Three domestic guitarists release the album “Bērziņš Jaunais Smukais”

The album includes ten original compositions, and this is considered to be the first collection of guitar music compositions in Latvia, which combines three modern fingerstyle guitar playing virtuoso.

The new album is released in both stereo and Dolby Atmos sound formats, where you can listen to the songs in a multidimensional sound. The recording was post-processed by Kaspars Bārbals in the studio “Lauska”. The design of the album was created by Daina Jurķe.

A video for the song “Hijaz” by the album “Bērziņš Jaunais Smukais” by Reinis Jaunais has also been made.

“We are glad that we managed to make music together again, learn from each other, tell anecdotes and express ourselves creatively, but the main goal was to create an album that is not just a party for ourselves, but a festival where every listener will be able to find something close to them. , ”Says Jānis Bērziņš. “We wanted to see an album with different characters, and it came easy because we’re each from a different guitar camp. That’s why the new recording includes both ballads that touch the strings of the soul and more dynamic compositions that will make your feet beat the rhythm of the compositions. ”

“I am fascinated by how different it is possible to play one instrument – an acoustic guitar with metal strings,” emphasizes Reinis Jaunais. “We seem to have similar interests, but each with a different life experience, musical tastes and different stylistic directions. These differences are also felt in the album. In Jānis’ songs you can hear his nuanced academic touch and finely crafted tone, while in his compositions Gints demonstrates how emotionally, emotionally, at the same time technically complex and rhythmically accurate guitar can be played, noticing that it can also be used as a complete drum kit. It seems to me that I forgive the mood of the album as a hippie camp dressing with an underground scent. ”

“The album will also feature my melodies written eight or nine years ago, which, thanks to Jānis and Reinis, took their second breath,” reveals Gints Smukais. “Meeting music with these gentlemen reminded me of how simple and unconstrained music I wrote myself in the past and how vital it is for a musician not to forget that simplicity.”

Guitarist, arranger and composer Jānis Bērziņš has so far released two solo albums – “Alpīnists” (2019) and “Intervija” (2020). He has collaborated with many local artists on both classical and popular music projects. He graduated from the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford and the master’s program in jazz guitar at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. He has also been a winner of the international jazz artist competition “Riga Jazz Stage”.

Reinis Jaunais is a guitarist and composer who has been releasing a new original music album once a year since 2015. With the album “Earth”, he was nominated for the 2020 “Golden Microphone” award in the category “Instrumental or inter-genre music”. Radio and TV have also visited a lot, including outside Latvia. He has performed in most European countries, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, performing his original music.

Since 2011, Gints Smukais has regularly collaborated with well-known Latvian musicians in both classical and popular music. He is a member of the 2019 Walnut Valley International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship and the Fingerstyle Collective Intl ‘Fingerstyle Guitar Contest, as well as the 2017 Canadian Intl Guitar Festival Fingerstyle Contest. fingerstyle winner of a guitar competition.

–