Already at the end of next week, on July 3 and 4, Latvia’s most important hip-hop cultural event – the festival “Straume” – will take place in Līgatne’s creative quarter “Zeit”. Celebrating the five-year anniversary, this year it is planned to offer the most powerful program so far, gathering the brightest hip-hop artists, special cooperation projects and a wide program of cultural activities in one place.
During the two days of the festival on “Streams“, such domestic rap stars as ansis, Ods and Gotcha, roland če, Denis, Marko & galaktik, zaldats, PCK97, Eliots, “Brīvrunu projekts” and “Skrapneshi”, the project “Vētra KRUO” created especially for the festival with Latvian rappers in its composition, will take the stage, but at the climax on July 4, for the first time in this format, Ozols and Gustavo will meet on the same stage in a joint performance. The novelty this year will be “Radio Five Young Talents Stage”, on which five young rappers will perform with specially prepared 20-minute concert programs.
During the days of the festival, the territory of the creative quarter “Zeit” will be transformed into a meeting place of hip-hop culture, where alongside the music there will be a “Graffiti Street Art” competition, a discussion on the development of hip-hop culture under the leadership of Arturas Skutelis, a master class of beatmakers with Vader, many different partner activities, and also a real tattoo studio will be operating throughout the duration of the festival.
“Five years ago, we started with the idea of a hip-hop festival, but today we see that ‘Straume’ has become a place where all cultures meet – artists, listeners and people who simply want to experience something real. This year’s anniversary, we have prepared several events that will not be possible to experience elsewhere. If you are still thinking about whether to go – this is the year when it is definitely worth being there,” says festival producer Arnolds Zeitmanis.
