Lusens, Janis (1959)
Biography Works
Jānis Lūsēns was born on April
7th, 1959 in Liepāja. He graduated the 8th grade of the 1st
secondary school of Liepāja (1975), the theory department of the
Liepāja Emils Melngailis College of Music (1979), and the Jānis
Ivanovs composition class of the Latvian State Conservatory (1983).
From 1999 to 2002, he was the director of the music department of
the Liepāja Theatre.
Until the mid 90s, he mainly worked in non-academic music.
During his studies, he founded the experimental music
ensemble Zodiaks (1979). Though in
the beginning Zodiaks was a purely
studio group, since the technical possibilities of the time did not
allow for concert performances, the musicians achieved great
popularity. Especially notable is
the Zodiaks album Disco
Alliance (1980), which sold in excess of 20 million
copies all over the world. The album had simple instrumental disco
compositions, however, for its time it was new and
unusual. Disco Alliance was the
first Latvian pop music record, along with that it was notable for
its progressive use of electronics, vivid artwork, and not far
removed from Western productions. In 1999, a new version of the
single Pacific led to the rebirth
of the Disco Alliance album. Four
versions of the song were recorded, which were worked on by Jānis
Lūsēns, Modris Skaistkalns, Edijs Gņedovskis and the
group bet bet. EMI Japan and Poland
showed an active interest in the new versions
of Pacific. In the fall of 2002, the
song ReLoad by the
group PPK reached the top of the
charts in England and Ireland, which is based on the melody of the
J. Lūsēns song Zodiac.
After an unsuccessful attempt to include vocalists in the
ensemble, the first line-up
of Zodiaks broke up. In 1983, J.
Lūsēns began to direct the
group Neptūns, also called
the Jānis Lūsēns Group. The brightest
moment of that time was the song Par smilgām (About
Blades of Grass) recorded by Igo. In
1987, Neptūns became Zodiaks.
In the new line-up was the singer and violinist Zigfrīds
Muktupāvels and the composer’s wife, singer Maija Lūsēna. The group
achieved success, receiving the grand prize at the
festival Liepājas dzintars
’87 .
Theatre music holds a notable place in the composer’s
creative output. The composer has composed music for all the large
Latvian theatres. Especially fruitful was his work with the poet and playwright
Māra Zālīte, with whom were written many rock operas, as well
as Putnu opera (The Birds’ Opera) ,
which has been performed not only at the Latvian National Opera,
but also theVanemuine Theatre in Tartu,
Estonia.
In the 90s, J. Lūsēns seriously turned to composing vocal
symphonic works (the cantata Liiv,
Magnificat, the choir symphony Dziļā
elpā [In a Deep Breath]) . He has worked together
with the Latvian Radio Choir and the Riga Dome Boys’ Choir. The
songs of J. Lūsēns have been performed many times at the All
Latvian Song Festivals and Student Song Festivals. The composer’s
author concert Kā maigi dzelošs rožukrūms (Like a
Lightly Stinging Rosebush) took place in Liepāja in
1998.
J. Lūsēns is one of the rare composers who writes music for
children. The composer is also involved in charitable causes –
donating income form concerts and recordings to children – the
Latvian Children’s Fund, the Children’s Clinical Hospital,
handicapped children’s camps, etc.
He has received the Latvian Theatre Award for Best Composer
(1996 – for the music for the production of Santa
Krusa [Santa Cruz], 1999 – for the rock opera
– Kaupēn, mans mīļais [Kaupēns, My
Beloved]), the Latvian Great Music Award (for the music
productions of 2000 and his contributions to the theatre music
genre) and AKKA/LAA Copyright Award in 2003. As of 1987, J. Lūsēns
is a member of the Composers’ Union.
www.janislusens.lv