Books are written, documentaries are made, and exhibitions are held about electronic dance music culture. Indeed, this summer, the capital will host the exhibition ‘Archaeology of Rave’, featuring artefacts and sentiments from nocturnal Kaunas as it was at the turn of the century. But does the current rising generation of Kaunas know and appreciate this?
Observing the vigorous activity of the team united by the club ‘Auditorija’, one wants to believe so. It was in this Kaunas location, within the spaces of the M. Žilinskas Art Gallery, that ‘Lizdas’ operated for almost ten years, its mission now continued by the somewhat elevated ‘Auditorija’. It was here that the idea was born to turn Kaunas into the region’s dance music epicentre, at least for a few summer days. The contemporary city festival ‘Audra’ debuted in 2022, when Kaunas was the European Capital of Culture.
Although the festival mutates and migrates – this year it will take place during M. K. Čiurlionis’s birthday in the latter half of September – it’s worth remembering that it is one of the few tangible, audible, visible, and simply surviving outcomes of ‘Kaunas 2022’. ‘Audra’ can boast not only stable city funding but also strategic support from the Lithuanian Council for Culture – though this support is for the contemporary art programme, not directly for the DJs and dancers.
But for now, we want to talk about music. As we do every April, in the pages of the magazine, we explore how Kaunas sounds and who creates, broadcasts, and sustains that sound. Of course, dance music is mostly an affair of the darker hours, uniting night owls seeking escape from the toils and troubles of the day, week, or month. Yet, many of them are equally active, talented individuals pursuing interesting professional paths during the day.
This time, we tell the stories of those balancing between night and day. This issue features two architects, a certified composer, a sound engineer touring with ‘Sun & Sea’, record label owners, and even a bona fide music teacher. And to start – recommendations from an active participant of the electronic music scene for those just beginning to discover this soundscape.
