Alis P's resurrection

There is this kind of music that you hear somewhere, and then you want to learn the language it's performed in. You want to understand it, and to feel it. That's what happened to me when I heard Latvian music - I really think there's hardly anything more beautiful than sung Latvian. And he sings...:


"There was a woman
Living at Wallpaper Street
She doesn't live there anymore
I no longer need her"

But we need him. He was silent for twenty years, now he's back. And he brought news songs in his guitar case. Not that I'd like all of them when hearing them for the first time. Some are sweet like marinated cucumbers, some are soft like amber. But as always, there is something mysterious in his voice, something that goes deep into you. A guitar that follows you on the street and doesn't leave you ever.
Listen here the fantastic song "Es gribu (iet gulēt)" ("I want (to go to sleep)"), from his new album "Uz priekšu (Onward)". And don't miss the other songs, some 20 years old.



He is Gundars Rullis. Gundars is Alis P., a poet and musician. And Gundars has his own "How to become Latvian" story: During the Soviet time, his family lived in exile in Sweden. He grew up and recorded his first album in Stockholm, where he still lives most of the time.
"Do you feel here, or there", I ask in incorrect Latvian.
"In between", he says.
"Another in-between person", I think.



Gundars recorded the new album in Latvia with his friends: Juris Kaukulis from Dzelzs Vilks ("Iron Wolf", a well-known local rock band) is an old friend with whom he used to play, also in songs by Dzelzs Vilks.
"Why do you sing in Latvian", I ask.
"Because I breathe this language", answers Juris.
"Most of the Latvian rock bands still sing in their mother tongue - how beautiful", I think.
And Gundars sings...:

"Diversity is the future
New generations are everything
we have
and will experience it all"

"Onward,
to where the sun shines,
where it will be better"

Come on,
let's go on
Restless with Gundars' guitar.

> An interview with Gundars and Juris here (in Latvian).