Lituanika (festival)

“Lituanika-85” was held in May 1985, organized by the Vilnius City Committee of the Komsomol and the interclub “Lituanika”. In addition to 15 rock bands from different cities of the country, jazz bands from all over the USSR also performed. Passed in the Vilnius Palace of Culture and Sports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

1985.05.24 (Friday)

VIA Birzhaisk restoration workshop (headed by E. Grazhis); Jazz ensemble under the direction of V. Chekasin (Vilnius); VIA Opossum ( Tallinn ); jazz ensemble led by R. Bagdonas ( Panevezys ); VIA “Rondo” (Kaunas, head. A. and G. Tautkasy).

1985.05.25 (Saturday)

VIA "Impulsas" ( Shakiai creative team under the head. Rutkauskas); Jazz Quintet (Tbilisi); VIA Metro (Minsk); VIA "Country Hour" (Riga); VIA Iskra ( Tashkent ).

1985.05.26 (Sunday)

VIA "Uniform" (Tallinn); Jazz duet (Leningrad); VIA “Post scriptum” (Tbilisi); Ensemble of the Vilnius Electrographic Institute "Katarsis" (headed by P. Poshkus); VIA Vilnius Interdepartmental Security "Studio" (headed by J. Pulkauskas).

• Laureates: “Ad Libitum” and “Metro” (a jury led by Mikaloyus Novikas).
• The Audience Award went to a group from Vilnius led by Jonas Pulkauskas.
• The prize for professionalism was received by Manzur Tashmatov from Tashkent.
• The prize of future hope was given to Jordan Butkute .

Lituanika-86 was held May 23–25, 1986 at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Palace of Culture. The organizers also included the Lithuanian State Philharmonic Society . The festival was attended by 16 rock groups from Leningrad, Moscow, Tallinn, Riga, Minsk, Vilnius, Kaliningrad, including "Aquarium", "Bravo", "Aria", "Yumprava" , " Antis ", "003" ^{[1 ]} , “Gunnar Graps Group”. The festival significantly increased public interest in previously banned rock music. The strong roster and rock-savvy audience created a unique atmosphere. “Lituanika-86” became a festival at which rock declared itself in full force, and some groups immediately gained all-Union fame.

It was attended by 16 groups.

Festival participants:

1986.05.23 (Friday)

Metro (Minsk); Hetero (Estonia); " 003 " (Kaliningrad); Pantomime Theater (Vilnius); “AD Libitum” (Vilnius, director P. Poshkus); Bravo (Moscow);

1986.05.24 (Saturday)

VIA "Studio" (Vilnius); VIA "Sipoli" (Riga); (group) “Bond” (Minsk); Aria (Moscow); " Jumprava " (Riga); “ Gunnar Graps Group ” (Tallinn); Aquarium (Leningrad); VIA "Laboratory of rock", hands. A. Orlov (Vilnius)

1986.05.25 (Sunday)

Youth Concert "Anonsas"; " Antis "; “Plentas” (Pasvalis ( Riga ?); “Foje” (Vilnius); “Hilda” (Vilnius);

The concert of the laureates.

Two juries worked at the festival: the official jury, with representatives of the State Philharmonic Society, and made up of rock experts from the younger generation. In determining the outcome, opinions diverged, and a compromise was adopted: the winners were Sipoli, Gunnar Graps Group, Bravo, Aquarium and Aria (prize for professionalism). Group “003” from Kaliningrad is called the greatest hope for the future. The audience’s sympathies were won by the Antis group, which performed out of competition.

The audience’s favorite was the group led by Gunnar Graps, the best vocalist Zhanna Aguzarova from Bravo, the band Gunnar Graps was awarded for mastery, the best song Sipoli, Bravo for the best program, Aquarium for originality style. The prize of hopes was awarded to the group “003”, “ Komsomolskaya Pravda ” - “Jumprava”.

Lituanika 87 was held May 19-24, 1987 in the Great Hall of the Vilnius Sports Palace. The first two days were devoted to the panorama of Lithuanian rock music. The organizers tried to create a democratic atmosphere - the chairs on the ground were removed, the audience could dance or watch the speakers from the stands; minimum number of police and combatants. Compared to 1986, the number of participants increased (28 groups), but in quality terms was inferior to last year. Along with original groups, they were also frankly weak, uninteresting musically. Chamber groups that performed intellectual, complex in the compositional sense of the program, almost lost. As a result, the festival concerts turned out to be uneven, although the overall impression was good: “Lituanika-87” became an all-union festival of rock music, in which such interesting groups as “C Brigade”, “Kino”, “AVIA” and “Auktsyon” took part.

The 3rd Lituanika 87 festival was held May 19-24, 1987 in the Vilnius Sports Palace. Organizers: Interclub “Lituanika” and the State Philharmonic of Lithuania. 28 groups from the USSR took part in it. 6 competitive evenings were held, which were visited by 20 thousand people. The first and second days were devoted to Lithuanian groups.

1987.05.19 (Tuesday). Panorama of Lithuanian rock music

“Ad libitum” (Vilnius); “Balana” (Vilnius); Ekslibris (Vilnius); “Impulsas” ( Shakiai ); “Ramybės skveras” ( Kėdainiai ); Utopija “Post skriptum” (Vilnius).

1987.05.20 (Wednesday). Panorama of Lithuanian rock music

“Hilda” (Vilnius); “Faktas” (Vilnius);

“Kardiofonas” (Kaunas) “Horoskopas” (Kvunas) “Piligrimas” (Kaunas) “ Auktsyon ” (Leningrad)

1987.05.21 (Thursday)

Gunnar Graps Group (Tallinn); "Juke boks" (Tbilisi); Brigade S (Moscow)

“Yellow postmen” (Riga) “Katedra” (Vilnius) “Tigro metai” (Kaunas)

1987.05.22 (Friday)

“Nikolai Copernicus” (Moscow); " Jumprava " (Riga); “Cloud Land” (Arkhangelsk); " Antis "; Kolumbus Krist (Tallinn)

1987.05.23 (Saturday)

"Night Avenue" (Moscow); " Nautilus Pompilius "; "Opus" (Riga); “ AVIA ” (Leningrad); “ Cinema ” (Leningrad); " Līvi " (Liepaja).

1987.05.24 (Sunday)

Forum of representatives of the country's rock clubs "Development of rock clubs and youth music."

Jazz music concert at pl. Kutuzov: groups of A. Abaryauskas and P. Vishnyauskas

• Participants of the festival: “ Brigade S ” (Moscow), “ Dangerous neighbors ” (Leningrad), “ Nikolai Copernicus ” (Moscow),

The jury commission, chaired by Saulius Šaltenis, awarded the main prize to the Antis group (all 14 members of the commission voted for 1st place), the Lyvi group (Liepaja, leader Yuri Yakovlev) and the Nautilus Pompilius group from Sverdlovsk (leader Vyacheslav Butusov ) Laureates of Jumprava, Ad Libitum and Neighbors (Leningrad)

Five rock groups became holders of the festival diplomas: “Jumprava” from Riga (prize of the Union of Composers of the LSSR for the best rock composition), “Avia” from Leningrad (prize of the festival for originality), “Katedra” (Vilnius), “Opus” (Riga ) and the group of G. Graps (Tallinn).

Laureates: Antis, Nautilus Pompilius, Livi.

The prizes of the festival were also received by the Nikolai Copernicus group (Moscow), the Katedra group, the soloist P. Meshkela (vocals), the group guitarist G. Graps Yu. Stikhanov, the performer Avia N. Gusev (keyboards).

Festival decorator - A. Lapenis, lighting director - N. Birulis, Jumprava group, sound producer - A. Zaleckis, presenter of the festival - A. Klevechka.

The concert was filmed by the American television company CBS . The best performances were published on a disc entitled “LITUANIKA '87” (in that spelling) released by Melody (Melody, C60 26577 009).

Lituanika 88 was held on September 13-18 , 1988 at the Vilnius Sports Palace. Organizers: Lituanika youth club, Lithuanian Culture Foundation and the Peace Committee, State Philharmonic Society, Kaunas Youth Music Club Baltika. It was decided to abandon the idea of ​​an all-Union rock festival and make Lituanika a festival in the Baltic region.

At the end of 1987, after the Lituanika festival, the majority of the most active members of the Lituanika interclub left legal dependence on the Komsomol . The Komsomol always tried to control the movement of rock musicians of the LSSR. Almost until 1988/1989 in the territory of the LSSR it was impossible to organize any event of an international scale without coordination with the Communist Party of the LSSR , verification by the Komsomol and youth bodies and their approval. All this time since the day of the first festival in 1985, the Komsomol tried in every possible way to give ideological significance to the rock festival, did not allow the musicians of the groups to use their own names (it was necessary to specify the VIA - vocal and instrumental ensemble), the ensemble had to be part of any organization , the texts were subjected to censorship and so on. d. Only thanks to the favor of the chairman of the cultural fund Česlovas Kudabe and his deputy Gerimantasu Tarvydas was registered youth club "Lituanika", which included people Who came from the former Interclub at the Komsomol.

The Komsomol tried in every possible way to prevent the registration of the club under the name "Lituanika" outside the jurisdiction of the Komsomol. For these reasons, the 1988 Lituanika festival was rescheduled to September. The 1988 Lituanika Festival was dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the flight of Darus and Girenas over the Atlantic .

At the Lituanika 88 festival, 20 groups from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Leningrad and 10 foreign ones from the GDR , the Federal Republic of Germany , Poland , Finland, the Netherlands, and West Berlin performed. The greatest interest was caused by the performances of foreign groups, especially the punk band from Germany “ Die Toten Hosen ” and the West Berlin new wave “ Boom Operators ”.

The 4th festival “Lituanika'88” was held on September 13-18, 1988 in the Vilnius Sports Palace.
Organizers: Club “Lituanika” attached to the Lithuanian Cultural Foundation, Lithuanian State Philharmonic Society .

Festival participants: Die Toten Hosen from Germany, BoomOperators from West Berlin, Foje (Vilnius), Katedra (Vilnius), AD Libitum (Vilnius), JMKE (Estonia), Horoskopas (Lithuania ), “ Zero ” (Leningrad), “Zig-Zag (Latvia),“ P-3 ”(Estonia),“ K.Remonts ”(Latvia),“ Utopija ”(Lithuania),“ Jumprava ”(Latvia),“ Soul Stroika ”(Estonia),“ Ultima Thule ”(Estonia),“ Drama ”(Lithuania),“ Singer Vinger ”(Estonia),“ Asparez ”(Armenia),“ Skalsa ”(Lithuania, headed by G. Kazhemekas, Vilnius Art Institute, “ Polite Refusal ” (Moscow), “Bix” (Lithuania), “ C Team” (Moscow), “Odis” (Latvia), “Lyvi” (Latvia), “Blues Mobil Band (Georgia),“ Lombard "(Poland)," Prinzz "(GDR), ULO (Germany)," B roselmaschine ”(Germany),“ Havana black ”(Finland),“ Kadaverbank ”(Holland),“ Izimbra ”(Holland),“ Dada ”(Poland),“ Television ”(Leningrad),“ Great Luke ”(Tallinn).

Compared to previous years, the festival has lost its power, the selection of groups according to the regional principle and the invitation of many beginning groups lowered the level of programs. With great sympathy, the audience greeted the first performance of the group “Foje” from Vilnius after a 2-year break, which received the prize of the festival organizers. They decided to refuse the announcement of the laureates (the prize of the organizers of the festival was awarded to the Foje group). The festival ended with an open-air rally concert in one of the parks (?) Of Vilnius. He truly expressed the atmosphere of democratization of society in the context of Perestroika. The event has gained international significance. During the festival, a rally-concert of Sayudis was held in Nagorny Park . The whole concert was broadcast live by Lithuanian Radio ; Director - Algirdas Klova.

Participants of the festival: "Katedra" and others.

After the 1988 festival, members of the Lituanika club became active participants in the Sayudis movement, initiated an appeal to young Lithuanians in the world, urging everyone to meet in Lithuania, and ended their activities.

In 1989, many Lithuanian youth from around the world responded to this call in the press. The first meeting brought together some of the participants in the old Lituanika, as well as many new people. In 1989, the Lithuanian Youth Society “Lituanika” was established.

The most significant event was the event of 1989 - the days of Lithuanian youth of the world in Trakai. Lituanika also participated in the coordination of the round table of youth organizations (on the initiative of the board member of Sayudis, Alvydas Medvedinskas), organized several expeditions to Siberia to the places of Lithuanian exiles.

On September 12–13, 2015 , a festival of the same name (“Lituanika-30”) was held in Nagorny Park (Vilnius) ^[2] . Many groups that once participated in historical festivals “Lituanika30” took part in it: “Rebelheart”, “Airija”, “BA”, Saulius Prusaitis, “Hetero” (Estonia), “Jumprava” (Latvia); “Airija”, A. Makarevich , B. Grebenshchikov and “ Aquarium ”, jazz stars with V. Chekasin .

• Iron march
• Rock panorama-86

• Lituanica enters into a corkscrew // Golden Underground
• Troitsky A. ROCK MUSIC IN THE USSR: EXPERIENCE OF POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA // Part Two