Musiqq
Musiqq [mjuzi:k] is an R'n'B/Soul/Hip-Hop duet which consists of Marats Ogleznevs, who is the music author and the producer of the group, and Emils Balceris – the lead vocalist.Marats began his career in music as a member of the band Device, in the framework of which three albums were released, cooperation with popular musicians was established and concerts all around Latvia were organised. However, the group ended their existence after 10 years of cooperation. Marats was the music author and the lyricist of the group.
Emils was a laureate of many local and international competitions of young performers. And his successful participation in the TV3 show Koru Kari (Clash of the Choirs), where Emils represented the Red Liepaja Choir, earned him an instant recognition. At the moment, Emils is a student in Form 12 of Liepaja district Grobina Secondary School.
Cooperation of both artists began in 2009 through media mediation – Marats noticed Emils while he was performing a song on the LTV broadcast programme Sems. After the broadcast, Marats offered him to collaborate. As a result, four songs were recorded during their first meeting and they decided to launch a project – Musiqq.
In June 2009, radio stations started playing the first radio single of the group – Climate Control. By the end of the same year, their song Abrakadabra became a national hit record and was nominated for the Latvian Music Records Award in the nomination Best Song. Moreover, the song reached the Top 10 of the music download catalogue Doremi.lv and made it to the final of the Latvian radio song competition Music Bank where it received the Grand Prix.
Subsequently, the band signed an agreement with the leading music records company in Latvia – Mikrofona ieraksti Ltd. Later on, in March 2009 the duet released their debut album This Is Just Music with a number of highly successful singles. Along with Abrakadabra, their songs Birthday and 10 Out of 10 became national hit records. Additionally, the song Abrakadabra was nominated as one of the five most popular songs in Latvia in 2010.
In 2011, the band submitted their song Angel in Disguise for the national final of the Latvian Eurovision Song Contest. The song won and the group received the honour to represent Latvia in the Final of the International Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. The group admits that at the moment the greatest challenge they are facing is to combine Emil’s graduation from school with their many concerts and business trips.