Top 5 Lithuanian celebrities that are only popular in Lithuania

There are celebrities and there are celebrities. When visiting other countries, locals sometimes expect you to know some national celebrities that are totally unknown outside their own country. This is also the case in Lithuania, and the five local boys most commonly mistaken for international celebrities are:





A Zemaitis guitar. Far more recognizable than its creator

#1 Tony Zemaitis

A very gifted guitar maker of Lithuanian descent. Many people will be familiar with his iconic guitars, but very few will recognize his name. Yet fewer are able to do so when it is pronounced in Lithuanian. Guitar enthusiasts are most likely to have heard about this man, but there are not really all that many of those. It just seems so, because many of them are fuzzy people.



Mamontovas. For some reason without Zemaitis guitar

 #2 Andrius Mamontovas

Successful Lithuanian musician. Allegedly some kind of Lithuanian counterpart to Bryan Adams, who in his more mature years has started giving concerts in some of the countries that his fans have emigrated to, like Norway. A recent example from Bergen illustrates why this has not necessarily made him a global celebrity; only one Norwegian showed up – the rest of the audience were Lithuanians. Mamontovas has sometimes also been involved in Eurovision, but that just goes to show that appearances on Eurovision does not really equal international fame.



Maironis. Priest with enough spare time to become national bard

#3 Jonas Mačiulis

Commonly called Maironis. A long since diseased priest and poet, mostly known for his nationalistic (in a good sense) poems. He has a museum devoted to him in Kaunas, which many visitors leave without a proper understanding of who this man really was. Largely because the exhibitions are based on the assumption that most visitors possess such knowledge, which the average Lithuanian does, but the average tourist don`t. So some googling is in order if you are planning a visit to that particular place.



Žemaitė. Staring at you in accusation, as you you remove the1 Litas note from your wallet 

 

#4 Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė

Commonly known as Žemaitė. A well-known female author, who has made it as far as to the (now long gone) 1 Litas note, and an appearance on Google Doodle on the 4^th of June 2014. Not bad for a woman that has been dead for almost 100 years, but on the other hand – 100 years without publishing a single bestseller doesn`t really help the international fame of an author that had only a limited amount of such to begin with.



Tony G. Either at a poker tournament, or during a slow day at the European parliament

#5 Tony G

Chances are that you have actually heard about Tony G, but most likely you will discover that the Tony G you know is a totally different one. Tony G himself will probably confirm that such confusion is a rather common side effect of having an inconspicuous first name and a one-letter surname. In any case, the Lithuanian Tony G is an internationally recognized poker player and even a member of the European parliament.

So here you have them. If you can quietly nod your head in recognition when some of these names are mentioned, you will gain favor with many a bewildered Lithuanian patriot.

Recommended related post:  5 most famous Lithuanians

All pictures and peculiar facts are from www.wikipedia.org