“Skonai” is singing latgalically in Rēzekne municipality and throughout Latvia
In December, Rēzekne's provincial studio “Skonai” celebrated his 5-year anniversary with various events. The most important of these was the concert “Sasatikšonuos”, in which “Skonai” children and young people were pleased with both familiar compositions and new songs. In addition to the musical festivals, two professional founders of the vocal studio, Guntras Kuzmina-Yukna, were presented, the song Krajums “Sirdsgelna”, where Guntras's original compositions with Latvian author texts and musical configurations of the Latgalian peoples are present, and the children's song cd “Rootal” dedicated to the memorial of the poet Onton Slišana and recorded with Skonai's smallest singer. They are supported by the financial support of the Latgale Region Development Agency, the State Culture Capital Fund and A/S “Latvian State Forests”. Co-financing was provided by the municipality of Rezekne and THE parish administration OF Bērzgales.
On how the name of the group, who sings in the studio, and what the last five years have been, the conversation with the studio artistic manager, Guntru Kuzmina-Yuknu:
“When i was studying in Riga, there was always a dream of returning to Latgale, making my vocal study, and i always knew that the name should be latgalically, meaning to sound!” The schooner has a Latgalian grandname and i liked it very much – there was no idea that it would be the name of a vocal studio.
The “schooner” is singing talented, open children of Rezekne and young people who are stubborn to realise our common goals and dreams. We have quite high admission criteria - all participants have left the selection. The group contains nearly 60 members, four large groups aged 4 to 25. Such a team must be able to inspire and hold together. Therefore, in order to diversify attempts and children, moving on stage, the “Skonai” schedule shows various kinds of physical activities and dances led by dance teacher Edgars Yukna. Players play, play different communication games, develop rhythm feelings, movement coordination, plastics and dance elements improvisation. It is very necessary for the contemporary musical scene. During these sessions, the children are allowed to run, laugh together, exercise and feel the spirit of a collective.
Our repertoire is dictated latgalisk, playful, melancholic, lyric, enthusiastic and palliative. Anyone who comes to the Skonai concerts knows that there will be a heartbeat of the song that does not go to the listener. At first there was a concern that children and young people would not want to sing latgalically, but after the first attempt we realized that everyone was thrilled and singing with great fire.
We are recognized and appreciated because we are especially with our latgalic identity. The jury knows that we will be surprised by a new repertoire in the Latgalian language. We sing latgalically and it is our soul music. Children sing in their tongue and feel happy. Young people are blinking about every song i write, and that inspires me.
The end of the year comes with a pleasant news, that is, we have new clothes that are really great. This big work has been taken by the Rēzekne municipality designer Welga Krukovsky. We inspire him, she. The costumes are different for each group, but there is something common, and we can be proud of the theme of the Rēzekne municipality logo, because we are the vocal studio.
The concert is our 5-year-old musical celebration, and what about birthday without gifts? The biggest gift is the children's song cd “Room”, which children have been expecting for very long. Every child's dream is to hold a disc in which you have singing a song. This disc is also one of the first, if not the first, children's cd in Latgalian. The songs are dedicated to the memorial of the poet's Onton Slišana. His poetry is very warm, true, soulful, and we're all very close.
But i'm very pleased with my own stock of Sirdsghan. The repertoire can be found both small and large.
Thanks to participants, supporters for good wishes throughout these 5 years, they give a very strong incentive to operate! I wish everyone to live in this beautiful time, small and big miracles, to march in their nearby and simply to be together, "says Guntra Kuzmina-Yukna.
Diana Selecka
Photo - Maris Justs, and from Guntras Kuzmina-Yukna's personal archive
