Pērkons

Pērkons (Latvian: thunder) is one of the most important and scandalous Latvian rock bands of the 1980s and is still performing in concerts. The group's lineup is Juris Kulakovs (keyboard, compositions), Juris Sējāns (bass, vocals), Leons Sējāns (lead guitar), Ieva Akurātere (vocals), Raimonds Bartaševics (vocals), Dainis Strazdiņš (drums). At first, Pērkons played two completely different kinds of music – instrumental classical music, and wild rock'n'roll bordering on hard rock. The band is better known for the latter. Their songs became the folklore of the youth, speaking about things nobody else dared to speak about. The band was for no expressed reason banned by the Soviet power in 1983. They continued to play as an ensemble of the kolkhoz "Soviet Latvia", careful not to mention the title Pērkons again. In 1985, after a concert in Ogre, a group of teenagers demolished two train compartments. After this, the group was banned again immediately, even though it had nothing to do with the incident. (The concert, demolished train, and court trials were documented by Juris Podnieks in the film, Vai viegli būt jaunam? (Is It Easy to Be Young). After a few more years, in 1987, they arrived to the song festival Liepājas dzintars (English: Amber of Liepāja) as the ensemble of the fishermen's kolkhoz "Selga". The texts of their music are at least as rebellious as the music itself, mostly written by Māris Melgalvs, one of the best known examples is Balāde par gulbi. The group has also performed Songs of Fredman by the Swedish 18th century song-poet Carl Michael Bellman.