There will be an annual Group Shirt Day to support musicians

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According to LR representative Ieva Aile, on the last Friday of August, everyone is invited to put on a T-shirt with a favorite band or artist, posting a picture on social networks with encouragement to musicians, for whom this year is especially important due to the restrictions created by Covid-19. A donation phone will also be opened to help raise funds for hit musician Gunārs Meijers, who is facing serious health problems.

The Group Shirt Day is organized by Latvian Radio music channels – the Latvian popular music channel Latvijas Radio 2, the initiators of the Group Shirt Day initiative Latvijas Radio 5 – “Pieci.lv” and the alternative music radio station NABA in cooperation with the non-governmental organization “Fonds līdzskaņa”.

The pioneers of the group shirt day initiative – the youth multimedia platform Latvijas Radio 5 – “Pieci.lv”, will perform compositions of musicians whose pictures have been published on social networks with the theme #GrupuKrekluDiena on August 28 throughout the day. All you need to do is put on the T-shirt of your favorite group, take a photo and publish it on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with some encouragement, story or wish and the theme of the day.

According to the representative of the Republic of Latvia, the experience of previous years shows that an increasing number of fans are involved in publishing #GroupKrekluDienas photos and public homage to musicians – if a few hundred pictures were published in the first year, then last year the activity increased to half a thousand.

In turn, the employees of “Pieci.lv” call – if someone has not yet taken care of the T-shirt of their favorite group, they can and should still do it. One of the possibilities is to visit the charity shop of the “Fonds līdzskaņa” website www.lidzskana.lv. The assortment is available in a wide range, from “Singapore satin” shirts to “Carnival Youth” and “Brainstorm”. All proceeds from the charity shop are channeled to support musicians in difficulty.

For the first time, the alternative radio and program radio station Latvijas Radio 6 – NABA will join the activities of the Group Shirt Day. During the day, conversations with musicians will take place and the favorite “T-shirt” music for NABA audiences will be played. Several talks are also planned with those musicians who are actively involved in the activities of “Fonds therskaņa” and with their contribution support the collection of donations – for example, the group “Tesa”, “Dairy Adventures”, etc.

“Thank you to the colleagues of Latvian Radio that, for the second year in a row, we can provide support to those Latvian musicians who need help the most. Music is what accompanies us on a daily basis, delights, soothes and heals difficult life situations. And, this is the day When given to the giver, we can be proud of our favorite bands or soloists, show everyone their favorite musician ‘s shirt and support those musicians who are having a hard time at the moment, “invites Liena Grīna, the director of” Fonds Pikskaņa “. The project partner – “Fonds līdzskaņa” – was founded in 2016 with the aim of providing support to musicians who are in difficulty and over the years has already helped 20 musicians and their families. “

On the Day of Latvian Radio 2 Group Shirts, Gunārs Meijers – one of the most popular Latvian popular music singers, who will be associated with the legendary compositions “Meitene” and “Ramona” from time to time, is especially invited to support. Gunārs Meijers has been facing serious health problems since the beginning of the year and the need to ask for financial support to cover medical expenses. The musician has type 2 diabetes, which affects mobility difficulties. Doctors have found significant narrowing of blood vessels, which severely affects the health of the legs with a high risk of amputation. The musician also needs eye surgery, specialized medication, specialist visits and rehabilitation. The total cost of treatment is measured in several thousand euros.

From August 17, a donation phone 90006480 (one call + 1.42 euros) will be opened to support Gunārs Meijers. During the week from August 24 until the Group Shirt Day, the compositions performed by the singer will be intensified in the rotation of Latvijas Radio 2. On August 28, Latvian Radio 2 broadcasters will share their stories about and around Gunārs Meijers, for example, how the author’s program of the main music editor Roberts Buivids was created, which started every Friday night with Gunārs Meijers’ song “When Friday is here and evening is late, over the boulevards the brightest stars start shining for you… “

A similar campaign to support musicians is taking place elsewhere in the world. In the UK, it was launched in 2007 by BBC6 host Steve Lamacq, inviting listeners to go to work on his old favorite band’s shirt, post these pictures on social networks and thus directly influence his choice of music during Shirt Day. On the other side of the world, in Australia, Group Shirt Day is used specifically to support Australian music and radio listeners are encouraged to wear shirts by Australian artists. In turn, the team of Latvijas Radio 5 – Pieci.lv was inspired by the Estonian public media pop music radio “Raadio 2”. Last year, 4005 euros were donated as part of the Group Shirt Day, of which four musicians have already been helped through the “Fonds therskaya” – the group “Juuk” and the ensemble “Manta” member Raitis Viļumovs and his family, the founder and soloist of the group “Dodo” Ģirts Koknevics, singer and vocal teacher Inga Puhova and long-time performer of the Latvian Radio and TV Stage and Light Music Orchestra Valda Rudzite.

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