.. a page from the question book.

Publicēts: 13.06.2023

.. a page from the question book. Guntars Eniks.

Continuing the started series of articles, we invited one of the founders of Gulbene TV, cameraman, teacher, musician Guntars Enikas to answer the questions. Unlike the previous times, this time the answers to the questions were not given in writing - we spoke!

I got my name .. parents are dead - there is no one to ask for anymore .. as a child I was not interested in why such a name. But the birth certificate says Guntārs, with a long Ā. That's what all my old relatives called me. I don't call myself that, I haven't told anyone that I'm Guntar. All the new documents have Guntars.
The food that is still associated with my childhood... is meatballs - my mother used to make meatballs. I grind the meat with a hand grinder. Now we continue - we no longer grind with a manual meat grinder.
As a child I read .. a lot. But what is your favorite book to name? I only remember that I read a lot - I liked "Around the Globe in 80 Days". There were books that I reread several times.
I remember from childhood mischief... it was in the 6th-7th grade when I gave matches to my classmates - we were going to go smoke, I don't really remember. But I didn't have time myself, I went to the Music School. They went to the gater and - waking up at night, I see through the window, I hear the crackling of the slate - that gater is on fire! It is the place where the Gulbene car service was. Thanks to my matches, a gater and what appears to be a wool exchange point burned down at this location, and then a garage was built there! There wasn't one in the immediate vicinity - we basically cleaned the place with those matches.
During school... I recently found a description of me written by the class teacher Georgija Šabaļina  - it was written that I was purposeful. I also spoke to the class teacher. At that time, there was political information on Wednesday mornings. He says that Luiss Korvalans, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Chile, has been released from captivity as a result of the pressure of the progressive humanity of the world - the official version. I stand up - what are you talking about, teacher! He was released because he was exchanged for  Ļevu Bukovski, a critic of the Soviet regime! Shabalin says - if you are so smart, you will be in charge of political information in the future! And so it was - I had to tell the most current developments.

The biggest birthday surprise for me was... on the 50th anniversary, when the guys got together, like a men's choir, they sang me a couple of songs. Those of us who celebrated in the Kante pub - we sang so cool together - it was a surprise for ourselves and those present!
Remembering Gulbene Music School .. father danced with solfeggio teacher Dzintra Lipsberg at the prom. He hoped I would go further “down the musical line”. I finished the music school with triples. During the dance, the father asks the teacher if I can continue something. – You can continue! But there is nothing from him, nothing will happen. I only opened up in the 2nd or 3rd year at Music High School. Until then, I was a complete gray of music. When I opened, everything was completely opposite - when I entered the conservatory, I had an A in solfeggio (theoretical music subject).
I came to the songs of the legionnaires... there was a record collector in Gulbene, Spulis, to whom my father went to buy records - "Chikāgas Piecīšus", Ilmāru Dzeni. My whole childhood until the 8th grade was spent listening to those tapes. All this made up the repertoire of songs when we founded "Senčus" - Ilmārs Dzenis and "Chikāgas Piecīši" did not sing the legionnaires' songs, but somehow we got to it, I started looking for them - we drove around the county (district at that time), through the newspaper we invited people to respond. We drove, wrote down. The songs of the legionnaires are not collected. The service, the soldiers' ensemble "Zvaigznīte", together with Aigaras Graub, Ugis Prauliņa - and two guys from "Ducele" - Arnis Veisbārdis and Andris Alviķis also gave a lot. After the army, I made two blitzes - in Stāki and Gulbene. After that, a chapel was formed, the time of Revival came, and the chapel "Senči" were the first in Latvia to appear on Latvian television in the program "Labvakar!" sang legionary songs. Vijārs Griķis (guitarist in "Senčos") worked in the fire department when there were night shifts, we went there in the evenings and cut tapes, wrote down the words - how else are you going to write them down?! One does magic on a crutch, the other writes words. That's how he and I started creating their repertoire together.
The thought of television .. was not mine. If it weren't for Māras Slieda and Mārtiņš Kokar, they were the engines, because they knew that I was interested in filming. I didn't have a camera myself, but I had already been at some events with a video camera in my hands. And they say - Guncha, do it! Next, I created with Imanta Rinki, and my wife helped a lot.
Remembering the assembly of the first material .. the first broadcast was on November 19, 1993. The events of November 18 – receptions, concerts – ended late in the evening, around ten, then we started editing the first program so that we could launch it on November 19. So we edited until three in the morning. Imants Rinkis, Māris Sliede and me.
When filming scenes, it was often the case when you put the camera aside and rush to help - when filming fires or for medics in serious accidents - you couldn't help but be there when the medic says - get over here, give me the sweater! It's just that conscience does not allow running around with a camera to catch the coolest shots.
What inspires me the most is .. good music – a good choral song. I myself sing now and then, when there is time when I can go out, in Riga, in the men's choir "Dziedonis" near Kokaru Ulda. It was nice at the last Song Festival - when you stand in the 3rd row in the choir, and your son stands in the 1st row - and we won in the song wars. The feeling is colossal! When you are in the strongest men's choir in Latvia together with your son.
I always have .. a mobile phone in my pocket. I still haven't grown to a bigger phone! It's a payphone. I even had a bigger one, but I changed it back to a smaller one so that it fits better in my pocket - it's comfortable, it doesn't fall out.
I wish the residents of Gulbene region .. less squealing! We have freedom, we have peace in Latvia - not everyone is given that. And don't be jealous - we envy with joy that he has it. I'm glad if something happens to someone. I am happy - I drove around the city, it is being cleaned, I have a 20-minute video of what the city was like 25 years ago. We clean up our environment, we don't whine and we are happy that it is cleaned.
Thank you very much for the answers and the engaging narrative! Let the plan succeed! Hearty birthday wishes!

Pictured: Work on TV. Guntars Eniks in the process of work around 2005.
Photo from Guntars Eniks personal archive.

 

Inese Kalēja,
Gulbene county library