The Latvian national cultural Centre's traditional cultural Excellence Prize in the field of folk music will be received by the restorer, master and musician of folk musical instruments Walters Reiznieks. The award will take place on October 27, 2023, at the “Tree Riga” cultural site.
The traditional Culture Excellence award is a special LNKC award for individual excellence or artistic collective for special merit or substantial contribution to building and maintaining the cultural environment of your county or city.
Walter Reiznieks is a restorer of ancient musical instruments, master of instruments, musician and head of the folk music chapel “North edge.” Grew up in Tirza, a family with a living tradition of home musicking. ”Whether it was some work talc or anniversary, in the end there was always sitting at the table and singing, sometimes playing. Consequently, very many songs from the traditional genre are familiar to me from an early age,” says Walter. Walter began to muscle with his older brother as he looked, playing a clarinet, musically walking around the houses around him.
After serving in the army, Walter Reiznieks ended up in Limbazi, where he became involved in the local chapel, played a fist tendon, and sang - there he also heard his ermonics for the first time.
A friend, a music teacher, has asked Walter every now and then, as a craftsman, to fix a musical instrument, arriving at the need for bass-string piano and concert trees - so Walter has made a machine to make the twisted strings and has begun to seek help from more and more tendon players. Walter says: ”That didn't end the case, it turned out that the instruments needed to be repaired to sound again. It was a good school, had to explore and get to know these stringed instruments, so to speak, from the inside. I also restored my fist tendon, and in doing so, there was an idea for some improvement. The idea proved valuable, it opened up new possibilities for the instrument. It also gradually began to make new multi-stringed instruments, such as cockles, fist tresses, buttoned tresses, chromatic tanners and tentars.“in 2016, along with his associates, Walter Reiznieks formed a group of folk musicians called “North edge,” which plays mostly self-made stringed instruments.
A few years ago, Walter confronted Valdis Anderson, an enthusiast of the Ievina Ermonik game, and, along with other enthusiasts -- Oscar Patiano and Arni Abelite -- decided to try to rebuild Ievina's ermonics. Careful research work followed, and the first new Ievina ermonics were built in 2020. So far, there have been four and two more Ievina ermonics in the making process.
Ethnomuzikologist Oscar Patiano says: 'Walter the Reiznieks is a versatile personality, both a great musician who inherited musicalisation skills and repertoire in a traditional way, and a brilliant craftsman who has made many musical instruments, as well as the head of the ensemble “North edge” and a tireless promoter of folk music and ancient instruments. Walter always looks for new solutions in his work and aspires to perfection. His skills as a craftsman have been very important in the revival of the Ievina ermonik structure, as well as his contribution to promoting the lark cockle game is priceless. Walter is very responsive and always ready to play, show and tell stories about musical instruments, making them and playing them.”
The presentation of the traditional cultural Excellence Prize in the field of folk music on 27 October at 15.00 will be an opportunity to watch live broadcast on the account of the national cultural Centre of Latvia on the social platform Facebook.