KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE. FEBRUARY 2017

KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE

National costume

Illustration by Greta Balčiūnaitė / Motif Print Studio

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Ignas Tatalas decided to spread some folk on the parking meters of Kaunas during the Nykoka street art festival / Photo by Mantas Matulionis

We’ve nothing to hide – February’s theme was inspired by a few waves of genuine or false patriotism that the country experienced at the end of last year, also by the decision to make 2017 “the year of the national costume”. Last February we dedicated the edition of our magazine to libraries that were being honoured in 2016, so in this sense we’re being true to this sort of tendency.

Post-folk and other modern traditions Talking about the traditions of today, what is a national outfit in 2017?

We’re not living in times when it was possible to create something unifying for the whole society and make people produce it and wear it.

Even the brightest of minds are not afraid to admit that everything has already been created. And when a deal that says it’s ok to quote, recreate, and, when appropriate, copy and combine is present, the opportunities grow progressively.

It’s worth remembering that breaking the rules could use at least reading them first.

Upon looking almost a century back, we’ll notice that interpretations and quoting were part of life then too. The stone witnesses of the First Independent Republic of Lithuania remind us about it every single day, we just have to look up while strolling around A. Mickevičiaus or V. Putvinskio streets.

We can’t ignore the closest examples of aesthetics when we’re talking about the Baltic or Lithuanian ones. Kaunas might be the most “national” city of Lithuania or even the whole Baltic region nowadays, yet there are a lot of residents here who nourish other cultures. And if they don’t live here, we can reach them pretty quickly.

When this edition was about done, the ethno music department of the Kaunas City Museum invited us to see the exposition at their renovated building. It’s great that the spectrum of selection doesn’t end with zithers and Lithuanian polyphonic singing here, even though the latter phenomenon – a UNESCO World Heritage object – can keep a person constantly interested, but we’ll touch on that in the pages to come. The mentioned museum has a new postfolklore section – this is a certain way of admitting that the traditions alive today are not merely exact copies of their old-age ancestors.

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Mantas Matulionis went in search for traditional elements in the city and, boy, he kept his head high. He also peeked into some places and found some teasures right there on the street.

More Kaunas-related snapshots by Mantas can be found at www.mantasmat.com.

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A hipster clog from Melbourne Interview by Kotryna Lingienė Photos by the band

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The Lost Clog (Pamesta Klumpė) is a band of Lithuanian Australians. It’s not the only one out there but definitely the most fun. The members of the band tend to interpret our traditional songs and dances in a local way – and that’s a very honest way indeed.

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We would have understood if the Lithuanian public took one look at us and returned to watching Lietuvos Rytas vs Žalgiris replays

They’ve actually managed to perform Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, dressed Lithuanian from head to toes, on Australian national TV. The band’s newest album is called No Sleep Till Kaunas. Its promo shoot features a pack of Soviet fags and a matchbox with a picture of Soboras on it. When asked about whether these were precious souvenirs, Stepas Levickis, one of the founders of the band, told us Lithuanian Australians are more known for hoarding than collecting memorabilia, so anytime the band needs a promo shoot, they just raid one of their grandparents’ attics and find all sorts of vintage wears.

It’s worth liking The Lost Clog on Facebook, too. A new psychedelic profile picture collage containing the members of the band all tucked into a gigantic clog pops up on occasions like Christmas, Independence Day or something more private. Oh, well, handing the mic over to Stepas now – the man’s got a lot to tell!

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How did the band come together and who was the mastermind of the project?

Me and my friend Gabrielle had often toyed with the notion of starting a post-Soviet Lithuanian acapella pagan folk bush band singing ensemble, and on one of our weekly Monday lunch-time meetings over beer and tacos we decided that the time was ripe.

All of the band members were all born in Australia. We kept our interest in Lithuanian heritage through an active Melbourne Lithuanian community who encouraged us to join folk dancing, singing, scouts and potato worship groups.

We handpicked each of the other 8 members who we knew (or hoped) could sing, and were also fun people.

Kind of like a Melbourne Lithuanian version of Oceans 11. But 10. And not thieves (that we know of).

Does the name of the band have any symbolical connection to the Cinderella tale?

It didn‘t, until now. We love the idea of finding the elusive calloused foot, just the right fit for our Lost Clog.

You’ve toured Lithuania before.

What are your best memories of the trip?

The night swimming at the lake in Molėtai at Tundra, the love we received from our Lithuanian mother, Zita Kelmickaitė, and the warmth from our goddess, Veronika Povilionienė. The reception of the general Lithuanian public, too – because, let‘s face it, we were singing songs that are hundreds of years old in The Motherland, with Australian accents and interpretations - we would have understood if the Lithuanian public took one look at us and returned to watching Lietuvos Rytas vs Žalgiris replays.

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We’ve seen pics of the band performing in a balcony on Laisvės avenue. That’s absolutely fantastic.

How did that happen?

Don‘t tell the lovely people at Metropolis Hotel what we did! That was the balcony of Alex‘s room, I‘m not sure it was quite rated to fit all 10 of us (especially after 3 weeks of Lithuanian food). Fortunately for us they didn‘t notice, and it was the first stop on our busking tour of Kaunas, the final gig on our tour of Lithuania (and a little bit of Poland)

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Your music is on the Lithuanian streaming site ‘Pakartot’ – was it your initiative? Do you get lots of feedback from Lithuania?

That was Jon‘s idea. The website has been a great vehicle to make our songs more accessible. Given our first album, Lost in Transnations is (almost) sold out (our Mums bought 20 CDs each) it saves a re-print. We get a bit of feedback via our Facebook page. For the most part it has been positive, but we note that we haven‘t been invited to represent Lithuania in Eurovision yet.

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How do you choose the songs to perform? Is it something you would consult older Lithuanians about?

Some of our initial repertoire came from our parents, grandparents and other Melbourne Lithuanian folk ensembles which we had performed in.

We try to learn the songs aurally – in the old traditional tradition of learning traditional folk music. Besides, none of us can read music. Another brilliant archive of Lithuanian folk music is the ancient tomes of YouTube. We love bands like Kūlgrinda, Ugniavijas, Gile and of course the Great Antanas Fokas and his boys in Sutaras. Every week Jievute comes to rehearsal with a new instrument she has seen one of the groups play. The latest is a hog skin drum.

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The costumes of the band. Did you get them tailored for you?

The costumes are a collection of hand-me-downs and gifts. Some or the clothes are very old, owned by parents or grandparents. The Lithuanian uber-folk-disco-pancake cooking-band Sadūnai gifted the men some shirts, which we haven‘t taken off for a year.

Do you have fans outside of the Lithuanian Australian circle?

Fortunately for us, Melbourne is populated by uber-chic-hipsterworld music loving-cold press coffee drinking-protagonists, who for some reason enjoy our music, and come to see us at festivals and concerts around the city. We have also performed all around Australia to audiences of Australians and Lithuanians alike. The Australian audiences have been very generous, and our mums tell the Lithuanian audiences to clap.

Tell us more about ‘No Sleep Till Kaunas’. Where does the name come from? The cover design of the album is also very interesting!

Was the picture shot in Kaunas?

Aside from being a nod to the Beastie Boys album, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, the album title sums up our 2015 tour of Lithuania. Contrarily to the Beastie Boys, we never really had to fight for our right to party, we just had to make sure that someone took turns to look after the kids. The front cover image is from Siauliai, which was before Kaunas (our last stop) on the tour – hence the beds were not slept in.

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Lithuania’s older generation is very much familiar with Armenian culture. The latter country, known for its hospitality, has always left a lasting impression on the travellers. Ema Bojadžian is living proof of that – her story began when her Lithuanian mother met her Armenian father. Ema, a charismatic Kaunas-based pianist teaching in J. Gruodis conservatory, also leads the Armenian folk ensemble named Hayrenik (Fatherland), which acts as a link between the two cultures. The group includes local Armenians as well as Lithuanians that are seeking new experiences. Ema simply “infects” people with the Armenian culture – after our talk we felt a sudden urge to look for flights to the capital Jerevan online.

Armenia down Pelėdų hill Interview by Rokas Sutkaitis Photos by Dainius Ščiuka

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How did you decide to create the Hayrenik ensemble? Tell us more about it.

Together with the young Armenians of Kaunas, we’ve decided to establish a kind of group where we could dance, sing and keep our national culture alive. The ensemble will be ten years old this November. It’s not an academic one as many members don’t know the notes and just sing the melodies after first hearing them. I’m a professional musician, however I take part in creating choreography and other things…

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We’ve met Ema at the Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations, the head of which – Dainius Babilas – we’ve interviewed exactly a year ago. This institution down Pelėdų hill became a second home to many Armenians living in Kaunas.

Knowing about the magazine’s theme for February, Ema brought four national outfits to the interview! Some of them came from Armenia, others were made here in Kaunas by interpreting the age-old traditions today.

Are the Armenians who live in Kaunas close with each other?

Do many of them join the ensemble or foster their culture in different ways?

Well, Armenians are southerners, so if we would look at this nation as a whole, we’d see that family and connections between relatives are crucially important. But not everyone wants to sing or dance, therefore certainly not all of the locals join in. The Armenian senior citizens are also members of the community, hence they gather to talk and this way maintain the culture strong. We celebrate on various occasions, many people come to our concerts as well.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s mostly the younger generation that takes part in the ensemble’s activities.

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Perhaps it’s Armenian rhythms and temperament that attracts calmer Lithuanians – the youngsters feel free here.

The older generation is our source of knowledge, our base, yet we all know nothing really happens if you don’t engage with the young. Our ensemble includes twelve members, half of them are Lithuanians.

What do Lithuanians find here that they’re not able to find in Lithuanian folk ensembles?

We’ve noticed that these Lithuanians often talk about the warm welcome they received, the closeness between the members. Maybe they can’t find it in their own environment, that’s why we try to create a family atmosphere. The trust of Lithuanians needs to be earned, you need to “reach” them in some particular way, whereas Armenians typically are open-hearted people packed full of bursting emotions.

Perhaps it’s Armenian rhythms and temperament that attracts calmer Lithuanians – the youngsters feel free here, open up their creativity, they say our “fire” inspires them.

Have you played in Armenia with this ensemble?

Yes, there is a biannual festival “My Armenia” that many folk groups from all over the world go to. We’re planning to take part again next year, unfortunately getting to Armenia

with the whole ensemble is not that easy. You can meet Armenians from very different places there – Brazil, Russia, the US, and you can feel their own specific identity that’s evident in the way they talk, especially in their accent. That’s very interesting to experience. Whether we like it or not, the Lithuanian environment affects us too.

How old are the traditions of the Armenian national costume?

It’s very hard to tell: our country’s history begins all the way back before Christ, and, by the way, it’s the first Christian state of the world. The territory of Armenia was changing constantly, shaped by various wars and migrating nations. Our national costume was influenced by many countries and cultures, including Georgia and Turkey as well as more exotic territories. So the actual costume itself was being crystallised throughout the ages, affected by an array of international factors.

Can the costumes you use with your ensemble be pinned to any specific period or region?

No, they’re not from a particular time or place. For instance, we have four ethnographic regions in Lithuania. Armenia has twelve – all of those have their own costumes and there are even several deviations in each of them.

The national costumes in the four regions of Lithuania differ quite in a subtle manner, while Armenia sees not only a whole palette of colours, but also complete changes of ornaments and overall design. To give you an idea, let’s take the northern regions, which have more layers in the outfits and warmer materials are used. And the second biggest city Gyumri gets mighty cold during the night, but then the sun hits hard on people the whole day – this is taken into account when making the costumes.

What symbols can you usually see? What do the colours mean?

Pomegranate is definitely one of the most popular symbols, representing vitality and fertility. Whether we can see pomegranates in photographs or on costumes, they will only be held or “worn” by women, as only women can give life.

The national costume allows you to determine a woman’s social or family status. For example, a married woman would wear an apron, a single one would only wear a belt or a band. Men’s outfits can also tell us a lot: the military cult is quite powerful in Armenia, so it is believed that a man ought to be prepared to defend his country from possible danger, and you can see that in his costume. Of course, the social class could be identified quite accurately by the garments too: farmers and shepherds dressed differently from aristocrats.

Colours vary according to what region you’re in, yet red is the most dominant one, made in Armenia from a bug’s carmine. Red colour symbolises protection in the Armenian culture, that’s why it was customary to dress in red first and then add other cloths, details or colours.

How often are national costumes worn in Armenia? What are the occasions for it?

Much like in Lithuania, Armenia has many folk festivals, dance events, song celebrations and so on, all of which are occasions to wear it.

Both a while ago and now, people like to use folk elements in contemporary design. Finally, no Armenian wedding avoids the old traditions. It’s not even a question whether traditional music should be played, folk dancing should take place or national costumes should be worn.

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If not for the pulled hand muscle from riding a bike, we would probably see the name of Daiva Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė on posters for piano concerts. A series of coincidences resulted in the ethnomusicologist being where she is today. This path was a bit more successful than painful really, and it started much, much earlier. Even the great-grandfather of Daiva, official clerk of Panevėžys district, was writing his region’s folk songs down. Let’s not forget the openly musical family of Račiūnas – any gathering of relatives would end in singing until the morning light.

…finding yourself in another space, another time Interview by Kęstutis and Kotryna Lingiai Photoshoot at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania by Mantas Gudzinevičius

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After graduating from M. K. Čiurlionis school of arts, D. Vyčinienė entered the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, choosing the folk specialisation in the musicology department. As Daiva told us in the library of Martynas Mažvydas, the most interesting experiences during her studies were the folklore expeditions: “We’d walk over ten kilometres carrying a heavy recorder, never knowing what we would find.

You see a farmhouse and you just knock on the door”.

This sincere connection to intangible cultural heritage was probably what made songs a significant part of her life, especially chants of Lithuanian polyphonic singing called “sutartinės” (roughly “songs of accordance” in Lithuanian). Perhaps this embodies the real spirituality that’s untouched by religion and therefore is residing so close to us, yet many look for it by travelling vast distances.

D. Vyčinienė always combines theory with practice: in 1986, a vinyl of the topical multipart singing was released, performed by Daiva’s folk ensemble at the M. K. Čiurlionis art school. Ten years later, the former pupils gathered to create the Trys Keturiose group, which explores the depths of these peculiar, archaic, polyphonic musical chants. The group is still performing today. Additionally, Daiva leads courses at the Antanas and Jonas Juška museum of ethno culture in Vilkija, organises a folk singing camp and gives lectures in other destinations…

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Tell us about returning to school as head of the folk ensemble.

It was the beginning of the 1980s, right? Seems like a very unfortunate time to foster Lithuanian culture.

Upon starting my studies at the Lithuanian USSR State Conservatory, I immediately caught the flu of folklore. I was interested to know as much about it as humanly possible, thus I used to run to all relevant lectures, talks and events around the city. When the first year ended, Kazimieras Kalibatas – head of the school’s ensemble – told me I was now “clever enough” to lead the pupils in the ensemble who were only a few years younger than me.

We truly lived a fulfilling life then, gathering for various celebrations, going on trips and expeditions, changing crazy costumes on Pancake Tuesday. A few boys who were treated as troublemakers, punks, smokers or outcasts in other places for not following the norms, have found a home in my ensemble and were the most splendid, enthusiastic and productive members. This was a way to nourish the Lithuanian culture for all of us, a kind of resistance act against the system. We could feel free here.

As I can recall, the government had a law in 1987 that prohibited groups of more than two people gathering in public places. We, of course, found this funny and just carried on with what we were doing. One of the celebrations we looked forward to the most was the Pancake Tuesday, when we used to dress up and wear masks that we made, going out singing and just making noise down Šilo street. When you’re wearing a mask, you’re able to do whatever you like, make jokes with

It didn’t feel like we were part of some large mutiny or revolution, there was just the need to make the right choices, it was something that made us all stronger and united us.

teachers who lived there, provoke them by asking naughty questions and so forth.

We had a tradition to go to Rasų cemetery on All Souls‘ Day to sing next to the graves of the enlightened people of Lithuania, especially the ones who had ideas that opposed the Soviet system. We always felt as if people were watching us, but I never got in trouble myself. Unfortunately, some students were arrested at the graveyard and thrown out of the university.

It didn’t feel like we were part of some large mutiny or revolution, there was just the need to make the right choices, it was something that made us all stronger and united us. Later we realised that we did actually take part in the resistance, yet we did it in our own way.

How did you acquire or make your first national costume? Was it possible to have something authentic, original that reflected traditions of different regions, or was it customary just to wear the same “Lithuanian outfits”?

After establishing the school folk ensemble, together with the parents, we were looking for suitable costumes in various places. However, most outfits were of pretty bad quality. Some artists used to create costumes by using historical ornaments of the Lithuanian regions, and, since the M. K. Čiurlionis school was among the prestigious ones in the country, we managed to get the funds to pay for the clothes.

The sameness of outfits was more evident in celebrations like the dance and song festivals, where everything was managed, planned and synchronised, where thousands of youngsters were dressed the same. Folk ensembles were always after authenticity though, both in their on-stage presence and the performance. Anyway, today I’m happy to see a lot of successful clothing design attempts to combine fashion with tradition.

There is still a question of whether we can treat fashion interpretations as national costumes that would be appropriate to wear on official occasions. On the other hand, a historically “accurate” outfit is not always the best fit – I’ve seen children sweating under a harshly hot sun in the traditional winteraimed suits, woollen hats and so on, whereas back then people would probably choose to wear something like an airy shirt in the summer.

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We don’t want to become slaves of the outfits either. That’s why on some occasions, like book presentations for instance, we don’t wear national costumes. Singing is what it’s all about for us.

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Let’s talk about the similarities between the Lithuanian multipart singing and the folk patterns/ ornaments. It was actually your scientific article on this subject that eventually resulted in us meeting you.

Well, we can only discuss this by basing our knowledge on hunches, deductions and rumours: unlike the old cultures like China or India, Lithuanians didn’t leave huge tractates on music, philosophy and poetry behind. Everything we know now is only backed by people passing information to one another verbally, generation after generation, while the folklore patterns were used in rugs, aprons, bedspreads… There was no scientific explanation given next to all these bits of information.

When you’re listening to a traditional Lithuanian polyphonic song – the “sutartinė”, you only hear two voices at once, even though this might be a song for three or four people. So you listen to these two independent threads tangling and intertwining, each carrying its own musical thought and having separate lyrics.

I’ve realised that it’s very similar to the way people weave a band. A composer Dainius Valionis was a fellow student in the academy at the time – he was actually the one who discovered that this type of singing transforms into geometrical threads when put on paper. He was writing these songs on regular musical scores, including the principles of symmetry later, finally noticing that the structures on paper look like traditional patterns on Lithuanian

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beddings, tablecloths and so forth.

We don’t exclude a single voice from the songs, much like we’re not looking for one particular figure or a symbolic sign in the ornaments of our national textile. Infinity is at the core of both of these artistic processes. Here, the universe of the artwork is shaped by the constant repetitiveness of small fragments, so the number of these pieces can really be infinite – we can keep singing or weaving for an eternity.

It is as if these coincidences were meaningful: “sutartinė” was part of many rituals, thus it was linked to the idea of something mysterious, unexplored and even unearthly. It’s made from rhythmical fragments, like bricks that can be laid out in a lot of ways when building a house.

The bricks stay the same, only the whole mosaic changes according to how you place them. Let’s say we have a visual portrayal of half of a Lithuanian multipart song; the other half could then be a mirrored version of the first half. The latter way of composing these songs is called “the mirror principle”, and it’s one of the things that allow us to look for analogies in the world of textile. Similar insights have led me to create a project “Lino laikas” (“Time of the flax”) with a visual artist Jurgita Treinytė-Jorė. But why the flax plant? Well, many lyrics mention the flax (“linas” in Lithuanian), and, most importantly, more research has shown me that singing about the whole life of a plant is a certain code that various cultures use. In mythology, weaving and spinning were seen as symbols for harmonising and balancing the world, it was a sacred occupation of the gods. Performing the polyphonic songs – “weaving” the melodies and lyrics – is also considered to be a method of achieving the harmony of

our spirit. In conclusion, the project combined modern technologies and older traditions into one single essence and was released in the DVD format in 2008.

While examining the Lithuanian folklore, did you find any parallels with other cultures?

The canonical singing of the Ainu – the first inhabitants of Japan – was a genuinely interesting discovery.

They have different voices beginning their independent melodies almost right after each other. In Lithuanian territories, the three-people multipart songs were the most popular ones, while the Ainu had up to six people singing at once. I also didn’t expect to find analogies in such an old culture, because many musicologists believe that the canon

form was perfected during the times of professional polyphony, therefore the three-people multipart chants should be from a later period as they’re based on a canon. But when you find such an element in an archaic nation’s culture, you come to realise that the principles of the canon (also imitation or plain audial mimicry) have much deeper roots to them.

No one creates such songs today, so does that mean you only perform traditional ones? How often do you get invitations to collaborate with musicians of different genres?

I used to think that we shouldn’t say yes to such invitations, that these songs are too precious to modify.

Yet every new experience gradually changed my position. Some people

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think that our ensemble performs the songs like they were “museum copies”, without adding an individual touch to them. Nonetheless, if we approach the phenomenon of these songs as a way to meditate and to create lasting spiritual connections between members of the ensemble, then we’d have to admit that singing right here and right now, solely for the priceless experience itself is what’s essential. I’ve thought about what we’re going to do after we’ve performed all Lithuanian polyphonic folk songs that are written down. Now I understand that it’s not about how many of them you know, it matters how you sing the ones you know: each and every time in a different way, depending on your inner state and a number of other factors.

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Since they’re even called “songs of accordance”, another crucial thing is the actual accordance. This includes the musical side, the spiritual relationships between the singers and your friendship with your own self. Performing the discussed pieces makes you feel outside of this moment, finding yourself in another space, another time. It’s a remarkable experience. Sometimes we can’t even sense the flow of time when we’re singing during rehearsals or concerts.

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The voices also have to “hit” one another in a pretty intense manner to create a vibration that would pierce the listener’s body. When this striking style of vocals is done right, you are able to feel genuine, archaic musical pleasure. However, that doesn’t happen every time – sometimes the atmosphere or the approach is just not right for the needed combination. The audience can sense that. On other occasions, the voices truly slam into each other

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in such a way that it creates a lively, pulsating rhythm, making you want to dance. I’m sure rock and jazz musicians know what I’m talking about – they use the techniques of polyphonic folk chants in their own music, often asking us to work on new albums or songs together.

While we’re on the subject of collaborations, I can be proud that our ensemble has worked with a great number of different projects. We don’t really want to be part of an unprofessional or low-quality initiative, hence we mostly collaborate with composers.

We started in 2013, taking part in a contemporary music festival “MaerzMuzik” in Germany, where people could hear these Lithuanian songs in their original form as well as an interpretation called “Bienenmensch”, created exclusively for this festival by composer Algirdas Martinaitis and written for our ensemble and a string quartet.

Later we joined Mindaugas Urbaitis and Remigijus Merkelys in their own individual explorations of the multipart chants. We’ve also worked with jazz musicians in Poland.

Combining this sort of singing with other types of art requires a new set of rules. Electronic music gives you a strict rhythm that you can’t really deviate from. This becomes an issue when you realise that typically every folk singer has an inner metronome, and singing these folk songs brings out different tempos in the beginning of the piece compared to the middle of it.

Therefore, it’s curious to observe the reactions of the listeners, even if the original feeling of such songs is gone in collaboration projects. But there’s a different, new, unknown feeling.

And it’s important to respect that as it helps you keep moving.

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A president with an apron

By Julija Račiūnaitė Illustrations provided by the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum

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The apron was part of national women’s costumes, also both an everyday and decorative garment in many countries of Europe, including Lithuania. The interesting thing is that this object of clothing played an important role in the cultural and even political life of our country at the beginning of the 20th century.

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One admirer of the apron as a collectible was none other than the doctor, book smuggler and member of the “Varpas” newspaper community, President of the Republic of Lithuania Kazys Grinius. His wife Joana Grinienė – who he referred to in his memoirs as “a respectable soldier” – started collecting aprons back in 1899, and His Excellency joined in later. 1907 saw garments gathered by the future president and his wife being presented at the first Lithuanian art exhibition. A painter A. Žmuidzinavičius mentions the intelligent and educated folks from towns and villages while remembering this exposition. A few large bags of quality clothes were sent in by the same folks: previously,

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these garments were used to thank doctors for their services.

It is believed that the Grinius family, who at the time were living in Marijampolė and constantly collecting interesting aprons, were among these intelligent townspeople 1925 witnessed the aprons receiving some international praise when Lithuania was invited to take part in the second exhibition for applied arts in Monza, Italy. This was “Lithuania’s debut in Europe’s expo art”1 . The decision to go to Monza was quite a utopian attempt from the Lithuanians as there was basically no existing sector of applied arts in the country. Our folk art was chosen as the element of

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our culture to be presented to other Europeans, hence the aprons as well.

A photo series by A. Varnas and some sculptures were supposed to be exhibited too. According to Paulius Galaunė, head of M. K. Čiurlionis art museum, it was the originality of the folk art that got the attention of Italian organisers and an art critic; this was the only reason behind our artists not coming back from the exhibition with unpacked artworks.

The interest in “primitive” art at the beginning of the last century allowed Lithuania to return to the global art scene, and the Lithuanian team (The Association for Lithuanian Artists) found a clever way to use that. A. Varnas, who went along to Monza, took care of the matters in many ways: he formed the necessary relationships and bonds, painted and decorated the walls, also kept a constant number of freshly-picked flowers in the two salons reserved for Lithuania. The hard work, not to mention all the investments, paid off in the end – Lithuania received the most attention between such participants like France, England, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico and, obviously, Italy. The illustrated Italian weekly newspaper “Il Mattino Iliustrato” (No. 37, 1925) had this written in its foreword: “Two salons of the lower floor at the Royal Monza Villa are reserved for Lithuania, and both of them are amongst the biggest attractions of the whole exhibition.

After regaining its independence, Lithuania entered the international art scene for the first time with its characteristic cloths, decorative pieces and carved folk art” 2. The Italian art critic Luigi Caglio called

Lithuanian folk authors “the uneducated northerners”, yet stated that “the clarity of their creative emotion gives the respected Italian artists a lot to think about” 3 .

Perhaps in order to reflect the required topics of the exhibition, Lithuanian aprons were presented as rugs. Because of their geometrical, art deco-styled ornaments, the aprons from the Suvalkija (Sudovia) region were praised the most. This, of course, stimulated the interest in exploring folk art and making it more popular.

Already in 1927, the temporary gallery of Čiurlionis had an exposition of aprons, where a set of 300 Grinius family-owned pieces was presented. The same year witnessed Lithuanian textile being showcased in The Louvre, Paris. It was also the year when the mentioned temporary gallery in Kaunas started organising folk art expeditions.

One of the dedicated participants of these trips was the creator of Lithuania’s first national costume Antanas Tamošaitis, pioneer of the professional textile sector in the Interwar period. The carpets he weaved were mostly influenced by the same aprons – it seems like the chosen method of presenting them in Monza was the right one.

Thus this element of Lithuania’s national costume, which could be referred to as “painting with threads”, had a strong impact on many Interwar artists that were trying to find their voice, also it was pretty close to the helm of the country for some time.

1 J. Mulevičiūtė – “Modernizmo link. Dailės gyvenimas Lietuvos respublikoje 1918 –1940“ (“Approaching modernism. The art life of Lithuania 1918-1940”). Kaunas, 2001, page 167.

2 P. Galaunė – “Muziejininko novelės“ (“Novels by a museum worker”). Varpas, Kaunas, 1998, pages 152-153.

3 Opera Scelte II Mostra Internazionale delle Arti Decorative Villa Reale di Monza.

1925. G. E. A. Grandi Edizioni Artistiche. Milano, 1926.

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This February the shelves of “Merkurijus” store moved to the folk music department – which is also part of the selection below – of Kaunas City Museum. As the theme of the current edition is not bound by time, the picks here are not as well.

1. Album “Free Music”

by Oak Birches CHF 12 oakbirches.bandcamp.com

The Lithuanian trio consists of three equal musical partners, every one of which could be considered the group’s art director. This improvisational ensemble has albums in the form of a CD, a cassette, while the beauty of their musical wood of oak birches can be best experienced live.

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2. Į – a magazine for Kaunas EUR 15 Kaunas Photography Gallery, 2 Vilniaus str., www.kaunasgallery.lt

This publication is a result of a swift weeklong workshop. It’s a sort of synthesis of various creators living in Kaunas or working for the city. The Lithuanian- and Englishspeaking magazine aims to be an annual phenomenon focused on a side of Kaunas that not everyone might know about.

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3. Nemunas magazine EUR 3.5 Various trading venues, www.nemunas.net

Back to the “golden” square format for this culture and art publication that became a monthly one, ready to celebrate its…

50th birthday! Yes, Nemunas will turn 50 in 2017. Our early congratulations and also recommendations to subscribe are in order.

4. Illustration book “Kaunas. Interwar architecture” by Tadas Bujanauskas EUR 12 tadasb.bigcartel.com

Limited to only 30 pieces, the handsewn book includes creations of Felikas Vizbaras, Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis and other architects of Kaunas. These are not photos or detailed plans, but rather sketch-styled illustrations.

5. NOA Vintage armchairs

EUR 399 www.facebook.com/vintagefromNOA The hard-working hands of the NOA Vintage team members bring charming furniture from half a century ago back to life. Two armchairs, soft as forest moss, are only two outstanding pieces in the collection that’s absolutely worth your while.

6. “Overload”, a painting by Rūta Levulienė

Oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm, 2015 EUR 405 www.gabrielegallery.eu The bold, expressive, abstract, symbol- and metaphor-packed artworks of the painter are typically inspired by nature. “Gabrielės meno galerija” represents the artist, and the virtual exposition can show more works by Lithuanian authors.

7. Kaunas City Museum, Department of History of Lithuanian Folk Music EUR 2 12 L. Zamenhofo str., www.kaunomuziejus.lt

Another month, another nudge to visit the reconstructed museum. Established at a 16th century-resembling building complex in 1985, this January the so-called “museum of folk instruments” invited people to a modern and interactive exposition, dedicated to zithers, various other instruments, our polyphonic folk songs called “sutartinės” (karaoke singing is possible!) and the whole post-folklore period. The special stands for each individual Lithuanian zither are truly worth applauding.

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By Gunars Bakšejevs

So today calls for reading about Paphos in Cyprus, home of Aphrodite (not an accidental name-drop) – the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

By the way, from March, during the warm season, it’s possible to fly to this “mythological centre of the universe” or even “the womb of Earth” right from Kaunas.

While working on the cultural programme of Paphos for 2017, an official formula of “Connecting Continents, Bridging Cultures” was chosen for this resort and fishing harbour. Cyprus, a member of the European Union, is geographically close to both the Middle East and North Africa. Paphos was already populated during the Neolithic period, it was the capital of Cyprus in the Greek-Roman days, finally 1980 witnessed it being included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list. The latter event actually took place during the very peak of the Renaissance of Paphos: before the 1970s, it was the least developed region of the island, later the government invested in the infrastructure while businesspeople did the same thing for real estate, and so the city eventually started progressing when everyone began to listen to each other’s needs. The victory title of the European culture capital was a result of a long run, also a reminder that culture has been vibrant here for at least several thousand years.

The motto of the 2017 programme is “Open Air Factory”, which basically epitomises the aim to transform the whole city – not just separate parts of

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it – into a mutual and unifying stage for the 300 planned events. According to the organisers, that’s the only method to form relationships and collaborations between residents and guests, creators and the public, today and history.

History hides (actually, it rather lurks than hides) behind every corner in Paphos, thus a big chunk of the programme called “Myth and Religion” is reserved for it. The last weekend of January had the opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture programme buzzing all around the city, waking up Pygmalion and Galatea, heroes of the myth that the Roman poet Ovid wrote down in “Metamorphosis”. The legend goes that a Cypriot sculptor Pygmalion fell in love with his artwork, so Aphrodite turned the sculpture into a nymph named Galatea. The lovers had two children, one of which – Paphos – became a daughter in Ovid’s writings.

This and other universal myths undoubtedly stress the symbolism of Paphos as the crib of humanity, providing the erotic dimension to all relevant creative processes as well.

Using these symbols, architects of the cultural capital raise the question of what the roles of myths in the 21st century are. By immediately answering it, they’re building bridges between elements that otherwise would seem to be very far apart. It becomes obvious that this angle of engaging with Paphos is not only a polished image for tourists but also a way for the city to get to know itself again.

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A culture capital born to Pygmalion and Galatea

In slightly more than a month’s time, experts will make their choice on which Lithuanian city – Kaunas or Klaipėda – is more worthy to become the European Capital of Culture in 2022. The next edition will cover Plan B, aka “the action plan if Klaipėda wins the title”.

January saw us exploring the programme of one of this year’s two culture capitals – Aarhus in Denmark.

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In search of the Lithuanian style in architecture

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Whilst looking for an architecture style of ours that fits under the name “national”, Kaunas’ modernist structures come up right away: conservative and in accordance with the constructional urban traditions at the time, yet using modern shapes and plans, picking specific elements from the contemporary tendencies of architecture, also preserving an individual approach. Those buildings reflected that time period as well as the essence of the Lithuanian character. However, before this style found its way into Lithuanian façades and interiors, the newly-independent country was looking for a “national touch” in traditional villages and in the days of Vytautas the Great.

The middle of the 19th century saw a wave of romantic nationalism rush through Europe: this was the start for many national states of the future. Naturally, most independence-seeking or freshlysovereign countries were trying not to look like their previous imperial owners and express their new originality in various ways.

The mentioned imperialistic states, however, had separate nationalist movements inside that were trying to find an identity connected by a mutual past in a multi-national mix.

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There is a need for a unifying narrative, a kind of national myth when a state is in the process of being created. And art usually took the role of writing that myth. It was also one of the most important elements in shaping the identities of countries around 1900s. Nevertheless, an interesting phenomenon in the search for spiritual faces of states was the hunt for “national” styles of architecture: new constructions throughout Europe were flooded by attempts to use visual elements that could

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reflect the romantic past images, previous/imaginary ethnographic details or even mythology.

Lithuania was no exception here: the need for an idiosyncratic style of architecture was already discussed before World War I. As soon as the independence was regained and talks of rebuilding the country got louder, this topic was quite an important one.

Latvians and Estonians could only write their national narratives using ethnographic or singular events of history, but Lithuanians had a huge assortment of civil and state stories to choose from. Like many countries, Lithuania was aiming to form a solid image that would stand out in the international context and would contradict the previous Soviet one, but, unlike the Baltic neighbours, it was also trying to separate its story from Poland, who at the time was pretty aggressive in the political sense towards Lithuania and was hoping to back the national narrative by continuing the one of the PolandLithuanian Commonwealth (PLC).

Thus Lithuania chose the history and ethno culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to represent its past, strongly mythologizing it and focusing on the time period before the union with Poland. This was evident in the architecture of the first decade of independence, even though PLC context-free baroque forms replaced elements from the romanticised medieval times. It’s a sort of declaration for the “baroque Vilnius we’ve lost”, also a mission to find a time period that would feel closer and more concrete, therefore allowing professional architecture to borrow certain details from it.

The national style wasn’t really popular inside the forms that architects of the 1920s wanted it to fit in, and the lack of shared visions was part of the problem, along

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with a quite complicated economic situation. Without paying much attention to a different type of interpreting the national style in the countryside, most urban examples of it existed almost entirely in Kaunas, the temporary capital.

approach – borrowing traditional elements from woodworking – can be seen when looking at the “Pažanga” building (1933-1934) that was actually supposed to be completely modern and it also came under a lot of criticism from the press.

Reconstructing the tower of the Orthodox church into the war museum’s tower with its stylised castle shapes could be seen as an early and straightforward manifestation of the romanticised dark ages; this would also include the vision to build a new structure on Žaliakalnis hills, the towers of which would have “the look of a castle” and would represent the different periods of Lithuanian history. The latter vision by military men was harshly critiqued by people from the art world. A more baroquefocused deviation from the national style was closer to the city’s spirit: great examples of it – all very different though – were the residential house of “Ragutis” factory, the reconstructed National Theatre (now Kaunas State Musical Theatre) and the wooden villa of architect A. Jokimas in Vydūno avenue.

In the 1930s, Lithuania existed as a country built on a national base, so romanticising the past didn’t really go anywhere, however, in the case of architecture, it moved silently to the interiors and became only one of the possible design choices. The folk ornaments were being used freely and they were more stylised then, often appearing in interiors of restaurants, shops or even cinemas.

The inside of Kaunas Officers’ Club can provide a more accurate feel of those times: despite the fact that the interiors of important representative buildings were much more conservative than the ones of private institutions, Vytautas Hall and the Presidential Room, although being a bit looser interpretations, are definite reflections of the romanticised styles of ethnography and the medieval ages.

Despite the “Ragutis” building (created by celebrities of the older Interwar generation of architects M. Songaila and V. Dubeneckas) being the first piece of the Interwar period’s Neo-Baroque movement, it was the reconstruction of the National Theatre that completely visualised baroque’s role in the contemporary sector of architecture of those days.

A. Jokimas’ personal villa has a specific baroque-shaped pediment, which indicates that the architect was aiming to make the style more popular; it also shows us that the style is universal – A. Jokimas created an almost identical building for a client, adding a David’s star to the façade, which reflected the client’s religious beliefs.

Ethnographic strokes were often used in the search for “the Lithuanian style” quite in a direct way – by transferring the ornaments of traditional wooden architecture straight into the realms of masonry.

An architecture scientist V. Petrulis points to a building from the “Tulpė” complex as a good example of this: the architect A. Maciejauskas took the popular urban style that’s based on the historic architecture of the Tsar’s period and just added folk ornaments to it. A turning point in all this was the construction of the central post (started in 1930) under the plan of F. Vizbaras, where folk strokes in the main façade (windows, sections) and interior ones (ceiling, floor) meet elements of Lithuanian modernism that’s being born right at that moment. The press picked a few details to talk a lot about, like “the building’s modernism: lots of light, lots of space, straight lines everywhere and no unnecessary, flashy decorations”, or: “The floor is painted in the way Lithuanians weave their cloths”. A similar folk

It’s possible that this was understood only by a small number of individuals who wrote about art and architecture, yet today’s perspective shows that Kaunas’ modernism was essential in creating the national style. The existing take on architecture was a combination of both modernising the country and keeping its own image, which initially was also the political goal at the time. Even though the main state buildings appeared to be following the classical rules, the residential houses mirrored the changes of society: spacious schools remind us of prioritizing education, while impressive administrative structures of business companies were a result of economic growth, eventually embodying a phenomenon that we now can call the Lithuanian architectural identity of the first half of the 20th century.

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February calendar Monday, 02 06, 17.00

Tuesday, 02 07, 16.00

Maironis Lithuanian literature museum, Rotušės sq. 13

Valdas Adamkus Presidential library-museum, S. Daukanto st. 25

Commemoration: ”Kaziui Bradūnui - 100”

Event: “What are the Czechs laughing about?”

02 08 - 02 28

Polish graphic signs exhibition Kaunas college J. Vienožinskis art faculty, A. Mackevičiaus st. 27

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Live: “Oak Birches” and E.Kanevičius Czech humour is well known and acknowledged in Lithuanian society.

For example, Hašek’s soldier Švejk adventures are loved amongst many.

Almis Grybauskas and Egidijus Aleksandravičius will discuss these topics in the event.

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Exhibition: “after’days. walking” by Leonidas Alekseiko VDU art gallery “101”, Muitinės st. 7

“Oak Birches” are Tomas Razmus, Nerijus Ardzevičius and Arnas Mikalkėnas.

Together they form a multi instrumental trio, where every member is the art director. The unique trio play not only the traditional but non-convenient and very non-covenient instruments in their performances.

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The exhibition by “Young artist” competition 2nd place laureate and audience prize winner Alekseiko invites the viewer to take a look at the city. The city as seen by the painter telling us: “City is a part of my search for the surrounding form. Deceitful everyday poetics - the same city, new mirage. It looks at me and I’m watching it. I am a participant in the uncanny cityscape”.

Wednesday, 02 08, 18.00

Concert: “From Paris with Love” by Lina Štalytė Club “Sandėlis”, Muziejaus st. 8

Lina grew up surrounded by folk, jazz and gospel music. She now lives and performs in Paris. French musical arrangement love songs and original compositions in French and English are to be expected.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the National culture and art premium laureate poet and editor Kazys Bradūnas a new publication “Kazys Bradūnas. Archyvai” will be presented at this event.

Monday, 02 06, 18.00

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One of the best Polish design and graphic projection exhibition is arriving to Kaunas. Two parts of the exhibition will allow to compare different visual cultures of creativity, sign and identity systems, which have been created in Poland at different time periods.

02 08 - 02 28

Gabrielės Tervydytės fotografijų paroda „Palestinos žmonės“

Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations, Šv. Gertrūdos st. 58

Wednesday, 02 08, 19.00

AURA+. Movement performance “Metamorphosis” AURA+ studio, M. Daukšos st. 34

“Metamorphosis” is the very first show by a young choreographer Justina Kiuršinaitė. Performance also features dance theatre “Aura” beginner group dancers.

Thursday, 02 09, 16.00

Exhibition: “Lithuanian operas and their creators. From “Birutė” to “Dryžuota opera” M. and K. Petrauskai Lithuanian music museum, K. Petrausko st. 31 The long term exhibition will feature various opera programmes, photography, scenography sketches, authentic costumes. Visual information is enriched by reviews from the press, memories from theatre teams and interesting opera facts.

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Book presentation: “Irena Veisaitė. Gyvenimas turėtų būti skaidrus” by Aurimas Švedas

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Valdas Adamkus Presidential library-museum, S. Daukanto st. 25

Bar “Lizdas”, Nepriklausomybės sq. 12

Kaunas Artists House, V. Putvinskio st.56

Underground culture promoters “Kablys” visit Kaunas to present themselves. Featuring Vaiper, “Serial Experiments” and others.

A project by ambient noise and minimal music creator KiB and choreographers Indrė Gin and Ieva Gink takes place in various spaces. The object created during this performance will be on display in #menininkai gallery until Feb 23rd.

Friday, 02 10, 17.00

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Jurgis Buitkus prize winner Ona Jautakė book will be welcomed by the author, publisher and book editor Viktoras Rudžianskas, writers Aldona Ruseckaite and Vidmantas Kiaušas-Elmiškis, museologist Edmundas Kazlauskas. Romualdas Miškinis will perform his songs.

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Party: “Kablys Takeover: Lizdas”

Thursday, 02 09, 18.00

Performance: “Interakcija@ albumas.kmn”

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Local heavy beat maker Kaseta will share the results of his creative torment, recently released as an audio cassette “The Name Obliges” and will give us a chance to glimpse at his newborn pieces nobody has heard before, meant for the future release.

Exhibition: “Atgimimas” by Zita-Virginija Tarasevičienė

Kaunas city museum, Lithuanian folk music history division, L. Zamenhofo st. 12

Live: “Uprising Tree”

“PuntoJazz” attic, Kęstučo st. 6 “Uprising Tree” is a reggae/dub ensemble that can be seen as a peace and love tree, grown out of music and reaching upwards to the audience heart.

Sunday, 02 12, 18.00

Play: “Miškinis”

Kaunas National Drama Theatre, Laisvės av. 71

The painter’s canvases embody feelings and emotions that are a part of the artist. Often her pieces feature urban cityscapes, abstract views. Artists says that she paints the way her hand and heart lead her. “Every painting has a secret that can be revealed differently by each viewer…”

Tuesday, 02 14, 18.00

Musical: “The Adams Family” Kaunas state musical theatre, Laisvės av. 91

Party: “Idreamofpads”

Bar “Dildė ir akvarelė”, Vilniaus st. 16

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Saturday, 02 11, 21.00

Friday, 02 10, 22.00 The book published by the press house “Aukso žuvys” reveals the life story of an extraordinary person, a long term Open Lithuanian fund chairman Irena Veisaitė. Her life is an amazing story covering four radically different eras.

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Friday, 02 10, 23.00

Monday, 02 13, 18.00

“Coffee week 2017”: “Coffee Film Night”

“Vero Coffee House”, Maironio st. 7

Watching “The Coffee Man” is recommended with a cup of brew. Moving from Yugoslavia to Australia the film’s main character Sasa travels from the birthplace of coffee Ethiopia to the world barista championship in Seattle.

The musical about the creepy and lightly satanic Adams family is based on the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The focal point of this story is every parents nightmare, when the daughter, even if she’s the last princess of darkness, grows up and falls in love a lovable and smart boy from a respected family.

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Kaunas artists house, V. Putvinskio st.56

Vytautas the Great war museum, K. Donelaičio st. 64

Dance performance: “B and B dialogue”

Exhibition: “Saved for future generations”

Wednesday, 02 15, 16.00

Opening of the Leonidas Donskis library

VDU Multifunctional Research and Study Center, V. Putvinskio st. 23

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Live: “Industrial Night” Club “Lemmy”, Girstupio st. 1

An exhibition to commemorate the 205th anniversary of Napoleon crossing Lithuania will showcase items and art from Lithuanian military initiator and volunteer Zigfridas Jankauskas.

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Concert: “Lithuanian Concert Tour 2017” prize winners Young choreographers and dancers A. Lisičkinaitė and G. Grinevičiūtė present their first piece together. After searching and playing with B&B girls, creators step on the stage not only to talk about things that are relevant to every young woman, creator or student, who wants to become an independent creator and to reveal to the audience as well as themselves what is the main obstacle to be true to yourself in life and theatre.

02 14 - 02 28

Document exhibition: “Vasario 16-oji J. Basanavičiaus gyvenime” Vincas Kudirka public library, Youth, art and music division, A. Mapu st. 18

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Kaunas State Philharmonic, Sapiegos st. 5

The library named after the philosopher that left us in 2016 is the core axis of the brand new building of Vytautas Magnus University that‘s meant to connect all of the Lithuanians living aruond the world to support and create a new network.

Wednesday, 02 15, 16.00

Poetry and music night: “Kelionė arba žodžiai ir vaizdai”

Lithuanian education history museum, Vytautas av. 52 Wednesday, 02 15, 19.00

Dance performance: “(Be) kulminacijų” AURA+ studio, M. Daukšos st. 34

Rabia Sorda is a solo project by the vocalist of a Mexican aggrotech band “Hoico”, in which aggressive electronics is mixed with folk motives through a punk prism. Also on stage - Latvians “Dark Nexus”.

Wednesday, 02 15, 23.00

Party: “Lizdui Dveji: Martyn” Bar “Lizdas”, Nepriklausomybės sq. 12

Martyn spends his nights on the other side of the dance floor since 1996. His vision blends in atmospheric melodies and futuristic worlds.

Thursday, 02 16, 15.00

Folk dance collective concert “Vilčių nemunai”

Kaunas Culture centre “Tautos Namai”, Vytautas av. 79 Featuring Kaunas Culture centre “Tautos Namai” folk dance collectives “Šėltinis”, “Suktinis” ir “Ainiai”, Kaunas technology college collective “Pušynėlis” and Kaunas college collective “Kaukas”.

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Calendar Thursday, 02 16, 15.00

Annual exhibition “Best art piece 2016” laureate announcement

Thursday, 02 16, 18.00

“Coffee week 2017”: “Coffee film night” “Vero Coffee House”, Maironio st. 7

Kaunas Picture Gallery, K. Donelaičio st. 16

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Movie “A Film About Coffee“ is sort of a meditation about coffee, a love letter to this drink. Not to mention the film’s geography - from Honduras and Ruanda to Japan and USA.

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Live: “Frank Fitts”

“Punto Jazz” attic, Kęstučio st. 6

Kaunas dance theatre “Aura” dancers will create choreographic patterns whispering their secrets with the bodies. What a pleasure it is to blow away the feather snow from a secret and yell out in a surprise, right?

The performance is choreographed Birutė Letukaitė and the dancers, live music performed by Antanas Jasenka.

Friday, 02 17, 10.00

Wednesday, 02 22, 18.00

VDU Multifunctional Research and Study Center, V. Putvinskio st. 23

Kaunas National Drama Theatre, Laisvės av. 71

Seminar: “Creative Europe”

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Curators of the night Endie, Døkkaid, Sanarei, Eteris and Khørd will invite everyone to their sound universe. Acid and Techno storms await.

Kaunas National Drama Theatre, Laisvės av. 71

Kaunas movie centre “Romuva”, Kęstučio st. 62

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Bar “Dildė in Akvarelė”, Vilniaus st. 16

Dance performance for the whole family: “Sekretas”

Film: “Karalių pamaina”

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Party: “Arctic Stalkers”

Tuesday, 02 21, 18.30

Thursday, 02 16, 18.00

This movie is the third full-length film directed by Ignas Miškinis. His first two successes - “Diringas” and “Artimos šviesos”. Film is nominated for two “Silver Cranes”: for best supporting role (actor Vidas Petkevičius) and for the soundtrack by Latvian composer Edgars Rubenis.

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Friday, 02 17, 22.00

Funding from private patrons for culture organisations, festivals and events is one of the most relevant problems in this sector. And new business and management models and higher competence is one of “Creative Europe’s” most important priorities. Seminar in Kaunas will be conducted by Mindaugas Morkūnas, who has more than 10 year experience with patronage partnerships in cultural projects.

Play: “Junas Gabrieles Borkmanas”

“Frank Fitts” attribute their music to garage rock revival genre. In May, 2016 the band introduced their debut EP “Everything’s Fine” in Vilnius club “Pelėda”, in spring 2017 musicians plan to release their first album.

Saturday, 02 25, 19.00

The last concert of Markas Palubenka Art lounge “Largo”, Vaistinės sq.

The play is directed by Gintaras Varnas and based on a work by Henrik Ibsen, one of the world’s best known playwright. He is considered the founder of modern drama as well as modern theatre. He stands atop of “drama pyramid” next to Sophocles and Shakespeare.

“Markas Palubenka”? He doesn’t exist. The artist’s last concerts (under this name) end his symbolic pentad of released albums and is a suitable farewell to his creative work in the period of 2011 - 2016.

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2017

FEBRUARY

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If I don‘t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.

Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987)

The most important violin players of all time was born in Vilnius.

His first public performance was held in Kaunas in 1909.

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(17) 2017 Nr. 2 (18)