Arnolds Karklis (ElektroFolk): “It would be a great chance to present to the world a rollicking invitation into ancient Latvian cosmology” (Latvian finalists – Interview)

ESC+Plus has talked to Arnolds Karklis, vocalist, guitarist and lyricist of ElektroFolk. The band will be competing at today’s grand final of the Latvian national selection for Eurovision 2015 with the song “Sundance”.

ESC+Plus: Hello! First of all congratulations on having qualified for the final of Supernova 2015. What did you feel when you were named finalist?

We’ve been competing against previous versions of ourselves this whole time, each performance bringing us to new levels of confidence and excitement. Our singer Iveta has a useful motto for times like these: “Stress is love,” she says.

E+: Can you tell us about your band, your musical evolution and important achievements?

Ainars Majors recruited the current line-up of ElektroFolk only this past fall. The original members had moved on to other projects after releasing the album “Elektro” last spring (nominated for Album of the Year in the Folk and World Music Category of the 2014 Latvian recording industry awards to be announced next Tuesday) and performing at mass events like the Latvian Song and Dance Festival and the World Choir Games in Riga. Old friends Uģis Vītiņš and Arnolds Kārklis were the first two new members on board, while Iveta Baumane auditioned and joined in soon thereafter. Andris Ābelīte and Guntis Spridzāns joined the group after the new team’s showcase number “Sundance” entered the Supernova contest in January.

E+: Why did you decide to take part in Supernova 2015?

Iveta is an experienced young veteran of televised music shows and talent contests, and it was at her suggestion that we float “Dieva deli” (the original folk lyrics in Latvian later adapted into “Sundance”) toward the Eurovision Song Contest. Learning that Latvian Television was changing the game to Supernova didn’t dampen our enthusiasm, it actually helped us concentrate on this challenge, which is a whole new level of competition for the group.

E+: What it would mean for you to represent Latvia in Vienna?

If we get to perform “Sundance” in Vienna for ESC2015, it would be a great chance to present to the world a rollicking invitation into ancient Latvian cosmology, the heavenly bodies and mythical figures that stand for our place in the universe.

E+: Your song is called “Sundance”. Can you tell us about the song and the story behind the lyrics? How was the composition procedure?

Ainars Majors composed the song “Dieva deli” (‘sons of heaven’) out of a bass riff and repetitive melodic line set to ancient Latvian folk verses depicting our cosmic-arsonist characters (‘daughters of the sun’) in surrealistic interactions with the Sun and Moon. After realizing the Latvian language may not be universal enough to carry the scene through to a mass broadcast event, Arnolds Kārklis set out to adapt the verses into the lyrics of “Sundance” for the world audience. Then came the studio recording process and the painstaking arrangement of the song into the technical and formulaic requirements of ESC criteria, which is hardly worth getting into here, but essentially entailed adding the group vocals and horn parts and worrying about all sorts of critical miniscule details of the sound in mix after mix (recorded and engineered by Jānis Kalve of Labo ierakstu studija).

 

 

E+: Have you thought about changing anything from your stage performance?

We worked very hard on achieving natural-seeming movements under percussionist Guntis Spridzāns’ award-winning choreographic direction. However, for the final we are allowing ourselves to step back a bit from the studied dance routines as Guntis has done his best to make a diverse bunch of goofy musicians look a little sharper together. A team of designers and engineers are hard at work on individual fireworks-launching jet-packs being worked into the band’s suits, so that we can explode with the song’s finale (just kidding!).

E+: What are your main strengths so as to get the people support to win the contest?

The main strengths of ElektroFolk may be both Iveta’s well-known presence on Latvia’s pop music scene in recent years, combined with the veteran professionals assembled to back her up vocally and instrumentally. We wish to emphasize the group rather than any individual member, which could be advantageous in competition with three songs performed by solo artists. As for the people, we imagine there could be many that might be feeling some need to send to ESC something with a distinctly Latvian character and content rather than a more formula-oriented international pop song. It’s a completely different kind of songwriting approach – that could just as well be a disadvantage, too.

E+: What can this competition contribute to your musical careers?

ESC is a high-visibility exposure opportunity that can only propel our musical careers further after many years of dedicated hard work on the part of all members of ElektroFolk in their previous projects and together now.

E+: Do you have any favourite song among the other Supernova finalists?

We are very impressed with both Aminata and MNTHA, who have each written tremendously intriguing and attractive songs and have the stage presence to perform it themselves.

E+: Do you have any favourite song in the history of Eurovision?

“Eres tu” by Mocedades and “Sanomi” by Urban Trad

E+: Besides Eurovision, what are your plans for this year?

ElektroFolk will work on two new full-length concert programs to add to the repertoire maintained from the “Elektro” album. The band is booking performances around Latvia this summer, and is quite looking forward to a series of concerts for children and youth this April with the band Dzelzs Vilks and saxophonist Oskars Petrauskis, organized by national concert promoter Latvijas koncerti.

E+: What is your favourite style of music? And your favourite singer?

Our favorite style of music is: ethno-progressive electro-pop. Our favorite singers are: Demis Roussos, Till Lindemann, Peter Gabriel; Ann Wilson, Nina Persson, Sandy Denny.

E+: Finally, would you like to send a message for our readers?

“Ride the sky, light the fire.”

You can follow ElektroFolk on their Official Website and Official Facebook Page.