Raymond Paul Songs: Vote for Your Top Pick!

“When writing music, I have always been guided by intuition, feeling what the viewer and listener expect from me,” said Raymond Paul.

“I have listened to criticism that I try to please the audience by simplifying my pieces. I don’t know, I just work in my genre. I like it when a singer or actor sings the first verse of a song at a concert, and then the hall sings. Then I feel that I have achieved my goal, the songs have reached the listener. [..] I know that all people are basically sentimental, only one shows it and the other doesn’t. If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be singing my songs. But sing.”

That’s what Pauls said, these words are quoted on the website of the Latvian Music Center in the publication of musicologist Daigas Mazvērsīte. She writes: “The most outstanding Latvian popular music composer, pianist, arranger, conductor, producer Raimonds Pauls. Undoubtedly one of the most famous Latvian composers, whose music combines the intonations of Latvian folk music, jazz, blues, rock and roll, French chanson, German hits and folk zinge intonations and elements with fashionable currents, always able to create something interesting and relevant for everyone. extremely democratic music at the same time.”

On January 12, 2026, Maestro Raimonds Pauls will celebrate his 90th anniversary. Next summer, on July 11, more than 13 thousand choral singers and many soloists will gather in the concert “My Homeland”, which was created as a tribute to Maestro Raimonds Paulus and his works, at the Mežaparka Grand Stage.

Raimonds Paul’s creative contribution is very rich – on the website “raimondspauls.lv” all the names of his compositions are collected and there are a total of 2603 of them! The maestro is the author of music for musicals, ballet performances, films, theater performances. His songs won 11 times in the “Mikrofona” song poll.

In 2024, “Izdevniecība MicRec” published a book that collected the words and chords of Raymond Paul’s 500 songs, but there are many more – someone calculated that it would take more than a hundred concerts to sing all of Paul’s songs.

There are songs to which everyone knows the words and which have been sung in families for three generations. You must have them too. This time, “Latvijas Avīze”, preparing for Maestro’s anniversary, wants to know your thoughts.

Which Raymond Paul song, tune is your favorite? Which one has been with you all your life? Which one would you sing along to every holiday? What song or tune is special with an event in your life? We invite you to write letters to “Latvijas Avīze” and we will use the most interesting ones in publications in the newspaper. Write letters to: “Latvijas Avīzes” editorial office, Toma iela 4, Riga, LV-1003 or to the electronic mail: redaksija@latvijasmediji.lv.

We also invite you to participate in the survey about your favorite Raymond Paul song on the portal.