riku latti

Riku Lätti
Afrikaans - alternatiewe - pop music
Group consists of:
Riku Lätti – Voice and guitar
Cesare Cassarino – Bass
Peter Auret – Drums
Jonathan Crossley - Guitar
Riku Latti is young, in-touch with the music world and incredibly talented. He has been described by one journalist as an artist whose debut album is “set to change the rules and perceptions of the Afrikaans music genre”. He has been seen by many as the saviour of Afrikaans Pop music from a future that would otherwise have comprised only the extremes of Heavy Metal and cheesy Karaoke hits. His album, "‘n Pleister Vir My Nerwe", and the follow up "Aan't sterre tel" is certainly unlike anything else in the Afrikaans music industry, and will appeal, like a breath of fresh air, to anyone who is passionate about Afrikaans music.
Breaking free of the now well-worn genres of traditional gospel, cabaret, folk, schmaltzy adult contemporary bubblegum and blues-rock, Riku Latti does something very few artists (in any language) in South Africa have done: Riku makes good contemporary pop music.
Facts:
Riku was born on 11 Junie 1973.
He studied Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand where he finished his honours degree 1996
CDs and prizes:
- His first CD was an English album: "Me and mr. Sane" released in 1996.
- In 2001 his album "Pleister vir my Nerwe" won the GMT Award for best alternative album. The same year his instrumental album "WOKNAKWAYF!", received a SAMA and GMT nomination for best instrumental album.
- In 2003 he released together with Jean Marais an Afrikaans pop album that was hailed by the media as "the most progressive Afrikaans album in history".
- In 2005 Riku released the breakthrough album "Aan't sterre tel". The album includes collaborations with greats like Laurika Rauch and Paul Riekert (Battery 9) as well as the ever-popular Afrikaans icon, Steve Hofmeyr. "Aan't sterre tel" won Riku the GMT Award for Best Male Vocalist.
Word from the press:
***** Wow!
Rapport Tydskrif 3/27/2005
Wikus du Toit
In Afrikaans het daar nog bitter min albums verskyn wat perfek is. Dalk Coenie de Villiers se Skoppensboer, Laurinda Hofmeyr se Ligdag, of Amanda Strydom se Op 'n klein blou ghoen. maar self daai albums het nie 100% die kol getref nie, hoewel dit loshande die beste is wat ons land gesien het. Wel, Riku Lätti se nuwe album is ook amper perfek! Die album werk net op soveel vlakke dat jy verstom gaan staan oor hierdie man se idees, kreatiwiteit en skryfvermoë. Dis werklik iets spesiaals. Dink aan iets tussen R.E.M. en Green Day. Tussen Maroon 5 en David Gray! Luister veral na My Amerika en Osama bin Laden, wat albei so sterk satiries kommentaar lewer op die toestand van ons wêreld dat Lätti meer sê as wat enige politikus ooit kan. Maar om alles te kroon, bevat hierdie album ook nog een van die beste Afrikaanse songs tot nog toe: Smoorverlief. Absoluut briljant.
Luister ook na die beautiful duet saam met Laurika Rauch, Op die maan. Verstommend. Hierdie album is so na aan perfek as wat hulle kom en dis ongelooflik great om weer en weer daarna te luister, want elke keer hoor jy iets verder weg, dieper en meer kreatief! Wow!
Laatnagsluiper wat ontdek
Beeld 2/16/2005
Dirk Jordaan
……
Lätti is 'n belangrike liedjieskrywer vir moderne Afrikaanse musiek.
……
A WEIRDO, BUT AN ORIGINAL ONE
Citizen 5/28/2001
Eugene Goddard
(***** - Brilliant)
…
Personally, I found every song unique. Some were immediately captivating. Others had to grow on you. If anything can be read into the cover and supplementary motifs - not forgetting the subtext of the title - then Riku Lätti is the strange mutation that PW Botha and his drones used to have nightmares about.
Go listen for yourself. The first song contains what sounds like backward masking. A very subversive person, this is.
He's weird, but is an original weirdo - which is why you should invest in his, this self-funded music. It will blow your mind.
…
RIKU LATTI LEADS AFRIKAANS MUSIC INTO THE 21st CENTURY
SA ROCK DIGEST 2/18/2001
Paul Drosdzol
…
On this double CD Riku has laid a lot of colourful cards on the table - a veritable running flush of introspective ballads, rockers and (the joker?) a funky hip-hop manifesto - a slice of local thuglife that reveals his gangsta of a heart. One suspects, even with such a strong hand, that Riku still has a couple of aces up his sleeve in reserve.
…
'n Pleister Vir My Nerwe is an important album, one which sets standards and shifts parameters. It's a work that most of Riku's peers will have great difficulty in surpassing, or even, I suspect, in matching.
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For more info visit www.riku.co.za.