World Music Festival "Porta"

On Friday evening, 6 November, we attended the concert of what is now the tenth world music festival at the Great Guild. The evening was cool - just right for conjuring up in the imagination the landscapes of the southern lands from which the performed music came. The concert consisted of two parts and lasted approximately three hours. The panes of the Guild's ancient windows reflected a diversity of colours; the space was first filled by the voices of seven men from Italy - or more precisely from Sicily (Antichi Suoni), then by the ear-caressing sounds coaxed from various instruments by world traveller and folk music instrument collector from Israel Tal Kravitz, and in the second part by the resounding flamenco singing and ardent dance rhythms of Puerto Flamenco (Spain).

The Sicilian "Ancient Sounds" (the group's name in translation from Italian) truly carried one away into the distant past and in truth recalled medieval minstrel singers. In the music, lyricism alternated with festive gaiety. Many pipes and tambourine beats.

Israeli musician Tal Kravitz surprised with his light and lively communication with the audience. He performed lesser- and better-known pieces which he had brought, together with distinctive folk instruments, from various countries of the world and from East Africa - which he holds in particularly dear affection and where he has spent a considerable time studying the traditional tribal way of life and, of course, music. He called East Africa his second homeland after Israel. He also performed several songs in his native language.

The musician-collector played on a Celtic harp, a kaba gaida, an adongo, and even performed Ave Maria on an ordinary saw. But his collection contains not only ancient instruments, but also a vox.

In his final songs, Tal Kravitz performed together with students of the Latvian Academy of Music, to whom he had been giving masterclasses during his visit here in Riga. It turned out he had learned the popular Latvian folk song "Bēdu manu lielu bēdu" rather well.

The group from Seville, a five-member ensemble (dancers - Francisca "La Chica" and Pako Idalgo; singers - José "El Tremendo" and Inma "La Karbonera"; guitarist Reubens de María), brought their fiery flamenco rhythms and the dance's duende (spirit, demon, passion) to the Riga stage.

The overall impression: a lovely event that left no room for boredom, but allowed one to discover and enjoy something more from the culture and art of various peoples. In my view, the staging was simple yet at the same time complemented the music well - lighting and backdrop photographs from Italy, Israel, Spain. The wooden dance floor seemed to resonate well with the flamenco dancers' sharp and rhythmic foot strikes, though the lacquer hampered the dancers, as it was clear that in the first flamenco appearance they were sliding quite considerably. After the concert we set off for home - one of us convinced of having discovered the charm of Jewish music, the other with a longing for sunny Spain; but the celebration of music and dance continued in a far more informal atmosphere at club "Artelis".

Festival website - http://www.festivalporta.lv/