| The singers of the group Putnu Balle (Birds' Party) are Kārlis Būmeisters and Valters Frīdenbergs who met 16 years ago when, at the age of two, they joined the children’s pop group Dzeguzīte (Cuckoo).
It was with Dzeguzīte that they scored their first success by singing songs by Raimonds Pauls – writer of many popular songs of that era which are still fresh in the memory of many people today. The songs included as ‘Piena Ceļš’ (‘Milky Way’) and ‘Anniņa Vanniņā’ (‘Little Ann in the Little Bath’).
At the 1996 Latvian Annual Music Award (Latvijas Mūzikas Gada Balva), Dzeguzīte’s album ‘Piena Ceļš’ (‘Milky Way’) won the prestigious award for the best selling album. With the band, Kārlis and Valters travelled to 22 countries and have also visited the most famous concert hall in the world, Madison Square Garden in New York.
At the moment, both boys are members of Putnu Balle and are working with Mārtiņš Freimanis. Putnu Balle’s most popular song at the moment is ‘Sapņu Pārdevējs’ (‘Seller of Dreams’) which was written by Mārtiņš for the music show of LNT (Latvian Independent Television). This gave Putnu Balle the opportunity to shoot a video. Under the guidance of director Kristaps Streičs, they made a video for their third single ‘Spārni Un Vējš’ (‘Wings and Wind’). Their first album is expected to be launched in spring. It will contain several songs by Mārtiņš Freimanis.
In the last year's national selection contest for the Eurovision Song Contest, Valters was Chilli's back vocalist, but this year he and Kārlis are taking part in their own right. The boys say, “We would never have thought any of this could happen but when you’re working with Mārtiņš Freimanis you don’t know what to expect!’ |
