#Sergejs Timofejevs

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2007 - Number 28 - Intars Busulis - "Гонки"

Intars Busulis has form. Not only has he entered Eirodziesma twice before, as part of the band Caffe - albeit without much success - but he's already won a LTV talent show. He'd spent his early years in children's bands and later jazz groups. His education was through music schools and colleges, but instead of guitar, piano or violin, Intars's first instrument is the trombone.

When those first efforts at Eurovision in 2002 and 2003 came to naught, he moved on to talent shows, entering the 2005 edition of the Jaunais vilnis or New Wave show - the same show that Sopho Khalvashi got her break on. Intars went one better than Sopho and actually won the competition. After a few more appearances and performances with a variety of jazz groups, he came back to Eirodziesma under his own, now household name.

Гонки (Gonki/Race) is a bit of a weird one. For a start Intars is a bit shouty. There's an element of jazz in it, as well as at the art school. It wears is affectation on its sleeve. Notably it's being sung in Russian and not Latvian. The theme is going to become a regular one for Intars. It's about traffic. The race in the title is the rat race metaphorically represented by a range of vehicles racing to get to their destinations.

The song's structure is open - both in terms of not really having verses and choruses (although there is one there, lurking), but even the structure of the lines doesn't have any form of regularity. It's as frustrating as creeping forward a few metres in a traffic jam before having to slam the brakes on again. The song-writers are Intars himself along with Kārlis Lācis, a composer who normally writes for theatrical presentations and Sergejs Timofejevs a poet and DJ.

It chugs along with ever increasing tension and a few Russian/Latvian musical motifs thrown in there before being ground under the wheels of the musical cars honking their horns.

It turned out to be Intars best results (so far) at Eirodziesma, although it wasn't without hiccoughs. He only got out of the semi-final on the jury vote. He finished fourth in the televote which wasn't enough. However, in the final the televoters had come around to his charms and put him second. Still a long way behind the runaway winner.

Intars wasn't done with it yet though, and he of course went on to win the Latvian national final in 2009 and represent them at Eurovision. He tried one last time in 2022 too. He also has become a fixture both in the Latvian music industry and on Latvian TV. He's currently one of the judges and mentors on the Latvian version of the X Factor.

[mariastadnicka]

Orbita - Reconfiguring Contemporary Dialogue

Orbita – Reconfiguring Contemporary Dialogue

Orbita: The Project, Semyon Khanin, Sergej Timofeyev, Vladimir Svetlov, Artūrs Punte, translated by Kevin M.F. Platt with colab. (166pp., Arc Publications)

Orbitais a creative collective/group of Latvian poets writing in Russian which attempts and succeeds to reconfigure the contemporary dialogue between culture and creative genres. This refreshing poetry collection is an unpredictable Latvian…

[uzkraujas]

Сергей Тимофеев и Виктор Вилкс. Репетиция оркестра / Sergej Timofejev & Victor Vilks. from Orbita on Vimeo.

Режиссёр: Виктор Вилкс / Filmmaker: Victor Vilks

[atceros]

jautājumi

Vai pietiekami esam turējuši plaukstās kazenes, lācenes, dzērvenes? Vai mums netrāpījās aizdomīgi daudz negatavu ogu vai tieši otrādi – jau nedaudz saspiestu, nobrūnējušiem sāniem? Vai maigi likām soļus uz augusta mežu paklājiem? Vai iededzām lukturīšus tumšākajās diennakts stundās? Vai strādājām kokzāģētavās par nerunīgām, noslēpumainām figūrām, kas slaucīja sviedrus? Vai gulējām pakalnos atmestām rokām? Vai pakāpeniski kļuvām par nesalasāma, nekārtīga rokraksta piemēriem? Vai atstājām plaukstu nospiedumus krastmalas smiltīs pie nesteidzīgas upītes? Vai šķīrām nepadevīgus stingrus zarus? Vai labi esam nodzīvojuši dzīvi līdz pašreizējam mirklim? Vai vienmēr mums bijusi taisnība? Vai nepalaidām garām ko svarīgu?

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2009 - Number 25 - Intars Busulis - "Probka"

Yes, it's Intars. He made it to Eurovision at his second attempt solo, fourth attempt in total. Keep on trying and just maybe, eventually you'll make it. If there's one thing Intars isn't short of it's perseverance. His previous song in 2007 ended up second in Eirodziesma, and given that success, he was keeping the band together.

During the national finals, Probka (Traffic Jam) was called Sastrēgums and was in Latvian. It was still written by the same team as his previous song. The composer was classical and theatre composer Kārlis Lācis, while the lyrics came from Sergejs Timofejev and Jānis Elsbergs. As all of them have theatrical experience as well as doing Russian translations of songs for bands such as Brainstorm, it's no surprise that the song itself is a touch musical theatre.

But let's start off with Intars' jazz trombone playing and muso background. The song has verses in seven-four time and for a reason. The song evokes the frustration and anger of being trapped in a Traffic Jam. The odd metre is there to give that unsettling, extra long phrasing that feels like it should be moving forward faster than it is. Maybe honking its horn as it does so. You can feel the tension build through every verse.

For Eurovision in Moscow, the song was translated into Russian - not an unusual thing for a song from Latvia at the time and given the context, it was probably almost certainly going to happen regardless of what song won Latvia's national final. Somehow though, the Russian language seems to increase the agitation that Intars's experiences singing the song, as his shoulders get higher and his neck gets shorter.

Maybe it was that emotional expression, maybe it was the stop-start irregularity of the rhythm, or maybe it was the projection screen staging that got a little lost in the vastness of the stage. Maybe Russians just enjoy traffic. Whatever the reason, Intars and Latvia finished nineteenth of the nineteen songs in the Eurovision 2009 second semi-final. An undeserving fate for a song so different, weird and spiky.

No matter, Intars returned the next year with a double-album and he continues to be a big name in the Latvian music scene including winning more TV talent shows, being a mentor on the Latvian X-Factor, winning several awards and being a regular at jazz festivals. He even teamed up with Reinis Sējāns in 2022 to form the band Bujāns to have another crack at the Latvian national final.

And he's still making music. He and his regular band, Abonementa Orķestris tour and record all the time. This is one of their songs from 2024, Es Došos Ārā (I'm Going Outside) from their 2023 album Spēlē Savā Burvju Flautā (Playing His Magic Flute)

[atceros]

Patiesības

Es vēlos tev pavēstīt vienkāršas patiesības, Atklāt svarīgas lietas. Vienmēr atver durvis, kāp liftos, Celies augšup pa stāviem, soļo pa gaiteņiem. Vienmēr sēdies mašīnās, darbini dzinēju, Ziemā pagaidi, kamēr iesilst. Vienmēr tērē naudu, bet pamazām, Tikai paretam iztērē visu, cik ir. Vasarā tev būs vasara, rudenī rudens, Neapjūc, nedari neko tādu, no kā metas nelabi. Meitenes kļūs par lielām meitenēm, vēlāk tu ievērosi, Kā viņas pāriet ielu, mazuļus turot pie rokas. Vīrieši drūmi spriedīs par iespējām, Vēlāk darīs, kā apstākļi liek, bieži kļūdīsies. Valdības ir izveidotas, lai kristu, Kuģi – lai ietu zem tiltiem. Tomēr ugunis pretējā krastā Degs vienmēr, iedomājies, vienmēr. Bet, ja tomēr apdzisīs, sakrāmē somu, Neņem lieku, pamet pilsētu, cik ātri vien vari. Iebraucis jaunā vietā, paraugies apkārt, piespiedies stumbram, Vari aizsmēķēt, ja smēķē, pastāvi, padomā. Redzi, arī šeit dzer vakaros tēju, kafiju rītos, Lamā mēru, gaida pārmaiņas, kad būs labāk. Bet, ja ir upe, un otrā krastā mirdz ugunis - Tātad, ir vēl kur pieturēties.