Skaņu Mežs Festival Got a Latvian Name So Foreigners Would Struggle to Pronounce It
Viestarts Gailītis, the originator of the Skaņu Mežs music festival, explains in an interview how the event began and why it has a Latvian name. This year's concerts in Riga take place on 9 and 10 October.
The Skaņu Mežs festival of experimental and unconventional music is under way in Riga, with concerts at Hanzas Perons on 9 and 10 October. In an interview in the Saturday supplement of the Latvian newspaper Diena, the festival's originator Viestarts Gailītis, a former Diena staff member, describes how the event came about and where its unusual name comes from.
A name that is hard to pronounce
Gailītis says the festival was originally focused on electronic and electroacoustic music. Riga's techno scene at the time mostly used technical or English-language names, so he wanted the opposite: a Latvian name that is difficult for foreigners to pronounce. According to him, the name appeared a few days before the project had to be submitted to the State Culture Capital Foundation. The fir-tree logo was devised by Ernests Kļaviņš, then Diena's caricaturist.
Beginnings
The idea for concerts emerged after Gailītis spent years in Norway, where he visited a club called So What in Oslo. The early events were called 1-2-cauri!, and Skaņu Mežs has existed as a legal entity since 2007. After several noise-music concerts at the club Depo, the first event of its own was held at the Smiļģis museum. The festival has now existed for 24 years. Gailītis recalls that he lost his job at Diena after the financial crisis and a change of management, and then devoted himself more seriously to the festival, building contacts in Europe and writing project applications.
Programme
Besides concerts, artists will give masterclasses at the Latvian Academy of Music and the Art Academy. On 9 October Hanzas Perons will host, among others, Auguste Vickunaite, KMRU, Michael Foster and Krallice, and on 10 October Agita Reķe, Rob Brown, Klaus Kugel, Smerz and others. A week later, on 17 October, Madona will host the concert Visjaunākais Jaunais vilnis 2026 with Kodek, TV Maskava, Origo Boys and Trigger Object. It is this year's version of the MABOCA Miracle Nights organised by artist Margrieta Griestiņa.
