Several years have passed since the departure of the New Wave contest from Jurmala, the appearance of this resort is gradually changing, and in places where tourists usually gather, you can more often hear not only Russian speech, but also the languages ​​of vacationers from Western Europe. In turn, Jurmala residents are worried that the language of money sounds louder and louder in their city.

For more than ten years, July was the month when Jurmala became one of the centers of the Russkiy Mir - during the New Wave song contest, our big neighbor landed here a landing of show business stars led by Alla Pugacheva, Iosif Kobzon and other luminaries of the Soviet stage. But after the invasion of Ukraine in 2014, holding such an event in Latvia became impossible, and the New Wave moved to Sochi with its colorful audience.

Some of the owners of hotels and restaurants in Jurmala recall with nostalgia the times of the “New Wave”, when in a few weeks it was possible to “milk” impressive sums from Russian rich people and live without worries for the rest of the year. It is clear that with the departure of the "New Wave" "fat years" ended, but what came in return? A certain idea about this is given by the summer repertoire of the Dzintari concert hall, which is composed for people with very different tastes. Idols of the Russian public Maxim Galkin, Valery Meladze and Vera Brezhneva, as well as former Western stars of Modern Talking and Smokie will perform at Dzintari, while lovers of Latvian music will be pleased with Intars Busulis, Jumprava and Viktor Lapchenok. Classical music connoisseurs will meet with Elina Garancha, Kristina Opolais and other stars.

Jānis Pinnis, president of the Latvian Association of Restaurant Hotels, believes that the repertoire of the Dzintari concert hall is a good example of how to attract different audiences, and this is how the Jurmala resort as a whole should act. “In the long term, this is certainly a stronger strategy than focusing on only one market,” Pinnis stated. The statistics of the influx of tourists to Jurmala shows that this strategy is working successfully, because the number of tourists from various regions has increased.

Russian village

The flow of Russian tourists to Jurmala has been declining for various reasons over the past few years, but this year there has been a significant increase again - by 27%. But the number of tourists from Lithuania and Estonia, as well as from Western Europe, is growing even faster. For example, in the first quarter of this year, the number of tourists from Finland increased by 95% compared to last year, and from Norway by 45%.

Context

Muscovites settle down in Riga

Helsingin Sanomat 29.06.2017

Jurmala dies but does not give up

Delfi.lt 27.06.2017

Cooled down to Europe and reached out to Russia?

Le Monde 28.12.2016

Garik Sukachev: There are enough fools everywhere

Delfi.lv 12.10.2016 The head of the Kurši Hotel&SPA in Jurmala, Zane Steinberga, confirmed that more and more hotel services are used by tourists from Scandinavia, and travelers from Asia also appear more often. The manager of another Amber Botique&SPA hotel, Pēteris Grinbergs, noted that after the crisis, Russian tourists began to return to Jurmala as well. When asked about the differences between tourists from Russia and from the West, Grinbergs replied that in the sense hotel services there are few differences: “If a hotel room costs 100 euros per night, then this price is the same for a Swede and a German, as well as for a Ukrainian and a Russian. But there are differences in other costs. Western tourists are more predictable, they come to a restaurant, eat, drink a glass of wine and leave. Russian tourists are not so easily predictable, their dinner can turn into a long gathering.”

The costs of this public are not as great as in the days of the New Wave, when in Jurmala one could meet a Russian millionaire on every corner. Their influx provided a good profit for the hotel and restaurant business, but many Jurmala residents were not enthusiastic about the New Wave. “This festival brought low-quality pop music to Latvia, singing to the phonogram. The “New Wave” was rather not a cultural, but a political event,” concluded cultural sociologist, deputy of the Jurmala City Council Dagmara Beitnere-le Galla. In her opinion, during the "New Wave" Jurmala became a "monetary Russian village”, which did not benefit the image of the resort in Europe.

Now the controversial contest has moved to Sochi, and Jurmala has to think about new ways to attract the financial public. Deputy Chairman of the Jurmala City Council Nikita Nikiforov admitted that the departure of the New Wave reduced the desire of some tourists to come to Jurmala, while for others, on the contrary, Jurmala became more attractive. “However, it should be noted that tourists who previously came to the New Wave were ready to spend more, Western tourists are more careful in this sense,” Nikiforov added.

Losing advantage

In Jurmala, as in most resort towns, business is seasonal, in the summer you have to try to earn the lion's share of the profits for the whole year, and the excesses of the New Wave only intensified this trend. “Waiters will remember the times of the New Wave with huge tips for a long time to come,” says restaurant business representative Janis Pinnis.

As the director of the travel portal BalticTravelnews.com, Ajars Mackiewicz, stressed, now the prices in Jurmala have leveled off and become more affordable also for “normal” tourists. However, the Russian rich have not disappeared anywhere, many of them received residence permits in Latvia, acquired valuable real estate in Jurmala. A critical opinion about the business with residence permits from the head of the Jurmala Defense Society, local government deputy Uldis Kronbloms, he believes that this business has changed the face of the city: “Instead of building new hotels to accommodate tourists, apartment buildings are being built in the coastal zone of Jurmala, so the resort becomes less attractive. I talked a lot with tourists from Russia and Western Europe. When I asked why they chose Jurmala, they answered me that they liked the special aura of Jurmala. Tourists appreciate that Jurmala is different from others European resorts where concrete monsters are built near the beaches. And now we are losing our unique advantages. If we become the same as others, then Jurmala will no longer be interesting for foreign guests.”

base under threat

Another side effect of the residence permit business is the increase in cadastral value and property tax, which drives many Jurmala residents into despair, who cannot pay the skyrocketing taxes. “In Jurmala, a war has been launched against the indigenous people,” says Dagmara Beitnere-le Galla, worried about the consequences that the continuation of the previous policy is fraught with. “Jurmala has historically been a wonderful oasis with beautiful wooden houses, which are rare in Europe. Now it is all gradually lost. We see how the city has changed since the sale of residence permits began. The architecture of Jurmala, the spirit of the city suffered more damage than in Soviet times,” the deputy said.

The rich in Jurmala are not at all interested in the city functioning as a favorite resort for tourists, because crowds of people will only interfere with them. In addition, they themselves live in Jurmala only in the summer season, and most of the year luxury houses stand empty.

As the writer Anna Zhigure noted, now there is no targeted tourism and resort policy in Jurmala: “The residents of Jurmala are promised jobs, but work in the villas of the rich is provided for a relatively small number of housekeepers, janitors and security guards. We must think about how to attract tourists from Western Europe, and this can only be done in the European environment.” A similar opinion is shared by Dagmar Beitnere-le Galla: “Jurmala must be formed as part of Europe. It is important for us to mark ourselves on the map of Europe as a resort with good traditions, ample opportunities for recreation and rehabilitation.”

Latvia has serious advantages in comparison with the resorts of Egypt and Turkey, we have a much calmer political environment, and tourists do not need to worry about their safety. “Latvia is a calm country, and this is very important for tourists. We often have families with children who want to enjoy safe rest", - said Zane Steinberga.

We have to compete with the Estonians

An expert in the field of tourism Matskevich noted that our resort has other advantages: “Jurmala, complete with Riga - unique place, because there are not many resorts in the world where the beach is so close to the capital. In Paris and Berlin, tourists cannot get off the train and, after half an hour of travel, are already sunbathing by the sea.” It is necessary to think more about attracting tourists in the off-season. “Seasonal tourism is very dependent on weather conditions. It is much more reliable to develop sanatoriums and medical tourism, which will make it possible to work all year round. A good example is Palanga with its dolphins, where the flow of tourists is almost uninterrupted. beach season is relatively short, and people get sick and are treated throughout the year.

Anna Zhigure pointed to the positive example of the Estonians, who quickly managed to transform the sanatoriums in accordance with Western standards. “Jurmala should have thought about attracting Western tourists back in the 90s, but the city's leadership chose the simplest path. The staff of the sanatoriums did not know foreign languages, only Russian. And Russian tourists were preferable, for a cheap fee they were ready to put up with a lower quality service, ”said Zhigure. In her opinion, Jurmala still has a lot to do to create an attractive environment for Western tourists: “For example, I can't imagine that a tourist from Western Europe would want to walk two kilometers along the beach in search of a toilet. Our man, perhaps, will run into the forest or into the sea, but they are not used to this.”

Representatives of the tourism industry admit that in an effort to attract Western tourists, one should not forget about travelers from the former USSR, for whom Jurmala is still favorite place recreation. This is facilitated by nostalgia for Soviet times, and the ability to communicate in Russian, which is not available in other European countries.

Generational change

Researchers of the history of Jurmala note that the influence of other cultures has always been felt in this city - both Russian aristocrats and landowners from the Baltic Germans settled here. Today, the influence of these cultures is reminded by an ambitious project being implemented near the Dzintari Concert Hall. A beautiful Orthodox church is being built there, which is scheduled to be completed next September. “Undoubtedly, the restored Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God will adorn Jurmala, this popular international resort where tourists from all over the world come. For guests, the church will become an important spiritual value, because, first of all, it is the Temple of God. And the rest will be attracted by its appearance,” said the head of the Latvian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Alexander.

True, the appearance of the church raises objections from many Jurmala residents, because at the beginning the project provided that the height of the bell tower would reach 38 meters, which is three times the maximum permitted height of buildings in this area. “The Society for the Protection of Jurmala did not object to the construction of an Orthodox church as such, because historically this place was a very beautiful wooden church. We demanded respect historical buildings district,” said the head of the society, Uldis Kronblooms. The Orthodox Church in Dzintari (former Edinburgh) was built in 1896, and in 1962 the Soviet authorities demolished it. The restored church will be much larger than the original one. After long discussions, the builders agreed to reduce the height of the bell tower to 28 meters.

The future will show whether Jurmala will remain attractive for Russian tourists, because every year the generation of Soviet times, for which Jurmala was a benchmark, is shrinking. seaside resort, and in the struggle for the attention of younger generations, Latvia has to compete with many other places of recreation. The head of the tourism department of the Jurmala City Council, Gunta Uspele, believes that there is no need to be afraid of the change of generations: “More and more come, including young people. Our task is to offer new tourism opportunities for different ages. The wider the offer, the more people will want to come to us, and there will also be a tendency to return. There are many tourists in Jurmala who come back here and stay for a long time. And not only from the post-Soviet countries. For example, there are a lot of Finns who stay here not for the first and not for the second time. Jurmala has its own charm that captivates and attracts them.”

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Three years ago, the Latvian resort city of Jurmala lost several major Russian festivals at once - New Wave, KVN, Comedy club. Then it seemed that without tourists from Russia, desolation and decline would come to the coast of the Baltic Sea. And what is really happening in Jurmala - the correspondent of Present Time understood.

From Jurmala to Riga - just over 30 kilometers. This year, in terms of the number of tourists, the main Latvian resort showed a fantastic increase of 30 percent. And this despite the fact that the summer season in the Baltic countries is short, at best, two to two and a half months of warmth and sun.

“In Jurmala, as in any other resort town it all depends on the weather. There will be sun - there will be people, there will be people, there will be profit. True, it seems that this year tourists came to Jurmala contrary to all forecasts. There were really few sunny and super-hot days this year,” says journalist Maria Andreeva.

There really are vacationers in Jurmala, and not a few. English, German, and Russian are heard on the streets. For example, Elena, who came here from Finland, and at the same time invited a friend from St. Petersburg to relax with her: “This coast is gorgeous, everything is so great, but the weather, of course, is for those who are not afraid of the cold.”

Three years ago, when it became known that there would be no New Wave, KVN and other festivals in the city, real panic reigned among local entrepreneurs. Some businessmen even wrote letters to the city hall with a request to persuade Krutoy and the company to return. As a result, it turned out that there were no fewer tourists from Russia.

This year, 23 percent more Russians came to Jurmala than a year earlier. Yes, and Russian stars, as before, love the Jurmala coast, says the head of the local tourist center Gunta Uspele: “Many Russian pop stars every year make their own solo concerts, take part in festivals, and give their concerts not only in Jurmala, but also in Riga”

Someone comes here only on tour, others spend the whole season in Jurmala. For example, Alla Pugacheva with her family. IN last years in Jurmala there are more guests from the Scandinavian countries.

Lithuanians and Estonians, who have their own resorts on the Baltic coast, are increasingly coming to the Latvian coast. Whether still will be, rejoice in self-management. Here the street vendors are not so optimistic. They say you can't earn much from Estonians and Swedes.

“They don’t buy anything – neither the French, nor the Turks, nobody buys anything. When there were Russians, then we lived, and now we are in a complete ass,” says street vendor Viktor.

So the resort city has to adapt. You can forget about the dashing times of the New Wave, when in three days the hotels made a cash register for a year in advance. Prices eventually fell, and as the locals joke, in Jurmala now the Latvians themselves can afford to relax.

After the flight of the New Wave, the Germans came to Jurmala. But they didn't live up to expectations either.

His words are a stone in the garden of the Seimas, which in April significantly tightened the procedure for obtaining a residence permit by non-residents in exchange for the purchase of real estate.

The situation Truksnis finds himself in is a typical story of a realist Baltic mayor whose interests run counter to the ambitions of the establishment and elites. Truksnis cannot be called a pro-Russian politician; it is difficult to suspect sympathies for the Kremlin. But, like the head of Ventspils, Aivars Lembergs, and the head of Riga, Nila Ushakov, he is more concerned about the city economy and the well-being of local businesses than “high geopolitics” with Crimea, Donbass and the protection of “Ukraine’s European choice.” He, unlike the deputies of the Seimas and members of the government, feels the damage from the sanctions war in his own municipality. What happened to Jurmala, in turn, is another classic case of the Baltic “crossbow”.

The politicians wanted to hurt Russia and “send a signal” to it, and ended up effectively shooting themselves in the foot.

Russians have chosen Jurmala resorts since Soviet times. They made up about 40% of the tourists. Over the 12 years of its existence, the New Wave alone brought Jurmala 10–11 million euros a year. There are other calculations: according to deputy Andrey Klementyev, with the loss of the event, Jurmala lost a total of 17 million euros. The epic with the "New Wave" began in the summer of 2014. A few days before the festival, Latvia declared its guests Iosif Kobzon, Oleg Gazmanov and Valeria persona non grata. The Trinity was accused of undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine for supporting the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. The organizers decided to relocate the festival to Sochi. Following the “New Wave”, “Voicing KiViN”, “Week of High Humor” of the Comedy Club and “Yurmalina” left for Russia. The authorities welcomed the departure of the iconic events of Jurmala, which ensure the growth of tourists by 20% per year, with enthusiasm.

“I'm not sad, Latvia is not a rag that others can wipe their feet on,” Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevich reacted. In general, the nationalists took the cleansing of Jurmala from the New Wave with a bang: the “Soviet artists” who broadcast nostalgia and the Soviet mentality will finally leave. Down with "reoccupation"!

And why are Russians needed when you can invite tourists from the European Union who are closer in terms of value? The result was not long in coming. From Jurmala, photographs and whole reports from empty beaches and train stations. Transport company owner Armands Muižnieks outlined to a Meduza correspondent a typical picture of the new realities: “What are you talking about. I drove tourists here to the Turaida Castle on January 1 - the workers said that last year there were an average of 35 buses a day on holidays. Now one of my minibuses has arrived and another big one, that’s all.” Along with the decline in tourist flow from Russia, the real estate market collapsed, the hotel and restaurant business, the construction industry, and the advertising sector were seriously affected. The famous Jurmala dachas have become empty. The concert hall "Dzintari" was under the threat of desolation. The Saeima also raised problems quite inopportunely: the deputies supported the idea of ​​the National Association to impose a large duty on the extension of the residence permit, which also affected the attractiveness of Latvia for travel and recreation.

Mayor Truksnis naturally took the flight of the Russians without enthusiasm. Moreover, at first he tried to reassure the public, until the last he denied that the New Wave would leave, then he claimed that the competition might return in the future. When it finally became clear that the festival had left Jurmala with the ends, Truksnis had to come to terms with the bitter facts and radiate restrained optimism. He began to look for pluses in the current conditions. The idea was born to arrange a rebranding of Jurmala, thereby attracting tourists from the West and North of Europe. Truksnis and local politicians took the position that the departure of the Russians is, of course, a shame, but in a sense even good. Ultimately, it is not worth living for Jurmala at the expense of Russians alone. Where is the best place to diversify?

The collapse in housing prices was, again, to attract enough Europeans, albeit more conservative in terms of spending.

And New Wave, Truksnis said in February 2015, putting a good face on a bad game, is deeply unprofitable, “began to outlive itself,” while Jurmala “will be able to“ prove ”that it does not depend on one or two events. As a result, the mayor had to spin like a squirrel in a wheel, trying to compensate for the missing Russians with Germans, Poles, British, Scandinavians and neighbors from Lithuania and Estonia. For "Dzintari" urgently began to look for new events. A stage of the beach volleyball tournament was "brought" to Jurmala. They even came up with a replacement for the New Wave - the so-called Jurmala Festival, which was visited by the country's President Raimonds Vejonis. All these efforts turned out to be insufficient: the Russians could not be adequately replaced, and the guests from the EU and Scandinavia, on whom great hopes were placed, turned out to be stingier than the Latvians thought. Therefore, the rhetoric of Truksnis also changed, and he simply could no longer deny reality.

Last April, he dispelled fears about tourist season, stating "I don't see the drama. Firstly, Russian tourists and so accounted for about 40% of all foreign ones. Secondly, why should their flow dry up? Yes, about 20 large travel agencies went bankrupt there. But there are more individual tourists.”

A year later, it turned out that, after all, the income from generous Russians turned out to be incomparable with what the economical “new foreigners” now bring. Or, in the language of the mayor, "last year we finished, fortunately, without minuses, but with a small, small plus." Due to sanctions and the practice of blacklisting cultural figures for political opinions, Jurmala had to make a titanic effort to simply survive, so the “small-small plus” is considered a huge success and victory, and, apparently, this is true .

In addition, along with economic difficulties, an awkward situation has developed when the Russians in the bulk support the annexation of Crimea, but spend a lot, while the Germans do not share these views, but spend little.

In 2015, the mayor also denounced Russian propaganda that could scare tourists. “Of course, they may be influenced by the fact that the central Russian television all the time shows how unfriendly we are here,” the official was indignant. - But that's not true! Every country has its scumbags. Russia has its own skinheads, and we have our own radicals, but there are very few of them. In general, I can say: everyone is welcome here, everyone is welcome here. We have no animosity towards the people.” A year later, it turned out that there were problems with openness and xenophobia in Latvia, so much so that the mayor considered it necessary to urgently call on fellow citizens to do something about this, otherwise the 2016 season would end exactly the same as the 2015 season. The Seim, however, is likely to ignore the complaints and, perhaps, even write down Truksnis as a defeatist and pro-Russian agents, as periodically happens with Ushakov.

Only very naive or, conversely, cunning people will argue that culture has nothing to do with politics. Any cultural event, like a work of art in general, even the most microscopic one, is not free from political context and subtext. The festival "Rendezvous with Laima Vaikule in Jurmala" is no exception.

At the beginning about the artistic level of the festival. For the first time, I was a direct witness to everything that was happening on the stage and, in part, behind the scenes of a variety event of this magnitude. I never bothered to get accredited to the New Wave and I also missed the first two Rendezvous with Laima Vaikule in Jurmala.

True, I saw something from the New Wave on TV. I can’t say that I admired, but I didn’t feel much disgust for what I saw. I was glad that the competition is held in Latvia and attracts the attention of the entire Russian-speaking and Russian-understanding world to our country, as well as considerable money, by the way. I was upset about the departure of the New Wave from Jurmala and welcomed it, as it were, to return in the new Rendezvous format.

Everyone compares "Rendezvous" with the "New Wave". It's unavoidable. Both similarities and differences are striking. First of all, the massive participation of Russians: Russian TV channels and mass media, Russian show business stars and the Russian public. The differences are striking too. They were already pointed out by Laima Vaikule and the chairman of the Rendezvous Organizing Committee Alexander Shenkman.

- We are completely different. “New Wave” is still a competition. A festival in Africa is a festival. Significant people come who are happy to meet. There is also a mixture of genres and duets, when artists who have never performed together sing together. “Rendezvous” is a very appropriate name for what is happening here,” Vaikule told reporters.

“Direction is completely different. Here the main director is Laima, and she herself creates everything here in accordance with her taste. We know that she is sometimes referred to as a style icon here, and that style is permeating the stage as well. That’s why the aesthetics are different,” added Vaikule Shenkman.

This means that the festival is instead of a competition, since “there is enough of this goodness on television even without you”, that’s one thing. Duets and fashionable mixing of genres, these are two. And not just duets, but unexpected duets not only in composition, but also in the presentation of material - in new, sometimes quite original arrangements for old songs about the main thing.

So the well-known Russian music critic Artur Gasparyan noted exactly the duets. He compares Laima Vaikule's Rendezvous not with the New Wave, but with Alla Pugacheva's Christmas Meetings.

- The Russian prima donna arranged her meetings, and the Latvian prima donna, an artist whose reputation is such that there is not a single person who would not love her, who would not respect her, found a very correct format. Anyone she invites is always happy to come and participate. Laima's duets attract me the most at her festival. This magical matter of the birth of something new, and in a live performance, on stage - this is the magic of art. It hit me last year. This is the exclusive that Laima found for her festival. You will not see this anywhere else, it is unique. It is interesting to the eye, to the ear. It’s always the discovery of some new nuances,” Gasparyan said in an interview with the “Everything Always Everywhere” program.

Speaking of repertoire. What personally didn’t suit me in the New Wave was the arbitrariness of its permanent chief director Alexander Revzin, who personally decided what the contestants would sing. This alone deprived most of the contestants of their individuality and, in my opinion, profaned the very idea of ​​the competition, turning the competition program into a continuous mu-mu-mu, and often non-musical mess. Rendezvous seems to have done away with this vicious practice.

And one more difference from the New Wave is the live sound. True, not totally alive. The sound engineer had to work hard. How many artists, so many opinions. Not everyone was as direct as Keti Topuria, the lead singer of the A-Studio group, who publicly declared before singing: “Give me my voice higher.”

Live sound is tricky. It is not always the key to a successful performance. Here, white magic can turn black in the blink of an eye. And Leonid Agutin and Vladimir Presnyakov fly by with the seemingly well-established duet "Airports" - they barely made it to the runway. Although each of them sang their solo numbers quite well.

Especially Presnyakov. The singer showed excellent form. His faded charisma shone with renewed vigor. Probably, the positive influence of Natalia Podolskaya affects, the duet with which turned out to be very touching. And they had someone to try for.

— This festival will be remembered in a special way. For the first time in our life, our son Artyom is on our tour. We are very happy, - Natalia told the public and the world, stepping on stage.

In general, nepotism is inherent in the Russian stage, with all the ensuing and ensuing consequences. Star couples are always in the spotlight. Nevertheless, the matrimonial relations of kings, ladies and jacks of show business have never been in the center of my attention, so I will limit myself to pointing out that Alla Pugacheva and Maxim Galkin attended the third of the festival concerts, which added drive to both the artists performing that evening and the public , and journalists. The last, perhaps, in particular.

© Alexander Malnach

Nobody's presence, even the President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis and his wife at the opening of the festival, did not cause such a stir (it was only later that the inquisitive Lato Lapsa became interested in what money the country's first couple arranged for themselves "Rendezvous with Laima Vaikule in Jurmala"). And it was not for the head of the Latvian state that the guards had to clear the road, and it was not for him that the audience gave a noisy ovation when Laima Vaikule, singing the song “Old Friend” (“... you can’t get away from me anywhere”), said that she dedicates it to “her beloved friend” , who is now in the hall along with "the most cheerful person."

By the way, about applause. Twice the hall burst into thunderous applause at the address of ... the disgraced oligarch Ainar Shlesers. And the first time, it seems, quite spontaneously. The producer of the festival Elita Milgrave, urging the spectators who hesitated during the intermission to take their seats, personally turned to Shlesers, who was creating a traffic jam in the forefront. Oh what a start!

The second time Shlesers was awarded with applause when he was mentioned among the entrepreneurs who helped the Laima Vaikule Rendezvous in Jurmala with finances. And you say - culture and no politics. After all, it was by no means the Russians who didn’t know any Shlesers who clapped their hands, but the local public, which was somehow impressed by this “guy from Maskachki” and which thus expressed support for him at the time of resuscitation of the “oligarchs’ case” seven years ago.

But I was talking about the artistic level. So duets. One of them - Laima Vaikule and Kristina Opolais - opened the festival. They sang a song by Raimonds Pauls, whose work on the first day of the festival inspired almost every artist who performed (the Latvian segment of the Internet was also angry about this). Songs to the music of Raymond Voldemarovich sounded almost entirely, although not always in a recognizable form.

© Alexander Malnach

I rather liked the duet of Vaikule and Opolais, although Kristina, a world-famous star, took her first steps on the “opera stage” (Laima Vaikule’s reservation) was not easy. “We are not microphone singers,” Inessa Galante sympathized with her colleague during the intermission. But Kristina mastered herself and the audience, singing two real opera arias, accompanied by the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra - Lauretta from Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" and Mermaid from Dvořák's opera of the same name.

She swung her “tail” very spectacularly - a train of a black dress embroidered with sequins, the singer seemed to dive deep into the stage in order to swim again towards her fate and success with the public in the finale. Her voice is truly outstanding beauty and purity. By the way, on August 5, Christina Opolais will again take to the stage of the Dzintari hall. This time as part of the Baltic Musical Seasons festival and accompanied by tenor Pavel Chernokh and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

More experienced, Khibla Gerzmava, who already took part in Rendezvous last year, Kristina's colleague on the opera stage, who performed on the second day of the festival, chose to perform more pop pieces - Charlie Chaplin's composition "Smile" and Giuditta's aria from Lehar's opera of the same name. But the duet with Laima Vaikule turned out to be more than experimental. As expected, they sang in interruption each his own: Lime Pauls' song "Lai ar vieglu roku, lai ar mīļu domu", and Khibla the same aria of Lauretta Puccini to a very strange big band accompaniment. It didn't turn out very well, in my opinion.

With whom Laima sang on these four evenings, both together, and three, and in a group: with the “classical music hooligans,” as they are called, the Dagamba group, an international group, with a veteran (45 years on stage!) Valery Leontiev, with their countrymen and co-hosts, “guys from Talsi” Intars Busulis and Janis Stibelis, with the Degrees group, with Freedom ballet in Kiev, with Potap and Nastya from there, with Leonid Agutin, with Stas Mikhailov, with Emin, with Grigory Leps and Alexander Panayotov, with the Santa Barbara duet. Parties were also composed between the artists invited by her in the most bizarre combinations. So, the “Song of Tbilisi” was sung by mother and daughter Nani Bregvadze and Eka Mamaladze, Vakhtang Kikabidze and Valery Meladze at the same time. The only thing missing was Tamara Gverdtsiteli.

This is also interesting, how the organizers seated the guests and participants at the tables-days of the festival. It had its own, very subtle game and politics, so that it was both on a level, and not boring, and politically correct. It is worthy of surprise how whimsically and intelligently interacted languages ​​- Russian, Latvian, English, Ukrainian, Estonian, even Belarusian (“Historiya maigo zhytstya”).

I even find it difficult to say what propaganda the festival was to a greater extent? Russian language in Latvia, Latvian song and performers (Intars Busulis, Janis Stibelis, Aija Andreeva, Justs, Samanta Tina, Richard Lepers, Markus Riva, Antra Stafetska, Aminata, and this is not counting the Dagamba group, Laima Vaikule and Kristina Opolais) in Russia and in the whole world, or, perhaps, the branded Soviet friendship of peoples? Along the way, and that, and the other, and the third.

That's why it turns back from the heart of the "Rendezvous", say, commentator Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze Elite Veidemane, known for her acid reactions and Latvian mania. “I don’t know if there is something else in the garbage dump of the Latvian entertainment industry that is as disgusting, tasteless and intimidating as the Laima Vaikule festival,” she threw up right on the newspaper. But the key word here is “Latvian”. The project, although with the participation of the Russian side, is Latvian in origin.

In the list of entrepreneurs who supported the “Rendezvous with Laima Vaikule in Jurmala”, Latvian surnames (and what else!) Side by side with Russians. And companies - residents of Latvia, however, are very interested in the development of economic ties with Russia. Take, for example, Rietumu Banka, which stood at the origins of the festival; or Rīgas piena kombināts, which treated the people with Ekselence ice cream all four evenings - I don’t want to take it (it took more than 4,000 servings); or the national airline airBaltic, which photographed everyone against the backdrop of exotic views before, during the intermission and after the concerts.

The weak side of the "New Wave", as a rule, was the entertainer, all these jokes of the hosts about the difference in height, weight and chest volume. This part of the program was taken over by Lyme and her henchmen "guys from Talsi", and quite successfully. I remember the joke of Busulis, who invited the audience to try Riga balsam and Riga sprats during the intermission.

Taking into account the television broadcast, the language of communication with the public was "great and mighty." Even a performer from Estonia, Ots Lepland, who sang in his native language, did not go into his pocket after performing for “thank you”. But "paldies" often sounded from the stage. I'm not talking about the songs state language. So there was also enough Latvianness. What’s good about “Rendezvous with Laima Vaikule in Jurmala” is that, somewhat paraphrasing the words from Agutin’s song: “it doesn’t matter here what anyone believes in!”. It seems that everyone at Rendezvous believes in love. In any case, they sang only about her alone.

I just think, if the richest people and the largest companies in the country are paying for a mega-event broadcasting in Russian and glorifying love at the same time, then who is sponsoring the Russophobic domestic and foreign policy of Latvia? Who creates all this atmosphere of hatred that we have to breathe every day? Really Elita Weidemann and others like her? Paradox.

By the way, when Busulis offered the audience to sing the chorus of some famous song instead of him, the audience picked up loudly and harmoniously in Latvian. And this is evidence of the presence of a critical mass of Latvians among the audience, because the Russians have never been distinguished by the skills of choral singing.

As for my preferences, on the first day of the festival, the resilient Valery Syutkin warmed up with his performance (“ A good place Jurmala is an hour's flight from us"), and I was completely amazed by Elena Vaenga, to the number of whose fans I had never belonged before.

There was no trace of the former awkwardness of Vaenga: full compliance of the stage image, music, texts and vocals, wonderful acting work. But Vaenga has not yet learned how to read (and not sing) her poems (“I always come to my senses from the aesthetics of a mess”). And also these supposedly subtle compliments made in a half-curtsey: “In the Baltic States, everything has always been branded. Not expensive, but branded. An attempt on wit, IMHO.

Chris Norman, who opened the second day of the festival, I barely caught. Late. They received him very warmly (“This is our youth!”, A colleague said), but the work of this artist is somehow not close to me, I confess.

For me, this evening, Vladimir Presnyakov really lit up. He stirred everyone up, raised the hall to its feet (even Boris Moiseev stood up, modestly sitting on a wooden bench). After all, Presnyakov again “the month of May is raging outside the window,” but I will not repeat myself. Agutin also tried very hard.

On the third evening, my favorites were Vladimir Vinokur and Lolita, whom I whispered in her ear after the concert: “You are the Pugacheva of our days.” True, he immediately made a reservation: "By temperament." Still, the living Pugacheva was sitting right there in the hall, God bless her!

© Alexander Malnach

And I also asked Lolita what will happen after the Titanic?

- It's hard to surpass what is called a "hit". After such songs there is always a period when such a song does not come into your hands. But I'm finishing an album that will have at least five hits. The Titanic made it impossible to hear them. And my friend said: “Look what trend you have: “Titanic”, “Sea”…”. And the next one will be called "Cemetery," my friend with a good sense of humor, brought up on Kharms, asked. I hope that the graveyard of souls and dead ships will not reach. It’s still positive, ”the singer replied.

Lolita has just returned from an Australian tour, but she cannot sing in Ukraine. And since it’s not in her nature to remain silent about sore points, during her speech in Dzintari she suddenly announced that for her this was an opportunity to say hello to Ukraine and also said: “I love you and missed you,” which the Ukrainians did not fail to report. MASS MEDIA.

It is no coincidence that the singer then said - a little snobbishly, but fairly - to reporters:

“Lyme should be given a medal for the fact that at a very strange time, when some people say that one should not love someone, others, in spite of everything, love everyone. And this love, it is given: by this hall, ethers in many countries. Artists are the last truth that is needed in any crisis. But then they are more active when they are given a platform. Laima is a platform, and a platform exclusively for singing love. For many years I knew that “Lyme” means “happiness” in translation, but today I can absolutely say that “Lyme” means “love”.

The final, fourth, day of the festival proceeded very rapidly. Already unscheduled — Surprise! - Maxim Galkin's performance made it unforgettable. We were all rolling with laughter.

I looked with interest at the Swede, the winner of the Kyiv Eurovision Mons Selmerlev. It's just a cyborg. Everything is honed to the millimeter, not a single movement past the TV camera, sophisticated vocals and ... not the slightest sign of a soul. Swarthy, but cold as the polar sun.

But the Georgians slew. I would never have thought that Nani Bregvadze and Vakhtang Kikabidze are in such good vocal form. Bregvadze's "Bitter Viburnum" and Kikabidze's "Grape Seed" sounded like a revelation. It's much more than just vocals. And, it seems, I was not the only one who was touched by the sincerity of the Soviet stage, almost forgotten in our time. Surprisingly, even the VIP-zone has ceased to clamor and slurp.

Am I nostalgic? May be. But this is my strongest musical and even, perhaps, heartfelt impression of “Rendezvous with Laima Vaikule in Jurmala 2017”. A real holiday.

No more foot in the Baltics! - shouted after the inclusion of Kobzon and Valeria in the "black list" of Latvia. The New Wave contest, the Russian Eurovision Song Contest, also moved to Sochi.

Have our paths parted? No matter how. The seaside outskirts of Riga for Russian-speaking people is much more than just a resort.

I went and saw how they live there without us.

1 I love Riga for distances. This city doesn't need a car at all. You can get around on foot, by bike or by taxi, which costs as much as public transport. And to get out to the sea on weekends, there is an electric train: from the center of Riga to the famous Jurmala is only 30 minutes.

2 The appearance of the train will surprise the people of Russia. Those who are older will be a little less surprised, but they still remember that Soviet electric trains were made just at the Riga plant. Outside, they are exactly the same.

3 The interior is different. In the Riga train, there are other, softer seats, the upholstery is cheerful. The layout has not changed since Soviet times, three in a row, opposite each other. The modern Latvian version has side folding seats with the possibility of attaching bicycles at the front of the car.

The ride costs a penny. One round-trip ticket 2.73 euros. This is 185 rubles. For the same amount, you can travel in Moscow from the Yaroslavsky railway station to the city of Pushkino (and return). The same 30 minutes on the road.

4 Only in the train you understand how small Riga is. Starting from the very center, the train quickly crosses the Daugava and enters the industrial zone, which soon gives way to private cottages.

5 And here are the usual Soviet “waffle” fences. So that's where you've been hiding!

6 For an average Russian, “Jurmala” is like “Sochi” for a Latvian. Both cities stretch for kilometers, the districts differ from each other, but visitors still tend to go to the same places. So Jurmala is different, there is even an area with panel Khrushchevs. It is impossible to see everything in one day. So, I chose the most “pop” Jurmala, where everyone goes. These are the districts of Majori and Dzintari.

And as soon as I got off the train, I ended up in some local Lyubertsy. What is this, a seaside resort? City of all-Union significance? Broken sidewalks, abandoned buildings of the Soviet era, cars rotting in the yards...

7 The obsession quickly ended. It was necessary to move away from the station, cross the road, and Europe began.

8 Fresh three-story houses with huge glass balconies, neat yards without cars, obviously not cheap apartments.

9 And all this in the middle of a pine forest. Minutes from the sea.

10 I know some people don't want Latvia to look successful and beautiful, but you can wipe yourself. There is a lot of very expensive real estate here, but for the whole day in the city I have not come across deaf three-meter fences, as on Rublyovka.

11 Garage cave is amazing. A guard with a club at the entrance, dressed in a Flintstone costume, is missing.

12 There are even bold architectural designs. Admit it, you didn’t expect this in the “poor” Baltic states?

13 But what about the old wooden villas? Have they all been taken down? No, right there. Alternate with "elite". Many houses are for sale or simply abandoned. In Majori or Dzintari there are fewer of them than in other areas, the center, after all. But we'll talk about the "pieces of wood" below.

14 One of the coolest things in Dzintari is the city forest park. Or, as it is also called, “adventure park”. In the middle of a 200-year-old pine grove, many playgrounds and attractions have been built for the whole family.

Children's electric cars, track for rollerblades, lookout tower, where you can see the Riga “skyline” (beautiful, by the way). And a huge rope town.

15 Not surprisingly, the park was hardly less crowded than the beach.

16 Soviet Jurmala is no more.

17 I mean the sanatoriums and rest houses that worked under the USSR. They are morally and physically obsolete, many have been rebuilt into hotels. Others are abandoned.

18 At the same time, Jurmala residents can hardly be called Russophobes: the resort is still designed for the Russian-speaking public, including the Latvians themselves. Alexander Malinin, New Russian grandmothers, Moscow Virtuosi… These are just those who came at the same time as me.

19 Concert hall Dzintari, having lost the "New Wave", did not remain without artists and spectators. Laima Vaikule, a resident of Jurmala, arranged her music Festival, and other musicians regularly come during the summer season.

20 Let's finally go to the Jurmala beach! How are things here? How is the season, failed? The summer of 2017 in the Baltics turned out to be cold, they say the beaches were half empty. But when I got here one Saturday in August, there was nowhere for the apple to fall.

21 Improvement here is simple. Toilets and bins on the beach are represented by plastic toilets and garbage cans from the sleeping area.

22 Changing rooms should also be taken literally. On them, by the way, have placed advertizing of the Latvian railways and trains Riga-Piter and Riga-Moscow.

23 The sea is shallow here. You need to walk for a long, long time in the direction from the coast, so that it becomes at least “waist-deep”. But that doesn't matter. But you won't drown.

24 The beach itself is somewhat reminiscent of: a narrow sandy strip and a pine forest.

25 Jurmala is famous for its dachas. Now they are called villas. Any self-respecting Soviet person who came to success had to have a small house on Riga seaside. Many of those dachas are inhabited to this day.

26 Others are abandoned or for sale. I do not see anything surprising in this, especially since Latvia does not deny a serious outflow of the population from the country.

27 Promenade in Maiori. Pedestrian street popular with tourists. I don't remember the name, you can look it up on google maps, but is it really that important?

28 All restaurants and shops are concentrated here. Such a layer between the beach and the cottages.

29 Public catering is represented by establishments for every taste and budget. All chain restaurants in Riga are present, so if you have become accustomed to Tokyo City or Lido, you can stop experimenting and go to proven places.

30 The free space between the restaurants is occupied by semi-legal trade in souvenirs, amber and berries.

31 If I were walking around Jurmala with a guide, here he should have exclaimed “Our local Arbat!”.

Level 32 ranges from very decent to outright consumer goods. Shopping - definitely not forte Jurmala, you are unlikely to like something in local clothing stores. If you have taste of course.

33 The resort constantly balances on the verge of cheap fun for cattle and pleasant, stylish and quality places.

34 Not heads or tails, but if you compare Jurmala with a coin, it stands on edge.

35 Behind the line railway begins the residential part of the city. There is no more pathos here, only private sector with dachas and houses where they live all year round.

36 Quiet and pleasant. I like this Jurmala. I would like to buy a house here. By the way, it's not that expensive.

37 Neat, clean, tidy and seemingly timeless. And so it is not like our typical dachas, unfortunately.

38 Old Cyrillic signboards have been preserved on many houses.

39 In the depths of one of the streets, I found another Soviet "four".

40 But that's rare.

41 As you can see, Soviet Jurmala is no more. But Jurmala did not remain without the Russians. Like Russians without Jurmala. There are still many people from Russia in Riga, and we are welcome here.

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