Czech Republic - Moravia

 The historical province of Moravia takes up most of the eastern half of Czechia.  We first head to the city of Olomouc, where jazz pianist Emil Viklický was born in 1948.  He graduated with a degree in mathematics, but music was always his first passion.  He has won numerous awards and collaborated with many national and international acts and is still active.  Here is a live version of a number he wrote in homage to his home town, V Holomóci městě (In the town of Olomouc), a shorter version of which appears on his 2007 album Moravian Gems, in collaboration with George Mraz, Laco Tropp and Iva Bittová.  Alas the album does not appear to be available at present.

Sadly folk violinist and singer Jitka Šuranska died of cancer in 2019 aged just 41.  She was born in Kudlovice in south-eastern Moravia and collaborated with many folk musicians in the area as well as playing solo, before setting up her own band in 2016, the Jitka Šuranska trio winning numerous awards.  This is the opening track to their debut album Divé Husy (Wild Geese) called Jablůška:

Moving on to the small town of Uherské Hradištĕ where Moravia's oldest and best known dulcimer folk band Hradišťan hail from.  The ensemble was formed together with a dance group in 1950 and are still going strong, albeit with some changes in personnel of course.  This is a song from their 1994 album Ozvěny Duše - Moravian Dreams called Okolo Hradišta:

Balfolk band Sprinkle Blizzard were formed on New Year's Day 2018 in Brno and sadly only lasted 3 years before disbanding earlier this year.  The ensemble included Austrian violinist Angelika Hudler, whom we met in Vienna as well as musicians from Belgium, Ukraine and Poland.  They don't appear to have recorded any albums during that time, but they toured extensively before the pandemic put a stop to it.  Here is one of their tunes, a waltz called Baguette Soldier:

Apparently Czech bluegrass, sometimes known as Czechgrass is a thing.  Bluegrass has been popular in this country since the 1940's and they have created there own version out of it, a bit like Irish country I suppose.  The biggest proponent of the genre is a band called Druhá Travá, who were formed in Brno in 1991 around lead singer Robert Křesťan.  Here's a song called Sbohem, Angelina off their 2007 album Dylanovki:

I leave you to ponder on that... Our final stop in Moravia is the town of Svitavy in the west of the region, which was also the birth place of Oskar Schindler.  This is where folk rock band Čechomor were formed back in 1988.  Apparently they were a favourite band of Czech playwright and former president Václav Havel.  They started life as I. Českomoravská nezávislá hudební společnost (1st Czech-Moravian Independent Music Society) playing mostly acoustic folk, but electrified their music in the 1990's.  They are still active today and released a new album last November called Radosti života (the joys of life).  This is a song called Husárska of said album:

That's it from Moravia and see you next time in Bohemia.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual wanderings on my Tripline map.

Czech Republic - Moravian-Silesia

 From Slovakia we cross another border into the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, another country I haven't physically been to.  I don't know that much about it either, except that they essentially invented lager beer, the famous Pilsen-style from the town of the same name (not to mention the original Budweiser, which is a far cry from the flavourless American imitation).  The country is essentially split into 2 main regions, Moravia to the east and Bohemia to the west, with a bit of Silesia spilling over the border with Poland.  As for the music scenes, it seems to alive and well and buzzing with creativity.  

So arriving from Slovakia we begin our journey in Moravian-Silesia, namely in the small town of Nový Jičín (famed for hat making), where singer/songwriter Vlasta Redl was born in 1959.  He has been a member of various bands, most notably folk-rock band AG Fleck, and headed his own band for a while, snappily named  Skupina která se jmenuje každý den jinak (The band that has a different name every day).  It is as a solo artist, just playing his guitar and singing, that his folk roots come most to the fore, mostly singing self-penned songs with a dose of poetry and humour, so it would probably help if I understood the language.  Here's a song called Boze muj:

Although Folk-Pop duo Tara Fuki met in Brno they were both born in Czech Silesia.  Andrea Konstankiewiczová was born in Frydek-Mistek and Dorota Barová in Třinec and both play the cello to which they add various other instruments, including hang drums.  They formed their collaboration in 2000.  Their music is described as haunting, moody and soulful with a strong feminine force.  Apparently they sing mostly in Polish rather than Czech, because they feel the language sounds softer, more melodic.  Here's the opening track to their 2007 album Auris called Lej Lej:

Moving on to the city of Ostrava, which is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region and home to the annual Colours of Ostrava music festival, which is next scheduled to take place from the 13th-16th July 2022.  This is where singer/songwriter Marta Töpferová was born in 1975.  She emigrated to the USA at a young age, where she settled in New York and was greatly influenced by Latino music.  In 2012 she returned to her homeland and soon started a project called Milokraj returning to her roots and singing in Czech for the first time and collaborating with other Czech musicians. They released a self-titled album in 2013.  This is a song called Jabloň Zapomnění off that album:

Next we are heading to the small town of Bruntál in the Jeseniky mountains, where sisters Ida Kelarová and Iva Bittová were born to a Slovakian mother and Romani father also from Slovakia.  They both made their separate careers in music.  Ida Kelarová, the elder sister, was born in 1956.  Her second husband was Welsh and moved to Czechoslovakia with her, but they were soon forced into exile as he was suspected of being a spy by the Communist regime.  They lived in Wales and Denmark, but after the Velvet revolution in 1989 she soon returned to her homeland.   In 1999 she set up her band Romano Rat (Gypsy Blood).  This is a song form her 2008 album Gypsy Blood called Andro Pani Pejlom (In the water I fell):

Younger sister Iva Bittová was born in 1958 and has already had a mention in Slovakia as being part of the Angrusori project.  Her speciality is the violin and she has moved away a bit further from her roots than her sister with what has been described as an avant-garde, experimental folk.  It's certainly difficult to categorise it in any specific genre as she uses her voice and violin in her own compositions.  Here is a song from her self-titled album (re-released in 2006) called Proudem Mleka (River of Milk):

That's it for today.  As usual you can visually follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.  Next stop is the rest of Moravia.

Slovakia - Bratislava and the Rest

 We arrive in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava.  Now, as I said I have never been to Slovakia, but we had a young woman from Slovakia staying with us for a short while last year and I asked her for recommendations for music and her father suggested a folk band called Radio Edit.  I don't know much about them or whether they have published any music the sparse information available for them is in Slovakian, but they play an international influenced style of folk on acoustic instruments and sung in Slovakian.  Here is a song of theirs called Koniec Sveta, which apparently means end of the world:

Although from Bratislava folk ensemble the Michal Noga Band very much draw on the traditional music of the Slovakian countryside inspired by Gypsy bands of the Horehronie region as well as Wallachian shepherds, Hungarian tunes and bagpipe music of the Upper Orava region, all led by the fiddle of Michal Noga and accompanied by more strings, a cimbalom and song.  After some years of collecting material and playing at weddings and events they have released their debut album Stopy last year.  Here is a tune that mimics the national instrument the fujara flute on fiddle.  It's called Dušikova Fujara:

In 1990 5 friends got together in Bratislava to form a band to play at another friends wedding.  Only one of them had any formal training, but they wanted to play traditional Slovak folk.  The performance at the wedding was such a success, that they were asked to play at other events and even concerts, and so the folk band Muzička came into being.  In the subsequent years they diligently researched old folk songs from the various regions of Slovakia, listening to scratchy old recordings and breathing new life into the genre. They have recorded a number of albums since, but are probably at their best live, where they invite the audience to participate and dance along.  Here is a song and dance called Balocké / Dances from Čierny Balog:

For something a bit more modern from Bratislava, Romani group Kmeťoband, consisting of father and son Igor Senior and Igor Junior Kmeťo, have been mixing Gypsy sounds with electronic pop and hip-hop. Their biggest hit was a song called Amen Savore, which features on their album Vagabund:

Let me take you back in time to the dying days of the Iron Curtain and to the city of Trenčín near what is now the border to the Czech Republic.  This where underground rock band Bez Ladu a Skladu started to make waves from 1985.  They were renowned for their declamatory, deadpan vocals sung by the then 13 year old Michal Kaščák.  The lyrics were political, which led to bans by the regime and according to the New York Times they were amongst the bands whose influence helped to bring down the Iron Curtain.  They were active until 1997 and still occasionally get together for live gigs.  Here's a song from their early days called Udavač, which means snitch apparently.  Spying on your fellow citizens was of course very much encouraged by the Communist regimes.

On the final leg of our tour of Slovakia we stop at the town of Nimnica for something very traditional again.  The Trombitáši Štefánikovci ensemble was founded in 2008 by various members of the Štefánik family.  They specialise in the traditional shepherd's music of their home region of Puchov, playing traditional instruments such as shepherd's horns, trombitas and fujaras as well as bagpipes, mouth harps and cowbells.  They released an album in 2017 called Grúňom Hore.  Here is a sampler of their music:

That concludes our tour of Slovakia, next up we will visit the Czech Republic.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual trip on my Tripline map.

Slovakia - Part I

 We arrive in Slovakia on our virtual musical tour of the world, the first country I am covering, which I haven't yet actually been to.  As Slovakia only sprang into existence in 1993, I really don't know that much about it, although having met quite a few Slovakians, they seem a cheerful and open lot and their women are beautiful (I had a brief fling with a Slovakian girl called Gabriela back in 1987...).

Onto their music, traditional music is still kept very much alive and they even have their own national instrument, the fujara, a large sophisticated folk shepherd's overtone fipple flute.  So we'll start this post with a song played on it by a guy called Jan Hanuska.  I don't know much about him or where exactly he came from, but this piece was recorded in 1930 and appeared on a now unavailable compilation of fujara music.  It's a beautifully hypnotic sound.

Pan-European collective Angrusori is a collaboration between traditional Slovakian Gypsy musicians from the Košice area and Norwegian experimental music outfit Kitchen Orchestra from Stavanger, brought together by Norwegian composer Henrik Asheim and Czech singer and composer Iva Bittová.  The collaboration started in 2016 as an inter-cultural exchange between 2 cultural centres and venues in their respective cities and has now resulted in a band with their first recording Live at Tou out earlier this year.  The songs are all traditional songs of the Roma community and are seldom heard outside their circle.  Here's a song from that album called Chude man vaststar:

Moving onto the city of Prešov, where folk rock band Hrdza was formed in 1999.  They have had some success mostly in Slovakia itself.  Their songs combine eastern European songs on acoustic instruments with elements of rock and pop.  Occasionally they veer more towards pop, but the more folky songs work well, such as this song called Stefan off their latest 2019 album Neskrotený:

From the urban centres of Eastern Slovakia we are heading deep into the countryside to the Horehronie region in Central Slovakia, or more specifically to the small village of Val'kovňa, where traditional Roma band Pokošovci are based.  The family ensemble (3 brothers, a cousin and a family friend) are keeping the gypsy traditions of this region alive, playing at weddings and other regional festivities.  Here's a track from their 2019 double album L'udová hudba Pokošovci 2 called Khatar me phirava:

Moving on to the city of Nitra in western Slovakia, where the members of Hungarian folk fusion band Ghymes met in 1984.  They consist of a group of Hungarians from varying musical backgrounds who blend Hungarian and Central-Eastern European folk with elements of Rock and Jazz and other global influences.  Here's a song from their 1998 album Rege (Legend) called Tánc a hóban (Dance in the snow) with a beautiful tango dance routine:

Another traditional instrument of Slovakia apparently is the Ruthenian mouth harp.  Self-proclaimed hooligan folk band Varkocs from Šamorín on Rye Island (an area between the Danube, Little Danube and Váh rivers in Western Slovakia) have made the mouth harp or jaw harp central to their music.  Band founder Erik Turtev set out in 2018 collecting ancient jaw harp songs from all the ethnic groups found in and around Slovakia and giving them a modern, pagan folk style interpretation, often interspersed with archive recordings of the originals.  Unfortunately they don't appear to have recorded any albums yet, but their live acts seem great fun and they have brought out numerous videos.  Here are a couple of them:

That's it from Slovakia for the time being, next we'll head to the capital Bratislava.  Until then you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map as usual.