Armenia’s President to award Raimonds Pauls with "Order of Honor"

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Today, the President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, hosted Latvian and Soviet composer and pianist, director and arranger Raimonds Pauls.

As Armenpress was informed by Information and Public Relations Department of the President Staff of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan has welcomed the world-famous composer in Armenia. The President has highly appreciated Raimonds Pauls’s loving service to the culture affairs highlighting that under his music millions of people have been educated for many decades, including thousands of our compatriots who even today welcome the prominent musician with warmth and were deeply touched by his concert in Yerevan.

During the meeting, the president of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, awarded Raimonds Pauls with the "Order of Honor" for the considerable contribution to the establishment, strengthening and development of friendship with the Republic of Armenia, as well as forthe great achievements in the field of world music.

Composer, pianist, director, arranger and producer Raimonds Pauls was born on 12 January, 1936 in Iļģuciems, Riga; his father was a glassblower and his mother was a housewife. He started to learn how to play the piano at the age of 4, first at the Musical Kindergarten at Riga Institute of Music, and then he entered the Elementary School No. 7 of Riga City and studied music privately under Professor Valerijs Zosts and teachers Emma Eglīte and Juta Daugule.

The most distinguished writer of Latvian popular music and pianist Raimonds Pauls is the most famous composer not only in Latvia, but also far beyond its borders. His music has been performed in countless countries and in the most prestigious concert halls, and all of this was possible thanks to his unique flair of melody. The fertile creative imagination of Maestro Raimonds Pauls has brought together the intonations of Latvian folk music, jazz, blues, rock’n’roll, French chanson, German schlager and the intonations and elements of national popular songs with the arising trends and always manages to create contemporary and generally attractive music that is at the same time thoroughly democratic.

The music of Raimonds Pauls is known worldwide: concerts have been given; albums and songs have been released in all countries of the Eastern Europe, countries of CIS, in Finland, the USA, Canada, Japan, Israel etc. The most popular song is definitely Dāvāja Māriņa (Given by Marina) alias Miļļon alih roz (A Million of Scarlet Roses) that became a hit in Japan, Finland and the entire Eastern Europe. The songs of Raimonds Pauls have been translated into Russian, Finnish, Japanese, Italian, German, English and other languages.

Music for 30 theatre performances including Īsa pamācība mīlēšanā (A Short Instrucion in Love), Atjautīgā aukle (The Ingenious Nanny), Šerloks Holmss (Sherlock Holmes), Brands (Brand), Džons Neilands (John Neiland), Elizabete – Anglijas karaliene (Elizabeth – Queen of England), Grāfs Monte Kristo (The Count of Monte Cristo), Dāmu paradīze (Paradise of Ladies), Melanholiskais valsis (The Melancholic Waltz) etc. and for puppet theatre performances Runčuks Punčuks (The Belly Tomcat), Velniņi (The Two Imps), Ceturtais skriemelis (The Fourth Vertebra) etc.

Music for more than 30 movies, including Vella kalpi (Servants of the Devil), Vella kalpi Vella dzirnavās (The Servants of the Devil in the Windmill of the Devil), Tauriņdeja (The Butterfly Dance), Melnā vēža spīlēs (In the Pincers of the Black Lobster), Dāvana vientuļai sievietei (A Present for a Lonely Woman), Mans draugs – nenopietns cilvēks (My Friend the Rattlebrain), Teātris (The Theatre), Limuzīns Jāņu nakts krāsā (A Limousine in the Colour of a Summer Solstice Night), Likteņdzirnas (The Hand-Mill of Fate), for the series Ilgais ceļš kāpās (The Long Way through the Dunes) etc.