Can a rock legend who has shaped the Lithuanian music scene for decades and a modern pop star find common ground? This question was explored by legendary rock band Bix frontman Saulius Urbonavičius-Samas and one of Lithuania’s most popular pop singers, Justė Arlauskaitė-Jazzu. As participants in the Gubernija challenge, this unexpected experiment revealed that representatives of different musical genres have much more in common than it might seem at first glance.

This year, Lithuania’s oldest brewery Gubernija, celebrating its 360th anniversary, is marking the occasion in a special way – through the campaign “We’re a lot alike,” which brings together people from different fields and reveals their similarities through a series of unexpected tasks. This time, Samas and Jazzu met face to face and discovered that, while musical genres may differ, the people behind them often think alike.

How Samas got closer to rap

The first task for the music stars was a lip-reading challenge. Participants in the Gubernija experiment had to take turns wearing noise-cancelling headphones and try to guess the phrase the other was saying.

“I can’t understand a thing you’re saying,” Samas complained after the first phrase, failing to guess that Jazzu was saying “kokia gardi puta” (“what delicious foam”). However, the rock veteran quickly adapted and correctly understood when his colleague asked whether he’d try some shashlik and suggested jumping out of his sneakers.

Still, that wasn’t enough to match Jazzu’s accuracy. Wearing the headphones, the pop diva flawlessly repeated all of Samas’s phrases and easily claimed victory in this round.

Samas fared much worse in the next challenge, which involved fluently reciting Lithuanian tongue-twisters. While Jazzu rattled them off with ease, Samas struggled with phrases like “kupeta su kupetaite ir pakupetys su kupetviete” and “bliūds prūde plūdur, tame bliūde putra, ant tos putros pluta, ant tos plutos puta.”

“But hey, you’re getting closer to rap, man,” Jazzu encouraged him.

More in common than differences

Finally, Samas and Jazzu faced a round of rapid-fire questions, where they had to choose between two options. It became clear that the two musicians shared far more similarities than differences.

Their opinions only diverged on one topic – what kind of concert they would prefer: without a stage or without an audience. Jazzu recalled a beautiful experience performing with Saulius Prūsaitis on a seaside shore, so she chose a concert without a stage. Meanwhile, Samas said he’d be fine playing to an empty hall. “Who needs an audience, anyway?” the rocker quipped, sending Jazzu into fits of laughter.

On most other questions, the artists showed surprising unity. When asked to choose between Rytis Cicinas and Žilvinas Žvagulis, both picked Žvagulis. “Just for the song ‘Liūte, neliūdėk,’ I can’t choose otherwise,” Jazzu declared. They also both preferred rugby to football, agreed kugelis is better than cepelinai, and admitted they’d rather spend time with friends at home than in a bar. “That’s maturity for you,” Jazzu joked after the last question.

“Well, look, Justė. We seem to come from completely different generations and backgrounds, but look how much we have in common,” Samas concluded the Gubernija experiment.

Jazzu agreed with her colleague: “We’ve even had similar hairstyles, both had our rebellious phases, and we’re both kugelis virtuosos. So here’s to a beautiful life, to music, and to the connections we share – no matter how different we may seem!”

This light-hearted challenge taken on by Samas and Jazzu concludes the video series created for Gubernija’s “We‘re a lot alike” campaign — a project that proved even people who seem completely different on the surface can discover surprising similarities when they start talking and exploring shared values. But the campaign’s grand finale is still ahead: it will culminate in a special Jazzu concert, gifted by Gubernija to the residents and guests of Šiauliai during the Šiauliai Days celebration on September 13.

The power of authentic connection transcending preconceptions and social divides was also demonstrated by professional athletes representing Šiauliai – basketball player Tauras Jogėla and footballer Martynas Dapkus; writer Rimantas Kmita and actor Džiugas Grinys, who portrayed the main character in the screen adaptation of Pietinia kronikas; wine sommelier Edgaras Kazokaitis and beer expert and historian Tomas Josas; as well as representatives of different generations – senior Eugenijus and student Augustinas.