Kārlis Būmeisters (born December 13, 1986 in Riga) is a Latvian musician, artist, guitarist and TV host once using the stage name Kaža. He is now in politics in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as a press secretary for the European Parliament Member

Roberts Zīle Roberts Zīle (born 20 June 1958) is a Latvian economist and politician and Vice President of the European Parliament for the National Alliance, a free market national conservative political party in Latvia. In the seventh term of the European ...

who is part of the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European pol ...

(ECR) group.

Biography

From the age of three, Būmeister appeared as a child singer on Latvian television. He eventually hosted the award-winning show ''Lie Lab'' on LTV. Būmeisters' musical career continued with the band Dzeguzīte. He then became a member of Putnu Balle, a musical band formed in 2002 with

Mārtiņš Freimanis Mārtiņš Freimanis (7 February 1977 – 27 January 2011) was a Latvian musician, singer, songwriter, actor, and TV personality. Freimanis was born in Liepāja, but spent his childhood in Aizpute. Career Music Mārtiņš Freimanis was the le ...

(a former member of the famous Latvian band Tumsa). In 2004 the band toured under the slogan "Dziesma manai paaudzei" meaning "Song for My Generation". The band released two albums: ''Sapņu pārdevējs'' (meaning Dream seller) and ''Mr. Andersen nemelo'' In

Eurovision Song Contest 2005 The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

, he represented Latvia with the song "

The War Is Not Over Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "The War Is Not Over" written by Mārtiņš Freimanis. The song was performed by Walters and Kazha. Songwriter Mārtiņš Freimanis represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Co ...

" in a musical formation

Valters and Kaža Valters and Kaža, known internationally as Walters and Kazha, were a Latvian music duo consisting of Valters Frīdenbergs and Kārlis Būmeisters. They were best known for representing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "The War ...

with the artist

Valters Frīdenbergs Valters Frīdenbergs (26 October 1987 – 17 October 2018) was a Latvian musician, singer and TV-presenter. He was best known for representing Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 as part of Valters and Kaža duo with the song "The War Is ...

. In the act, Būmeisters was credited as Kaža. The song was written by

. The duo finished fifth overall in 24 acts in the final with the respectable 153 points. After Eurovision, in 2008, he founded his solo project, winning "Music Record of the Year" during Muzikālā banka Awards. He also sang the theme for the TV series introductory song for the series ''UgunsGrēks'' titled "Tici vai nē" (meaning Believe it or not). It was awarded The Hit of the Year award during the 2010 Latvian Music Awards. He was a Managing Director at Music Online (a digital music streaming and download platform in Baltic region). He is also owner of Cloud Music Studio specializing in recording, mixing, mastering. In 2018, he joined Valters Frīdenbergs, his partner in the duo Valters and Kaža, with the new single "Ceļi atpakaļ". Frīdenbergs died the same year after a two-year long battle with cancer.

Personal life

He is the son of Juris Būmeister, a dissident during the communist Soviet Union era. His grandfather is politician Kārlis Būmeisters (1888-1967) after whom he was named. Būmeister studied at Riga V. Zālītis Primary School, then went to Āgenskalna Valsts Gymnasium. He completed his university studies at

University of Latvia University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919. The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, seventh ...

in the Faculty of Economics with a master's degree in international economics, plus a degree from School of Business and Management ESCEM in France. He married his girlfriend Linda Meiere after 11 years of being together.Jauns.lv: Par Kažas kāzām pirms notikuma nezināja pat vecāki un vecvecāki
In 2015, he had a son named Edvarts.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bumeisters, Karlis 21st-century Latvian male singers 1986 births Living people Musicians from Riga