1. Baiba
Baiba, whose name is a diminutive of Barbara and made popular by a Rainis' poem, owns a very real bank - well, or at least an idea about a bank. On January 23 the Olympic Center Ventspils will see the 16th Latvian Radio 2 Musical Bank 2015 awards, lead and spearheaded by Baiba Palkavniece.
The event will be broadcast on January 23 from 7 PM at Latvian Radio 2, while the ceremony will be shown on Latvian Television's 1st Channel as well.
The finalists - 15 songs altogether - will be accompanied by performances by the panel of experts, and Baiba will be helped by two other luminaries - Agnese Rakovska from Triānas parks, and Juris Kaukulis, the head of Dzelzs Vilks.
2. Leonardo
"That's not a Latvian name!" you might say, if you knew Latvian and for some reason were reading this service. It's definitely not Latvian, cartoon fans might say not even humanoid, but as only one other famous Leonardo remains, let's go see what Leonardo Di Caprio is up to at the movies, as The Revenant from January 22 is on show in Latvia as well.
Watch the film - or any other film, just be sure it's screened in the original language - at the luxurious Splendid Palace cinema (central Riga), Forum Cinemas (center of Riga), Multikino (the left bank of Daugava over Salu bridge), Kino Bize (central Riga), Cinamon, K Suns, or elsewhere.
3. Tatiana
This is not about Tatiana from Pushkin's Onegin - this is about Saint Tatiana and Tatiana's Day - which is a bard festival in Ventspils, and a religious holiday in Russia.
Two concerts will resound with songsters from Ventspils, Riga, Kyiv, Minsk, St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Liepaja, Vitebsk, and others.
The festival is mostly held in Russian, but Uldis Ozols will represent Latvia and Latvian in the festival this year.
The festival will open at the Pārventa library on Friday, with concert featuring songs by Yuri Kukin, while other concert will feature professional songs - songs that geologists, archaeologists, and mountaineers would sing.
The final concert will take place at the Jūras vārti theater house on January 23 at 4 PM. It will feature bards from five countries playing their original songs.
4. Kārlis
This Kārlis is made of gold, and you'll be able to meet him at the Rīga Circus where the international circus festival Zelta Kārlis 2016 (Golden Kārlis) will take place.
It features artists from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Egypt, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Switzerland, Romania and elsewhere in 34 different genre with a total of 64 participants.
5. Atis
Atis Auzāns will be performing with the Sirds Dziesmas (Songs of the heart) performance on January 22 at the Dole Culture Hall.
The two-parts programme features both classics and original songs about life and love (see the alliteration?) by the accordion player Atis Auzāns with Jānis Lemežis taking over the piano and Nelli Bubujanca keeping the rhythm.
