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Writer's pictureDorotėja Būdaitė

A rare YES in a Sea of NO’s


What is this?

 Here we are, a band of 17 musicians trying to figure out how not to spend 70% of our Denmark tour budget (that we got through blood and tears) on flights and why the hell our trombones travelling with us eat all our money. Moreover, these sliding horns get window seats! For f… sake.


And then we’ve realized, we cannot be the only large ensemble touring and surely there are more fun and maybe even educational stories around us. So, we’re sharing.


The good, the bad and the ugly. And we’re listening to all of those as well .  


 

A rare YES in a Sea of NO’s

 

Our tour in Denmark starts this July 15, 2024 and marks a precious moment for us. Because we didn’t think we would get here, because so many people said – no, no, no. And because we are musicians and self-confidence isn't something that we were born with.


NO is a very annoying word. Don't you think? Like, let’s be honest, being a musician, you get to hate that word. Oh, and it takes very versatile forms, like for example “of course, I would just need to see if it fits our narrative”, or “that would be interesting, but I would have to check our schedules”. They are NO’s just hidden a bit.

Anyway… Where were we?

 


Oh yes. A yes. Our manager, Dorotėja, working on some projects we don’t really understand (music management is really tricky, it’s not even a joke) went to SPOT festival in Aarhus.




With her colleagues from Music Cities Network she met some people from Promus, who knew people from Aarhus Jazz Festival, who were there at the time.

Before that she got to hang out with some people from Denmark at jazzahead! in Bremen who know some people from Bjorn Management in Aalborg. If you don’t understand what you’re reading, that’s fine, we don’t either, but here’s a prehistoric tale of how we got to know the people we blame for sleepless nights now --> click.

 

Anyway, knowing some people who know some people led to a meeting with Aarhus Jazz. And they were super nice. And that doesn’t often happen. We were a band that had played 12 gigs by then. They should have said NO. But… They said...

 

Show us what you’ve got and tell us what you believe

 

And we did. Under the baton (he actually doesn’t have one) of Jievaras Jasinskis, our 17-member ensemble is not just performing. To be honest, it’s too expensive and too short lived to just go and have a gig.

 

So, this tour isn't just about music; it's about making cultural waves, showcasing the unique spirit and collaborative vision of Lithuanian jazz, but most importantly, it’s about making sense and finding meaning in touring.

 

And we spoke about all that, about our music, composers, struggles and dreams, about our vision having a big band of creators and innovators, about cross-over genres about the meaning of jazz and… the person in front of us asked to hear some of our music, watch some of our videos, asked many questions and seemed genuinely interested in our story.

 

And then they said YES

A few emails later we got in. “You should come and play at our festival”. Holy moly! We’re in??? But excitement was short lived because our manager realized how much it was going to cost. No festival or club can just pay enough money to bring a big band to their venue. Travel, accommodation, musician fees and food? No. No one. No one in the world. Because they all run on ticket sales, government support and etc. Unless you’re a superstar, and even then, not necessarily.

 

So… We sat down on our horny for music asses and asked, what the f*ck are we going to do now? 18 people. It’s 18 jazz people and an independent big band that dreams big….

 

To be continued…


 

Tour Highlights

Showcase stage – July 15th

Aarhus Jazz Festival – July 16th

Networking session – July 16th

Live recording Aalborg – July 17th


 

Song of the Post - Parallel Quirkiness

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