Eolika

"Eolika" ("Eolika") is a Soviet and Latvian vocal-instrumental ensemble , working in the genre of pop music . For many years, the group was led by composer .

Eolika
Years	1967 - 2010
Country	the USSR Latvia
City	Riga
Language of songs	Latvian , Russian

It was founded in 1967 by graduates of Riga Secondary Special School named after E. Darzin . Originally the group was called “Varavīksne” (“Rainbow”). Since 1967, she took part in the concert program of the Riga pop orchestra under the direction of Raymond Pauls .

The first group included: Boris Reznik (pianist and composer), (vocals, guitar), Yuris Grinev (vocals, guitar), Yuri Kuzminov (vocals, bass) and Eduard Novikov (vocals, drums) .

In 1968, the first record was recorded, on which three songs were written by members of the group and one song by R. Pauls, performed by Nora Bumbier . In 1970, for several reasons, the group interrupted its activities. In the early 1970s, the name Eolika was used by a group led by the soloist of the Latvian State Philharmonic Society, Alexander Sotikov.

In 1977, the concert activity of Eoliki was continued. New participants appeared - singers Ilona Balin and Ilona Stepanova. After winning the VI All-Union Pop Art Competition (1979), Eolika gained popularity. The most famous song was “Nocturne” (“In the narrow streets of Riga”), written by composer Alexander Kublinsky . In 1980, Viktor Burakov (Zemgals) and Dainis Dobelnieks joined the group, and I. Balini was replaced by singer Olga Rajecka . The albums “Dreams of Riga” (1980) in Russian and “Pasaule, pasaulīt” (1985) in Latvian were recorded. At this time, foreign tours took place, the team performed in Cuba and in Afghanistan.

In 1987, B. Reznik's rock opera "Robinson Crusoe" was released as a separate disc, but after leaving the soloist O. Raetskaya in 1985, the band's popularity began to decline. After repeated changes in composition, in 1996 the Eolika quartet (O. Raetska, I. Stepanova, D. Dobelnieks and V. Zemgals) recorded the album “Kolekcija” with the best songs.

Recently, the group took part in small concerts at various Latvian pop venues ^[1] .