Day 37: All jazzed up!

As soon as my alarm went off at 8am, I just about managed to open my eyes. Sleep deprivation is the worst. I could just tell from the sun beaming through the window that today was going to be HOT. I checked the weather forecast before I left for Riga to determine which clothes I would pack. It said rain and chances of storms so I packed warm clothing, as you do. I think I was the only person in the whole of Riga, if not Latvia, that was wearing black opaque tights. You can imagine how I felt. Not good at all. I thought I was getting somewhere with my packing skills...

After fighting my way through the sun rays and checking my legs were not being severely burned, we arrived at the radio house to start the filming for the day. I was pretty excited to hear that Victor Bailey, world famous American bass guitarist, was delivering a workshop.

Doing his thang.

Victor (or Vic as I like to call him) didn't have any lesson plans so he played some melodies and shared his life experiences in the jazz world instead. The best anecdote that I remember was the time he played with Lady Gaga before she was the Lady Gaga of today. What a legend!

It was nearly the end of the workshop and Victor asked which instruments the participants played. The hand of a teenage boy shot up and he revealed that his instrument was his mouth - he was a beatboxer. Victor seems quite sceptical at first because he grew up at the time when beatboxing was not globalised and happened on every street corner in 1970's Philadelphia. Nevertheless, he performed a short piece with the teenager and was blown away by his beatboxing skills. Today, a new genre of music was born: bassbox.

When the workshop ended, I had to interview Victor. As soon as I opened my mouth, he said "you sound very English English" to which I replied with "I am English English". And, of course, I had to get a photo with him:

Thanks, Victor. Now you can introduce me to Lady Gaga.

The filming crew had a while to go before our next shoot so we went to find somewhere to have lunch. "Costa Coffee" ended up being our choice, where I had a hot chocolate. I know this sounds mad considering it was like a desert outside but I heard hot drinks can cool you down. I had to test this theory.

A quick snap before I ruined the beautiful arrangement.

The hot drink theory slightly worked, but I still needed a cold drink. We went to the nearest bar and ordered  ice cream cocktails.

That'll do the trick!

Just as I was finishing my cocktail, all cooled down and legs still in tact, the sky suddenly went grey. Literally, in a split second. A few seconds later, leaves from the trees next to the bar starting soaring through the air. We were being attacked by leaves left, right and centre. I think that predicted storm was well on its way.

The tights were a good idea then.

We had to get back to the main concert hall before the rain started so we walked very quickly, constantly looking up to see if we were safe from the rain and leaves. We made it! As I was sitting down to eat my three course meal (free biscuit included again), the rain started pouring down outside. When I say pouring down, I actually mean gushing with thunder and lightening on the side - the full works. It was almost as bad as England.

The film crew had to make a few more interviews with some very important people, whose jobs all related to jazz in one way or another. One man that I interviewed was English, from Norwich I believe, and a music journalist. After talking about the differences between England and Latvia for a while, he asked what university I go to. And you'll never guess what. He studied there too! Very small world...

Me and my filming partner had to time it just right to leave and run in the rain to the concert in Old Riga. We arrived there a bit wet but the camera was dry; that was the most important thing. This concert seemed to go by very quickly, perhaps because we knew what to expect from the previous two days. As it was coming to an end, I told myself that I had to get a photo to explain what I meant yesterday about the artists' faces when playing their instrument.

Go drummer, go drummer!

The final day of Rigas Ritmi Festival is now complete. I am so glad I came along to film it and privileged to have met such amazingly talented musicians. Back to Valmiera I go with musical memories I will never forget!

I've been officially jazzed.