Participant’s Memories

Participant at the 1st – 4th festivals, Chief conductor at the 5th – 11th festivals, General Director for Choirs at the 7th – 10th festivals, Honorary chief conductor at the 11th - 15th festivals

I went to the first festival, in Tartu in 1956, with the choir of the Riga Pedagogical Institute, conducted by my brother Gido Kokars. The choir participated in the festival unoffically, because they had not been approved by authorities of the RPI. Secretly we hired a lorry, and about fifteen or twenty of us – singers of the mixed-voice choir with our conductor, merrily singing went to Tartu. There, in the “pot” (the valley, where the festival took place), emotions were already “boiling”. That festival and the next one, which was held in Riga, were very significant for us, Latvians, because, following the example of the Estonians, a loto f conductors included songs written in the pre-Soviet time in the repertoire of their choirs. The consequences were very serious – some conductors were sacked, including Haralds Mednis and Gido Kokars. 

Every festival had moments of high spirits, but sometimes there were tragic moments too. So once, tossing conductors up and down in their hands, the singers accidentally “dropped” Gido Kokars, who broke a neck-bone. Afterwards he needed quite a long, serious tratment, but, eventually, it ended well. The most tragic event happened in Vilnius in 1988, when during the Song Festival one of my Lithuanian colleagues collapsed next to me and died. Around the big festival bonfire, all the choirs raised their national flags and sang their national anthems. All outskirts were full of police - one next to the other. When the participant's procession was leaving for the Gaudemus Hill, Andris Teikmanis, the president of the choir of the University of Latvia, divided all the choirs into groups with one national flag for each one of them. If one group was arrested, another one would take its place with its flag. I did not take part in the procession, but worked at the headquarters, watching the situation and considering what decisions to make. The officials of the communist party wanted to convince me to interfere in the situation and make out students remove the national flags of Latvia. I told them “It’s your job. But better go home, nothing can be done there any more.” And they actually went back to Riga. Later, we – the participants in the festival – coming home by train, tried to predict whether any repressive measures would await us in Riga. However, nothing happened; they must have realised the situation was unstoppable. 

By the next festival, in Ogre in 1991, we in Baltics had already experienced the historic turning-point towards independence, but the political situation was still rather tense. Several guest choirs took par tin the festival as well, including the choir of the Music Academy from St Petersburg (Leningrad, at that time) conducted by J. Chernushenko. Chernusenko also conducted one song, but he was nearly hissed off the stage, because of his clearly indicated Soviet ideological position. He might have been made to act so or he might really think so, but at that moment, it seemed that I could lose a very close friend of mine. Later I heard that after that festival he had been entered in the list of “unwanted” people himself. 

Good things that come to mind when thinking about early of the Gaudeamus Song Festival are connected with the students’ dedicated involvement in organizing the activities, especially when the festival was held in Latvia. Each choir was responsible for one guest choir. Usually, during the festival, strong bonds of friendship were established among the choirs of the Baltic States and other countries; this was followed by exchange sightseeing – and concert tours. 

Talking about repertoire, I have to mention that we cannot “torture” participants with very complicated songs during these festivals. The mission of the students’ song festivals is to keep up the students’ high spirits and their ardour. It is important that every state chooses and offers its own repertoire, which is highly respected by other participants. Aso ne of the most emotional festivals, I remember the Song Festival in Vilnius in 1999, where folk music concerts were included in the porgramme. I do not think that the song festival concert should be too long – it should just be the concluding part of the festival. More important is to divide the festival programme into various interest groups – to let the brass band players perform together, the dancers enjoy their dancing together, ant the singers sing their fill together. The second part of the festival is as important as the first one – with its football, dances, romance…

The Song Festival of 1988 in Vilnius showed that students are always in the front lines (they just have to be guided correctly). All together, we have to try to develop and stimulate the students’ social activities. Every higher educational establishment, every group, has to have a leader who guides the others, whether in dancing, art, sports, or music. 

I hope the students of today may continue the best traditions of the former students’ organizations. I would like to see them adopt those traditions, with all the attendant responsibilities and demands, in various fields of the arts. They can carry out their usual activities at their meeting, but when getting ready for the next song festival, they should create new tendencies, methods, and programmes. Students hold our national credo in their hands. Let the meetings of the Baltic students at the song festivals and during the time between them be a guarantee of steadiness and stability for our nations.