Līva

Bild: AIGARS_HIBNERIS

One passion, two instruments. Līva Strazdiņa—a true Berliner with Latvian roots—plays the trumpet and flugelhorn, and also composes. Now it all comes together: she is releasing her debut album *Unspoken*, featuring many of her own compositions, complemented by a cover of *Honesty* (Billy Joel) and an arrangement of the popular Latvian folk song *Pūt Vējiņi*.

Some tracks are direct reflections on specific experiences; for instance, *Misfortune Happens Sometimes* was written following a botched concert recording. Generally speaking, Līva’s music tells of experiences, feelings, encounters and everyday life. When she changed her trumpet embouchure, the exercises required frequent breaks – she used these to write ‘Concerted Breaks’. ‘Four Ants’ stems from a rehearsal situation. One might think it’s about ants; and if you like, the piece sounds like a colony of ants marching cheerfully through the forest. In fact, however, it is a play on words between ‘four ants’ and ‘four and’, a musical beat.

The trumpeter recorded her debut album with musician friends who enriched the production with their personal style and musical expertise: Max Hacker on tenor saxophone and alto flute, Florian Schultz on guitar, Laurie Rich on piano, Christian Cuevas-Müller on double bass, and Bastian Menz on drums.

To this day, Līva continues to draw inspiration and influence from Billy Joel, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Kendrick Lamar and others. On her debut album, this is evident in her cover of Joel’s *Honesty*, a song that accompanied her throughout her youth and which she has now recorded as an instrumental piece. Owing to her family roots in Latvia, Līva engages with Latvian pop and folk music, which she grew up with and which she encounters time and again in her second home.

Līva Strazdiņa (born 1997) studied with Sebastian Studnitzky, Malte Burba, Simon Harrer and Till Brönner, amongst others, at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. She has been playing the piano since childhood and the trumpet and flugelhorn since the age of thirteen. In 2020, she began working on her own compositions.

With *Unspoken*, Līva aims to share impressions drawn from her innermost experiences. The album invites listeners to recognise themselves in this emotional depth and to reflect on their own emotional world – to get to know Līva through her music and to discover themselves through Līva’s music.

“In its intensity, a real discovery for me. Worthwhile. Go and see her!”—
Till Brönner