Stomp on this!

RIGA - Can you think of any famous composers of the past centuries, whose works in particular and music in general may sound like it happens in the 21st century?
One of the pioneering musical experiments at the time was Stanley Jordan, who played the famous “Bolero” by creating peerless masterpieces with the help of his electric guitar. And how many more famous musicians tried out the genre of interpretation?

For example, Russian musician Victor Zinchuk outplayed a lot of classical composers and did it brilliantly. Here we are talking only about the guitar, but how many other ‘tools’ do creative people use nowadays to play the classics and create a new sound with them! Let’s just reflect on how many items that we use in our everyday life can create a sound.
Back in the days of extracting sound, people used bamboo, carved pumpkins and many other funky things. Today, people can pull out sounds from thousands of modern items, but not many of us can create from this what we used to call ‘music.’
Creativity in general is a very special thing, and the creation of music, for me personally, remained a mystery for a very long time. There are musical works that are somehow associated with certain countries, their history and people.
Today, creative people use a lot of items that we use on a daily basis in order not only to extract sound, but also to create a musical piece which would be worth the scene. 

We are talking about an international smash hit, one of the most famous shows in the world – Stomp - which comes to Riga with their new show.  Stomp unites several personalities who, working together, make incredible and amazing shows from simple things used by us in everyday life - rubber hosing, Zippo lighters, plastic bags, trash bin lids and, yes, even the kitchen sink - in this multi-award winning theatrical phenomenon. 

Stomp has no words – everyone can understand it. It has a little or no melody in the traditional sense, so it doesn’t matter if your taste in music is jazz, classical, dance or pop. Stomp is about rhythm, which is common to all cultures. Everyone knows rhythm, if only from the beating of their own heart – it is the basis of all music.

Stomp is a group of people, with very strong personalities, who work together using simple building blocks to create something complex, something everyone can identify with: everyone has, at some time, engaged in group activity, whether they like it or not, or even know the people they are working with. It’s the little idiosyncrasies, the differences between people, and the games of one-upmanship that ensue, which define the group dynamic.

There are several Stomp groups currently performing around the world: up to three working from the UK and two in North America. Each company has its own style, its own feel: this is because even though the show is very tightly choreographed and orchestrated, there is a lot of room for every performer’s own personality to shine through. The show is as much an expression of eight individuals with very strong personalities as it is a vision of rhythm.
Stomp was last in Riga in 2007, with 8 totally sold-out shows. That year more than 10,000 people enjoyed the performances. This time Stomp unveils a revamped show, significantly different from the one the audience saw 3 years ago.

Upcoming shows in Riga:
March 11: 19:00
March 12: 17:30 and 21:00
March 13: 16:30 and 20:00