How to Pronounce Imants Kalniņš
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May 26, 1941 Riga, Latvia 82 years old
Latvian composer
GeminiImants Kalni - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Imants Kalni, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Imants Kalni
- Imants Kalninš (born 26 May 1941 in Riga, Latvian SSR) is a Latvian composer, musician and politician.
- Having studied classical, as well as choral music, he has written six symphonies, several operas (including the first rock opera in the USSR, Ei, jus tur! (Hey, you there!)), oratorios, cantatas, choir songs, a lot of movie and theater music.
- However, he is generally best known for his rock songs and is to be considered the first composer of intellectual rock music in Latvia. During the 1960s, Kalninš led the Liepaja rock band 2xBBM, which was extremely loved because of its heartfelt songs and hippy-like lifestyle.
- Kalninš became the symbol of the spirituality, rebellion and worldview of the generation, and it was emphasized by the fact the band was forced to stop playing because of the pressure from official institutions.
- However, this doesn't stop the music of Kalninš from being heard - it is played by the incredibly popular band Menuets (Latvian for 'minuet'), which plays songs almost exclusively by Kalninš. During the 1970s, Kalninš returned to writing symphonic music.
- In 1984, he wrote the rock oratorio Ka jura, ka zeme, ka debess (Like the sea, like the earth, like the sky) together with Juris Kulakovs and Juris Sejans.
- The oratorio was the first thing played by the band Perkons ('Thunder') for the general public.
- With it Kalninš returned to rock and roll once more.
- He wrote many new songs for Perkons, and these same songs led him to start his own band, Turaidas Roze ('The Rose Of Turaida').
- However, the band never gained the recognition and adoration that Menuets and Perkons did. During the third awakening of the Latvian people, when Latvia regained independence, Kalninš took part actively in Tautas Fronte (Popular Front) political organization, which played the most important part in ending Latvia's occupation by the USSR. The festival most associated with Kalninš is the Imantdienas ('The Days of Imants'), extremely popular during the Soviet times and therefore banned.
- The tradition was reintroduced in 1995, and since then has happened every year (with the exception of 1997, when the composer was away on a trip, and 2009 – in the time of economic downturn).
- It has remained at least as popular as before. Lately Imants Kalninš has been working together with the well-known Latvian musician Ainars Mielavs, and their collaboration has resulted in some of the most excellent albums containing primarily music by Kalninš, such as Par lietam, kas ta ar' nekad nepariet (About things that never truly go away) (1997), Es redzeju sapni (I Saw in a dream) (1998) and I Love You (1999; despite the title, the lyrics are mostly in Latvian in this album). In 2000, music for the 1973 movie Put, vejini (Blow, wind, blow) was re-recorded by the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra as well as many recognized singers. Kalninš also composed the song "Pilseta, kura piedzimst vejš" ("In the city where the wind is born"), the anthem of Liepaja. Imants Kalninš has been one of the most loved composers in Latvian music for the past half-century, and his phenomenon is showing no sign of fading. He is also a politician, member of the 8th and 9th Saeima for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK. In April 2015, Kalnins converted to Islam.
