I
Jurga Šeduikytė

About:

(10 February 1980)

Jurga’s career (born in Telšiai, Lithuania) started in 2005 when she performed the song ‘Laisvė’ (Freedom). At the Bravo music awards.  Four months later her debut single  ‘Nebijok’ (Don’t Be Afraid) charted at Number One for 8 weeks and became the biggest hit single in Lithuania of that year. It was performance at the  annual festival ‘Jūros šventė’ (The Feast of The Sea) in Klaipėda, broadcasted on the Lithuanian Television channel, that fuelled the release of her debut album ‘Aukso Pieva’. It reached platinum sales in Lithuania (total sales 25.000 copies).

In December she performed in the musical ‘Dainuokime Kartu’ (Let’s sing together) organized by Alma Adamkiene Charity Foundation. In 2006 she was showered in praise and awards for her debut. At the end of the year she recorded the main theme for the film “3001 Kosminė Odiseja”.

In 2007 the follow-up album ‘Instrukcija’ was released. The single ‘5th season’ won first prize at the international Baltic Song Festival at Karlshamn, Sweden and at the MTV European Music Awards for best Baltic act. Also she, together with the philosopher Leonidas Donskis, became the ambassadors of the project ‘Pasilik Lietuvoje’ (Stay in Lithuania) in April. They state that one can create a meaningful life in native country, too. In october of that year she performed two shows in Chagcharan, the capital of Ghor province of Afghanistan. One for the NATO soldiers camp and one for local audience.  She also recorded the video for ‘Smėlio žmonės’ (Sandman’s Child) there.

In 2008 she also started a career as a writer when her book ‘Pasaka apie Slieką ir jo draugą Pašiauštą’ (A Tale of a Brandling and His Friend Fluffy) was released. That year she joined the stage with Icelandic singer Björk during her show in Lithuania. In October 2009 Jurga’s third album ‘+37° (Goal of Science)’ is released. In 2010 a limited edition compilation was released on vinyl only with the title ‘Prie žalio vandens’.

In 2011 she writes the music for the performance 'MetroNomes' by Vilnius based theatregroup Lele. It was also released on cd. She moved to Moscow where she lived for two years until 2013, when she returned to her home country. In the same year she released the highly appraised album 'Breaking the line', consisting of eleven songs, each of them inspired by a famous film. The album was produced by electronic and jazz pioneer Leon Somov. On the album Jurga collaborated with classical pianist Peter Geniušas, whose soft touches on the piano make an essential contribution to the mystical atmosphere of this album. In 2017 she releases a new pop-album which takes her on tour again. But asides that tour she also undertakes a project with pipeorgan player Diana Enciene. For the show in Vilnius Cathedrale she performs works by Bach, Händel and Mozart and three of his own songs, "Long gone," "Goal of Science" and "By the Green Water." The recordings are released later as ´To the sky´.

On the web:

- Jurga on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Jurgamusic

If you like this, you probably like... / european counterparts:

Kayah (Poland)

Louise Vertigo (France)

What do we think:

DB: Hold on to your socks because Jurga will take away every prejudice you had about music from the Baltic states being backwards (if we hadn't already proven otherwise by now). Hip and intrigiuing Jurga goes creative with electronics and traditional music with magnificant result. Maybe for some who enjoy the more bluesy or rock spectrum of the Europop universe it's all a bit to hip chic but if you're into intelligent electronic pop Jurga is your next big thing.

PR: Jurga is europop music in its purest form. Great modern pop tunes, a fantastic singer and in single every one of Jurga's tunes her baltic roots are somhow recognisable. Her debut album is pop/dance music with some great hit singles. Her second album is more down to earth and presents to us Jurga the singer-songwriter. Her thired album is an experimental trip through modern dancetunes.

Albums:

♪♪♪♪ - Aukso pieva - 2005

♪♪♪ - Instrukcija - 2007

♪♪♪♪ - +37° (Goal of Science) – 2009

♪♪♪- MetroNomes - 2011

♪♪♪♪♪ - Breaking the line - 2013

♪♪♪ - Giliai Vandeny - 2015

♪♪♪ - Not Perfect - 2017

♪♪ - To the sky - 2019

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♪♪♪♪♪ = outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided