Translator: Raimonds Jaks Reviewer: Denise RQ
Basically, what I do is I hold the sticks in my hands.
This is a stick.
I just hit random things. That's what I do for living.
That's what I've been doing for as far as I can remember myself.
If you allow me for just a moment to demonstrate you some of my gear,
what I'm doing is I'm trying to get out all the DJs and steal their jobs,
because what I'm trying to do
is play the sounds, play electronic sounds on actually acoustic instruments.
Because also my acoustic drums can generate electronic sounds.
For one minute, I will just demonstrate and improvise on some beats for you.
(Applause)
(Music starts)
(Music ends)
(Applause)
These are old guys.
Some of them are new, some of them are old.
So, this guy decided, "I'm going to do a new sound for you."
I was like, "No, that's not the sound I wanted."
Some of my guys I love are analogue.
They are from the 80s. They are like girlfriends.
They just treat you differently each time.
(Laughter)
This guy gave me a little bit of hard time,
but I managed to survive.
People treat me as some kind of astronaut since I've been back in Latvia,
because I've been living abroad for a while.
Having all these cables, kind of looks like a space ship.
But it wasn't like that when I started my music career.
Actually, I was born in a place called Saldus.
That's a little town in Latvia, it looks like that.
Growing up as a kid, I was looking like an ordinary Latvian boy,
wearing a garter, dancing polka,
enjoying the beautiful connections with my grandmothers -
ladies, a little Soviet looking ladies.
The closest I could get to beats
was just playing xylophone in my school orchestra.
That was the only thing I could do.
However, I inhabited a fighting spirit
watching all those Jean-Claude van Damme movies.
Thank you, Jean.
The fighting spirit sort of reminded me
to sort of never give up, be the best in whatever you do, keep on pushing.
I knew there is a lot of great music out there that I didn't know.
So, I traveled. I went to Holland, I went to Denmark.
My dream was always to go to the United States.
That was my dream.
At that particular time, I was so much into like gospel music, R&B, neo soul,
all the Afro-American styles that were so helpful to me.
Thanks to the Fulbright scholarship,
I actually traveled to Philadelphia, New York.
I had a chance to actually get in the scene
try to understand the people.
But things weren't easy for me,
because the scene is huge the musicians, the level was so high.
Coming from Saldus, I was like, "Oh, man! That's crazy!"
But I practiced a lot,
and I kind of felt like I had something to show them.
I remember this particular session.
Musicians have jam sessions
where a lot of great musicians meet and improvise on the spot.
There was this one jam session where all the all-stars were performing,
who play for Beyonce, Lady Gaga, all these amazing artists.
All the musicians were there, in this club.
I remember going there for weeks, weeks after weeks just exploring the music,
trying to get on the stage.
I was just pushed away.
They told me, "Ah, man, who are you? Just get out."
Because I don't look like a typical gospel drummer.
I don't know, if you've seen gospel drummers.
Do I look like a gospel drummer?
I don't think so.
So, they didn't know who I was.
I was like, "Please give me one minute.
I'll just share what I have on the drums. For one minute."
They said, "No. You have no chance.
Just, you can stay, have a drink; but no, no way."
So, months passed; this one time, the stage was empty.
No one was on the stage.
I was there just standing looking at the stage with drums everything.
Jean-Claude told me, "Get on the stage and play!"
(Laughter)
(Applause)
I was shaking.
I was in panic, I was like,
"But it's going to be weird, like people are just ... am I just going to ...?"
"Yes! Get on the stage!"
(Laughter)
I was like, "OK, I'm going to do it."
So, I walked on the stage.
I saw guys turning around,
"What the ... Who the ...?"
I was like, "Hmm ... get me ...!"
I was on the stage. I took the drum sticks.
He was like, "Play! Play!"
I put the drum stick on this right cymbal,
and it was just bouncing from how nervous I was.
I was just frightened.
"Please! God! Help me! What should I do with my hand?"
Then my foot was on the bass drum pedal.
It was bouncing as well, like, "Pum pum pum pum!"
I was like, "Yeah, that's a great beat.
What should I do?"
He was like, "Be confident! You are the lion!"
I was like, "Yeah! I am the lion! Who's the lion? Who's the lion?"
So, I just started playing,
I just gave my all, I played the beats,
I played, basically everything I knew at that time.
I saw the reaction on people's faces.
They were like, "Oh, man! This guy can play!"
Then, after I got a standing ovation,
and everybody was my friend; all of a sudden.
So, I was walking home like,
"I am the happiest man in the world. I am the happiest man in the world."
After that day, my life changed.
Something important happened to me.
What I want to mention for you is I overcame my greatest fear.
I knew I was trying to find my comfort zone in someone's weaknesses.
Let's say there's a great musician performing, I see him do a mistake,
I'm like, "Oh, he's only human."
Or my competitors performing;
they mess up, I'm like, "Yeah, I'm better."
After that, I became one of them in my mind that I can do it,
I was grateful for the great things they did.
When they messed up, I was like, "OK, it happens."
I'm going to go back to this story afterwards.
I slowly got into the scene by that.
I got gigs for smaller gospel churches. But things still weren't easy.
I was still pushed away.
Because I started playing in some churches they were like, "Who are you? OK, OK."
There was a lot for me to learn and observe.
But I sort of took all this skepticism and ignorance from those people,
because I was so different from them.
I wasn't an Afro-American, I was just a kid from Saldus.
But I turned it into energy, and I focused on three aspects.
First: was being present to the scene, where you actually perform.
I was always there, whatever happened.
Second, hard work.
I practiced like crazy.
I practiced 15 hours every day,
being very specific, what I have to do and focusing on my weaknesses.
The third, the most important
was, when I by living there, by being present in the scene,
in New York, in Philadelphia, all these cities that are so powerful and authentic,
I actually grew some kind of seeds inside me.
So, the music naturally came out.
I could perform those styles like a gospel musician.
But I did them differently, in my unique way.
That's when I got the biggest gigs,
I started performing for artists like Cuba Gooding, Betty Wright,
with some of the best R&B bands in the United States,
with some of the largest gospel choirs.
I fulfilled my dreams.
I had doubts that I am going to do it,
because I wasn't a two-year old Afro- American kid,
who grew up in the church.
So, I'm back in Latvia,
and what I want to share with you
is there are lots of ideas,
things can get sometimes very heavy on your shoulders.
When you a bright idea,
people will firstly tell you all the negative aspects of it,
all your weaknesses, or something that you need to improve,
but most importantly, you should tell what's great about it,
because that will not only lift the scene, the people you're surrounded by,
but you will find great ideas
that you can use in your business, your music, your art, whatever.
Driven by that idea, I've been doing open sessions, workshops
with the best singers, beat makers, artists in Latvia
to open people up for new things and be embracing for the different.
That has influenced my music as well.
That being said, I would like to introduce you to Leila Alijeva
(Applause)
Jānis Ruņģis
(Applause)
Misters Misters
(Applause)
and the dance group "Dzirnas", with Līga Pāvels.
Thank you.
(Music starts)
(Music ends)
(Applause)