaurant No Problem. She is always able to surprise with inexhaustible energy and positive vibe on the stage. The constant interactions with the musicians of the accompanying group, including her husband, pianist Jānis Ķirsis, fascinate the viewer's mind, make them smile childishly naively and dance even in a sitting position.

 

The concert also featured more serious notes, such as Rachmaninov's romances soaked in jazz, but basically Rūta demonstrated what makes her special on the Latvian jazz scene - the ability to undress even the most famous jazz standards ("Summertime", "My Favorite Things", "It Don 't Mean a Thing”), dress them in funny costumes, playing with them for some time, then undressing them again and dressing back in former outlook, not loosing listener’s attention.

 

"My favorite concert of the festival so far!" confirmed Christoph Giese, a reviewer of the German jazz magazine Jazzthetik, overturning the thoughts that the compositions of the standard repertoire are hardly what foreign specialists are coming to hear Riga for. Probably the artist's belief in what he or she is doing works on both listeners and experienced critics.

 

The second day of the festival ended with an enthusiastic jam session in the jazz cafe Sidrērija. It prepares for the closing jam session of the festival's summer leg on July 4 as well as the concert by great festival project Riga Jazz Stage Talents. It is formed by best local participants of international jazz performers competition Riga Jazz Stage happening every spring. 

 

In the open-air restaurant No Problem there will be a party of Latvia's most attractive jazz-funk, Balkan music, surf rock and various other positively charged music styles band Very Cool People. For the first time they will present program of instrumental music album coming out next year. The temporary name of that is Rambo, so further comments are probably unnecessary.

 

In the second part of the evening, Very Cool People will play with singer Aija Andrejeva, offering a tribute program to the legendary Janis Joplin. This is a project that has matured for ten years and will finally be performed at full capacity on the 20th anniversary of the Rigas Ritmi festival. Fans of good music should not run this evening in other winds.

In addition, admission to all summer concerts of the festival is free.

 

Photo gallery of day 2