Ēriks Story
My spiritual flight towards the far-northern latitudes grew out of an instinct for everything unpredictable and a sensation in my fingertips: it was in 2011 that I began to think of the Northern Lights. I was fascinated by their dimensions, the versatility of their colours and the forms and the mystical legends rooted in Northern folklore (including folksongs). I remember the night we met for the first time in the snow-clad meadow of Northern Norway – the aurora polaris flared up, and, no matter how hard they tried, my eyes could not grasp the splendour in its totality. Looking at the sky, I fell backwards into the snow and could not help making a snow angel. Then I whistled and hummed the Latvian folksong on the artic lights. The tears of Ešenvalds, an adult man, were full of a child’s joy and amazingly sincere. It was then – during the seemingly endless eight hours of night that this multimedia symphony was born.
I was looking for the most ancient evidence; I read almost 150 books at the libraries of Cambridge and Tromsø Universities – on the meeting of the solar wind and the outermost layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. I interviewed the leading Norwegian researchers of aurora polaris: Asgeir Brekke and Truls Lynne Hansen; in Greenland – the experienced Inuit actress Makka Kleist; in Alaska – the American composer John Luther Adams; in Tromsø – the expert in Scandinavian folklore Ola Graff.
Having found the legends, I decided to find the storytellers. Together with the experienced film-makers Renārs Vimba and Dainis Juraga, we went to explore the magnificence of Lapland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Alaska; back in Rīga we made records of the stories told by Latvians Estonian, Finns, Karelians, and Yakuts.
I spent four years with the Northern Lights: it might seem like an obsession, but it wasn’t. It was an amazing chance to discover and record the unique heritage of the Northern Lights, which one can only find in nations living next door to the aurora borealis for generations.
The symphony itself needs the aurora borealis! I am grateful to photographer Kjetil Skogli for his kind response – he introduced me to the mysteries of the aurora borealis and granted his videos to the symphony.
I thank all the supporters of the Northern Lights project: especially the Latvians in Canada, the USA, Australia and Great Britain who lent a helping hand in the very beginning. Thank you, Renārs and Dainis, for all our ideas, deeds and mischief! Thank you, Māris Ošlejs, for being so trusting!
Composer Ēriks Ešenvalds
Project Supporters.
We thank the people and organizations for supporting the NORDIC LIGHT project:
Gunta Reynolde, DAUGAVAS VANAGI AND VANADZES, the Latvian Relief Society of Canada, Toronto Branch
Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Latvian sorority Spīdola, Canada
Nordea Bank AB Latvia branch
Martha Lou Henley Charitable Foundation, Canada
United States Embassy in Latvia
Nordic-Baltic Mobility Program
Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia
Solvita Sējāne and Lilija Zobens, Musica Baltica
Māris Dižgalvis, SIA Inducont
airBaltic
Lilita Daenke, Adelaide Latvians’ mixed choir DZIESMU LAIVA, Australia
Ināra and Ziedonis Āboliņš, mixed choir Straumēni, UK
Dace Aperāne, Latvian Cultural Association TILTS, USA
Taketo and Vija Muratas, Canada
Graham and Anita Andersons, Australia
Līga and Edgars Ružas, Latvia
Anita and Ivars Gaides, Canada
Inese Auziņa-Smita, UK
Laura Alders, Canada
Gunta Plostniece, USA
Sarah Bijons, Canada
Anonymous
Ola Graff and Marit Anne Hauan, Tromsø University Museum, Norway
Asgeir Brekke, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Tromsø, Norway
Turls Lynne Hansen, Tromsø Geophysical Observatory, University of Tromsø, Norway
Robin Tyson, Edition Peters Artist Management, UK
Ginta Tropa, Cultural Advicer, Office of Nordic Council of Ministers in Latvia
Dace Bluķe, Latvian Composer’s Union
Julia Pars, Culture Centre KATUAQ, Nuuk, Greenland
Þórður Tómasson, Skógar Museum, Iceland
Makka Kleist, actress, Greenland
Sigurður Ægisson, etnologist, Iceland
Paul Krejci and Maya Salganek, University of Alaska Musem of the North
Patuk Glenn and Sarah A.Skin, Iñupiat Heritage Center, Barrow, Alaska
Mariah Johnson and Scott Allen, Qutekcak Native Tribe, Seward, Alaska
Māris Ošlejs, State Choir LATVIJA
Uldis Lipskis, Liepāja Symphony Orchestra