The pearl of coastal music: she grew up in Germany, but shares her talent in Lithuania

We meet Luke the next morning, during his hours of rest after playing.

As the sun warms up, hiding in the shade, we go back to his childhood and look for ways to bring him back to the seashore.

The son of the musicians

Luke’s father, who came from a German and Russian family, lived in Russia, a German village, during the Soviet era, and was sent to serve in Lithuania in the 1980s.

Here at the Birštonas Cultural Center, she met Luke’s mother. Since they were both musicians, he quickly formed a band and performed at local events. That’s how he fell in love. After a while she got married and began to expect a child.

The family then decided to move to Germany, where most of the family lived, so Luke was born and raised in that country.

But the Lithuanian family did not forget, every year they traveled with their son to visit relatives and rest in Palanga.

Here he learned Lithuanian while playing with his classmates and interacting with other relatives, although in Germany his parents only spoke German to him.

So when we meet, we speak Lithuanian.

And the music in Luke’s life came from his parents. His father is a self-taught guitarist and his mother is a pianist who graduated from the conservatory.

At the age of six he joined the piano and learned the basics with the help of his mother, but when he saw that he would have to play with both hands later, he thought it would be too difficult and decided to try playing the guitar.

The boy took her in his arms at seven. Without attending any music school, taught only by his father, he began to play classical works and later to play the electric guitar.

A fateful decision

After visiting Palanga for a while, Luke’s father thought his son was old enough to show his talent and planted him to play in the park.

“I wanted him to feel what it means to play against people,” says Luke.

When the man passing by threw some coins for the first time, Luke was quick to see what he had received, but his dad disciplined him – “you don’t look, it doesn’t matter at all,” recalls the first. lessons from a busker.

Since then, Lukas has returned to Palanga to play constantly, not every year, but if everyone added up here, it would be ten.

For a long time, although he had a musical group in Germany, he played in the streets and did not know if music would be his way of life or if he would be alone in his spare time, but a summer by the sea helped him decide.

“I played at Birutė Park. I was already getting ready to finish and put on the guitar, but a woman still asked to play. Asked what I can, said Bach. I played and she was so impressed, tears were rolling down her cheeks, then she said she would never let go and keep playing.

It was the moment when I realized that people really like it and I have to follow this path, “he says.

Win an apartment for rent

When Luke graduated from school in Germany, it was necessary to decide where to study further. At that time, there was an opportunity to participate in the competition in Vilnius, so he came to the capital for a while and stayed here after the pandemic.

His father, having met several professors at Klaipeda University, offered his son to study classical guitar.

“I thought that maybe there would be nothing to learn the language better, improve it, and I liked it in Lithuania,” he says.

This year she finished her freshman year and is preparing to study further, having ended up promising to hold her own concerts.

It was the moment when I realized that people like it a lot and I have to go that way.

And making music for resort visitors, as the guy says, is both good practice and an opportunity to earn money.

“If you play on the street, it’s easier to stand on stage. Still people come, sit and listen. But I also play to survive my studies, he admits.

“Music is really stale bread, but it turns out that if I play in the summer, it is enough to pay for the apartment and other expenses.”

During studies, he says, there is no time to work. In addition to lectures, you have to rehearse for many hours, at least five a day.

For this reason, in Palanga, Lukas promises to play all summer, every two or three days during the week, and every day on weekends, because there are more people at that time. Starting to play without five hours is not possible.

And while you’re not playing, go for a walk by the sea, play sports and relax. About four times a week he still manages to return to Klaipeda, where he visits the university and practices.

Lithuanians respect musicians more

It is true that Lukas is not the only musician in the streets of Palanga, that is why he has to “share” places.

He says that he has agreed with a single regular busker who will change places each time: one day he will play right next to the Palanga bridge, where a large group of sunset watchers will gather, the next time he will leave this place. . to a colleague.

He says that there are also musicians who are not playing very well, but some are improving, he laughs, playing better than last year. And there is enough room for everyone, he says, there is no anger.

Lukas often looks for a quieter place for himself, because classical music can be overshadowed by the sound of drums or electric guitars, as well as the hits of J.Basanavičius’ cafes.

He says that there are various situations that set the mood, and on unexpected occasions. For example, one day a boy threw a teddy bear in a guitar case instead of coins, and after a while his mother arrived with a crying sister and asked to be given the toy. Because it turns out these were girls.

And the other girl, who was carrying the money, got mixed up and just threw it in the trash next to him.

“Sometimes, sometimes, he asks me to play a piece, and I don’t pay for it, and he still asks me, he says, just a few chords,” the guy smiles. Sometimes intoxicated people come too, but rarely, he says, and if they start to interfere, other passersby help control the situation.

“Here in Lithuania, people respect music more, look at me more positively on the street than in Germany,” he says.

Bei adds that he usually plays classical music, but metal lovers like Metallicos’s Nothing Else Matters.

Write rap texts

It is true that the boy has another passion: writing rap texts.

“It’s like a hobby here, but I write myself. I wrote three songs, in the first and second I did not use my own rhythm, but in the third I used the free available, free, so now I am improving and I would like to play soon “, he says, adding that this will be his first letter written in Lithuanian. Dependence on social media.

Besides these, Luke has also composed several songs on guitar, but now there is no inspiration to compose classical music, he says, and it is not too much the time when summer is so intense.

When asked if he wants to stay in Lithuania in the future or return to Germany, he says that he does not know, but that he will be connected to life with music.

“I would like to be on stage in the future because I really like acting and the fact that people like it, clamorous. I would also like to create my own works, for example, I could play known works in the first part of the concert, and mine in the second part ”, she shares dreams for the future.