Geltona

2002 Young up-and-coming singer Dija made her debut in Lithuanian TV talent show “Buk artistas” and was lucky to draw attention of people working for music production company “Cactus" During the audition in the recording studio Dija met another participant – Tadas. Two young performers hit it off immediately. Dija and her guitar-playing partner recorded several demos. One of those, a mellow pop song called “Tavo akyse” (“In Your Eyes”), later became the duo’s first hit, debuting on the airwaves of all the main Lithuanian radio stations at the same time – 31st of March 2002, 12.07 PM. Having adopted the name “Geltona” (“Yellow”) for their group, the performers decided they didn’t want to make publicity out of posing for photographs immediately – in fact, their true identities remained a secret for half a year. “We decided to show our faces to start our public appearances just after we record a big part of the material for our debut album”, Dija comments. In July, “Geltona” released another song “Tu netikejai manim“(„You Didn‘t Believe Me“). Although the song was a big radio hit, the duo still refused any photo requests from the magazines. The big secret was disclosed on the 1st of September. The first public live performance of “Geltona” took place during the filming of Lithuania’s first TV reality show “Akvariumas”. This event generated so much interest, that producers of the reality show, clearly impressed, asked Dija to become a special guest of it and spend a couple of weeks being filmed 24 hours a day. Dija agreed. A month later, the duo’s” third song “Galima” (“It Might Well Be”) became the biggest hit of “Geltona”. A debut album “Prisiminimai” (“Memories”) was released on the 7th of November and stormed the Lithuanian charts immediately, winning “gold” and “platinum” disc awards in several months (more than 21 thousand copies sold). A string of Lithuanian music awards ceremonies followed. “Geltona” was named “the best debut act” in both “Radiocentras” and “Bravo” awards shows (the most prestigious annual pop music events in Lithuania). 2003 During spring, “Geltona” played the first Lithuanian tour and several shows in the U.S. Afterwards, the discussion about possible changes in the group’s line-up began. In April, guitarist/singer Tadas announced his decision to quit the group, citing the need to concentrate on his college studies as the main reason. Tadas finished his touring duties on the last day of spring, taking part with Dija in the televised musicians’ contest “Nacionaline muzikos lyga“(NML). „Geltona“ performed with big success, succumbing only in the finals of the competition. Having already announced her plans not to look for music another partner and continue her solo career, Dija released her new song “Meilei” (“For Love”) in May, sticking to Geltona as her stage name ever since. On the 24th of Auguste, Geltona‘s new single „Apkabink mane“ („Embrace Me“) was premiered during the opening event of TV3 channel‘s new season. Having turned down several proposals to star in the short films, Geltona announced her plans to take part in the National selection for Eurovision Song Contest. The song chosen was „I Do I Do“ – English version of her Lithuanian hit „Buciuok buciuok“ („Kiss Me, Kiss Me“). On the 4th of December Geltona’s album “Bundanti saule“(„Waking Sun“) was released – her first as a solo performer. Heavily influenced by Eastern rhythms was very successful by Lithuanian standards, winning „gold“ and „platinum“ disc awards. It was accompanied by an impressive photosession and 3D video for “Buciuok buciuok”. Geltona’s efforts were acknowledged in “Radiocentras” music awards ceremony – she went home with a “Best Female Artist of the Year 2003” prize. She was also nominated for a “Bravo” award in the same category. 2004 In January, Geltona took part in the selection for Eurovision Song Contest. Her performance was successful but due to the flaws of the selection system she was pretty close to not getting into finals. Geltona came fourth in one of the selection rounds and got into finals just because of all the performers who took 4th position in the rounds, she was the one who generated the biggest amount of TV viewers’ votes. Funnily, some of the other artists who got into finals with no problems got the number of votes which was seven times smaller than Geltona’s result. In total, 6 artists got into finals with a result lower than that of Geltona. Another controversy followed – there were strong rumours that the results of the voting were not calculated in a fair way. Geltona’s managers got a mocking call from another manager who represented one of her competitors. The caller indicated that Geltona didn’t pass the competition – way before the official results of voting were announced. “The whole Eurovision story was a great lesson and experience for me”, Geltona said afterwards. Playing shows every week during spring, Geltona also managed to find some time to prepare for recording sessions of her third album. Her new song “Liuli liuli” made its debut on the air in June. Geltona spent a part of summer in Malaysia – not on holiday but taking part in the second reality show of her career. Seduced by a new challenge, this time she agreed to become a full-time participant of “Džiungles“(„Jungle“) reality show, filmed by TV3 channel. Now it’s autumn 2004 and there’s still no sign of slowing down for Geltona – apart from playing live shows, she spent a lot of time in the recording studio. New song “Toliau negu toli” (“Further Than Far”) is already completed, and so is the accompanying video. Geltona’s new album is expected to hit the shops at the end of autumn. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.