Ričardas Laginauskas of Katedra: “We Succeeded Because I Truly Believed in What I Was Doing”

The Lithuanian heavy metal giants Katedra have been flashing across my musical radar for nearly half my life—probably since 2005, when I first saw them live at the “Roko naktys” festival. I screamed “Mes jėga” (“We are the force”) at the top of my lungs, banged my head, and danced with the crowd to theirContinue reading “Ričardas Laginauskas of Katedra: “We Succeeded Because I Truly Believed in What I Was Doing””

Ales Loverde: A Journey of Soul, Survival, and Song

From freeriding down Swiss mountains to singing his heart out on stage in Lithuania, Ales Loverde’s life is anything but ordinary. The Sicilian-born, Swiss-raised artist has lived through love, loss, near-death, and creative rebirth — and he channels it all into his music. We sat down with Ales to talk about his upbringing, the accidentContinue reading “Ales Loverde: A Journey of Soul, Survival, and Song”

Sherman Tan on Music, Loss, and Building a Home in Lithuania

Sherman Lucharl Tan Hoon Heng, better known as Sherman Tan carries a rich cultural heritage. Born in Malaysia to a Chinese father and a mother of Welsh-Indonesian descent, his identity has always straddled different worlds. Despite his Chinese roots, Sherman doesn’t fit the stereotypical image, a fact that has followed him throughout his life andContinue reading “Sherman Tan on Music, Loss, and Building a Home in Lithuania”

Ignas Bautrėnas: as a metalhead from NYC, I couldn’t deny the importance of hip-hop

I have known Ignas since my adolescence as we met on gothic.lt forum. He striked me as someone who loves music and is a very kind and interesting soul. Years went by and we reconnected when he and his lovely wife invited me to become a content writer on ManoMuzika.lt. As I decided to startContinue reading “Ignas Bautrėnas: as a metalhead from NYC, I couldn’t deny the importance of hip-hop”

Tadas Kupčiūnas: playing the guitar is my kind of meditation

“The first electric that I’ve played on was some funky stuff from soviet 60s or 70s. My guitar teacher’s father had a couple of old soviet guitars that were playable, so I just tried those out. Later I acquired an old red Czechoslovakian “Jolana Tornado” – a fancy semi-hollow guitar for its era.