Raimonds Pauls

Ojārs Raimonds Pauls (born 12 January 1936 in Iļģuciems, Riga, Latvia) is a Latvian composer and piano player who is well known in Latvia, Russia, post-Soviet countries and world-wide.
He was the Minister of culture of Latvia from 1988 to 1993.
Major works.
Music for 30 theatre performances including Īsa pamācība mīlēšanā (A Short Instruction in Love), Atjautīgā aukle (The Ingenious Nanny), Šerloks Holmss (Sherlock Holmes), Brands (Brand), Džons Neilands (John Neiland), Elizabete – Anglijas karaliene (Elizabeth – Queen of England), Grāfs Monte Kristo (The Count of Monte Cristo), Dāmu paradīze (Paradise of Ladies), Melanholiskais valsis (The Melancholic Waltz) etc. and for puppet theatre performances Runčuks Punčuks (The Belly Tomcat), Velniņi (The Two Imps), Ceturtais skriemelis (The Fourth Vertebra) etc. Music for radio performances and plays.
Music for more than 30 movies, including "The Devil's Servants", "The Devil's Servants at the Devil's Mill" ("Vella kalpi Vella dzirnavā"), "Tauriņdeja" ("The Butterfly Dance"), "Melnā vēža spīlēs" ("In the Pincers of the Black Lobster"), "Dubultslazds" ("Double Trap", "Dāvana vientuļai sievietei" ("A Present for a Lonely Woman"), "My Frivolous Friend" ("Mans draugs – nenopietns cilvēks"), "Theater" ("Teātris") after S. Maugham novel, "A Limousine the Colour of Midsummer's Eve", "The Mills of Fate" ("Likteņdzirnas"), for the series "Long Road in the Dunes" etc.
Approx. 300 works, including instrumental versions of songs, arrangements of folk songs, versions on familiar themes, arrangements of classical composer works.
(c)MicRec / Daiga Mazvērsīte
Politics.
Raimonds Pauls was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR and served as Minister of Culture in the Latvian government from 1988 to 1993. In 1993 he became an advisor to the President of Latvia. In 1998, he was elected a Member of the Saeima, the Latvian parliament, initially as leader of the New Party. Before the 2002 elections he joined the People's Party and was elected on its party's list in 2002 and 2006. Pauls ran in the 1999 presidential election and received the highest number of votes, but below the required majority. He chose to decline the post.
After Latvia re-established independence, Pauls continued his musical work, most notably working with "Dzeguzīte", the most popular children's group in Latvia at the time. In 1996, he went on a tour with singer Laima Vaikule, which included concert locations in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and New York City.
Works.
As of 2004, Pauls has composed music for six musical films and musical theaters, three ballets and over 50 movies and theater performances. CDs with Pauls's music have been released in several countries outside Latvia, including Russia, Finland and Japan. On 2006 he has recorded a double-album of jazz music My Favourite Melodies / So Many Stars - a long-awaited venture of the pianist into the jazz genre.