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.