Matīss Akuraters (born June 7, 1982) is a Latvian musician –

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Biography

Akuraters was born June 7, 1982, in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

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. His mother Ieva Akuratere is a well-known Latvian musician; his father Sergejs Akuraters is a photographer. In his childhood Matīss Akuraters studied

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

in music school. Akuraters's professional musical career began at age of 16 when he started collaboration with

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

artists such as Gustavo and Ozols. Later he and his friends DJ Krii and Elvi formed their own hiphop crew "Ritmiņš", in which Akuraters played an Mc role. They recorded songs and played concerts all around the Latvia. In age of 18 he began studying

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, and his first instrument turn out to be the

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

– well known Indian percussion. Akuraters learned the tabla in

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at The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, UK centre and also from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician, drummer and percussionist Brian Melvin. In 2003 the band Lidojošais Paklājs (The Flying Carpet) is being formed. In 2004 for three years Matīss Akuraters was performing in Gaļina Poļiščuka's musical play "Pūt Vējiņi" at the

Latvian National Theatre The Latvian National Theatre () is one of the leading professional theatres in Latvia. The building is in the eclectic style and is an architectural and artistic monument. The country of Latvia was proclaimed in this building in the year 1918. O ...

. This play took part in many foreign theatre festivals in

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and

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, where the play got award for best music. Love for percussion led Matīss Akuraters to rich world of Brazilian music. He was fascinated by Brazil's culture so much that in year 2008 he finally fulfilled his dream and went to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

to improve his percussionist skills and learn Brazilian culture. Akuraters spent three months in Brazil,

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, meeting great artists and contributing his percussion skills at local percussionists community authority – Jaguara, who is a percussionist of current samba king

Zeca Pagodinho Jessé Gomes da Silva Filho, known professionally as Zeca Pagodinho (, born February 4, 1959), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter working in the genres of samba and pagode. Biography Born in the neighborhood of Irajá, Rio de Janeiro, Zeca Pagodin ...

. Akuraters also learned from Rio's carioca, famous sambista Andreazo and local percussionist from

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Tiago Loei. A few months later after returning from Brazil, Matīss Akuraters organized a Brazilian percussion workshops in Riga and invited Tiago Loei and Andreazo to participate. After successful workshops they formed a group of percussionists "Afro Brasilian Drums". Matīss Akuraters was participating in various recordings and played with well-known Latvian musicians and bands such as: Haralds Sīmanis, Amber(Aija Vītoliņa), Aivars Hermanis, Ieva Akuratere, Ilze Grunte, El Mars, Samba de Riga, Forshpil, Lidojošais Paklājs (The Flying Carpet), 7th Floor, Diana Pīrāgs, Afro Brazilian Drums. In year 2008 "Lidojošais Paklājs" (The Flying Carpet) was nominated for the best alternative music album in

Latvian Music Awards Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish **Latvian cuisine **Latvi ...

for the album "Lidojošais Paklājs". In 2012, Matīss Akuraters joined Latvian indie-rock band Them Lemons as a drummer. The band is not currently active. In 2014, he recorded CD with choir "Mūza" and went on tour in France, Provence. In 2014, he joined Guitarist Gatis Ziema to record an album, currently band is on high demand, playing live concerts in 2015. Akuraters spent 5 months in India, deepening his knowledge of playing tabla.

References

*(Latvian/ English) http://matissakuraters.wordpress.com Personal blog of Matīss Akuraters *(Latvian) http://www.diena.lv/lat/izklaide/muzika/muzikas_zinas/brazilijas-saule-latvijas-cilvekiem Interview with Matīss Akuraters in daily newspaper "Diena" *(Latvian) http://www.nra.lv/zinas/28885-matiss-akuraters-muzikis-pec-parliecibas.htm Interview with Matīss Akuraters in magazine "Patiesie Stāsti"

External links

Gatis Ziema at Nabaklab
- YouTube video
The Flying Carpet concert
- YouTube video
The Flying Carpet at Poetry Days 2008 in Limbaži
YouTube video
El Mars "Craving Images"- performance in Tallinn
- YouTube video
Samba De Riga homepage

Listen The Flying Carpet in social network

Listen Afro Brasilian Drums in social network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akuraters, Matiss 1982 births Living people Musicians from Riga Percussionists