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KACU! is a new name on the Czech musical scene. At last, another classical alternative band has emerged from the Brno scene! However, they’ve moved on in their own direction from thestyle of the high times of the last decade, when the bands like Dunaj, Boo or Pluto were at their zenith. The KACU! style, however rough the comparison, could be likened to various projects of Iva Bittová or to the latest stage of Jana z Velké Ohrady. KACU! brings a restless, almost ecstatic music that borrows from folk music, chanson, jazz, and classical as well as contemporaray music. The choice of lyrics meets high standards, both in those written by the musicians themselves and by well known authors world-wide (R. M. Rilke, Zhuangzi, J. Vrchlický, R. Tagore, etc.)

The name KACU! comes from Zen Buddhism and, as is well put by Vlastimil Marek in his book Tajné dějiny hudby (The Secret History of Music): „Kacu! is a word cried out, or rather outright yelled by Zen Buddhist monks at the moment when they cannot bear the exhaustion or pain any more or when they feel that they’ve arrived at the verge of solving the mystery of life.“

The band consists of three experienced and well-educated musicians: Eva Gina took part in Czaldy Waldy (voice, violoncello, morin chur) and took on composing in the new trio. Aleš Obkráčil on double-bass and Tomáš Rohleder on drums (both formerly from Maraca) accompany her in what they describe peculiarly as music influenced by: „Classical music, folk songs, Orient, jazz, love, punk, jokes, nature, pubs, body, chocolate, chanson and cabaret, joy and scent...“, as Eva Gina puts it. After a year of frequent gigs, this new group bring a promising energy to the Czech progressive scene.

Petr Kofroň (born in 1955 in Prague) is connected with contemporary music ensemble Agon ORCHESTRA (founded in 1983) with which he mainly pursued American minimal music (Steve Reich, Phil Glass, John Adams), American postminimalists (Michael Gordon, David Lang), New York downtown (John Zorn, Elliott Sharp) and personalities bordering between classical and rock music (Frank Zappa, Blixa Bargeld, Heiner Goebbels).

Kofroň has been composing since the beginning of the seventies. At that time he was coming from conceptualism (e.g compositions examining marginal aural experience, possibillities of movement within space etc.) After 1975 Kofroň turned to primitive diatonic and musical sentiment (apart from others he dealt with the works of I.O. Dunajewski). After the year 1983 – under the influence of hermetic philosophy of Aleister Crowley a few ritual compositions came into being. Since 1989 this thinking has been reflected in transformation of former nostalgic music into an aggressive one, music which does not deal with music parameters but only with the „energy“ of the sound, performance and players.

After 2000 he prepared several arrangements of alternative rock compositions. Petr Křečan - Kilhets (1998), Filip Topol (2000), The Plastic People of the Universe (Ladislav Klíma – I was wondering through fields of five, 2002, The Passion play, 2004), Brian Eno (2003), MCH Band + Agon ORCHESTRA (2005), DG 307 + Agon ORCHESTRA (2006).

Recently Kofroň has turned to weird pop and rock (musical Magic flute, 2006, opera Mai 68, 2008) and big-band quasijazz (Titan Symphony, 2005, Magor, 2008).

12 Monsters

CD 12 Monsters represents another field of Kofroň´s activity: remixes of various material. Kofroň points out that all music is accessible, it only needs to be mixed into new forms. At the same time he becomes a follower of so called low-tech meaning he considers even the worst quality material as source sound material. CD 12 Monsters is dedicated to the greatest personalities of the 20th century.

V. I. Lenin as a big visionary who even brought a new social order into practice.

Harry Jelinek as an archetype of an elegant deceiver who was permanently thinking in terms of cheating and misused every situation for this purpose.

Al Capone as a star of harsh gangsterism.

Aleister Crowley as the biggest magus of the 20th century.

Adolf Hitler as the biggest visionary – visions of the third man! But he failed.

J. V. Stalin as the biggest dictator.

Ed Wood as the first proclaimer of a motto that Art does not have to be good but can be stupid.

Anton LaVey as the first who was not ashamed to claim he is Devil´s follower.

Elvis Presley as a prototype of a pop star.

Che Guevara as the last one with the thought of the world revolution.

David Rockefeller as an insane way out of chaos – by implementing total control of everyone.

Bill Gates – as a herald of new communication.

...

Tin CD box with engraved lid includes 5 CDs, each packed in digipack, booklet of 40 pages, with photographs, sleeve notes in Czech and English. Boxes numbered 1-1000.

30 years ago, the first gig of Kilhets took place in Prague. The group was a very extraordinary bunch of people producing very unusual music. The founder, Petr Křečan, had been striving for a new musical form throughout the 1970‘s, but only in January 1979, when he joined forces with two other musicians, Mirek Šimáček and Mikoláš Chadima, could he realize the ideas he had. The trio proved that it was possible to create art very different from any of the usual styles of that time. Kilhets focused on the authenticity of the music played, ruling out any prepared and prearranged or rehearsed music as artificial. On the other hand, improvisation as practised in jazz was not acceptable either.

In March 1979 Kilhets splashed the audience with a completely new unheared type of music. Even the players themselves were surprised by the project Kilhets No. 2 (which was the first gig of the new lineup). They couldn’t believe their ears when listening the recording of this event – it felt like someone else had played that, and expressing their innermost ideas of music. They felt like their music had come from an unknown region and brought everything beyond explanation. The masks the band were using signalled that not the artist, but the art being presented is important. They worked with silence too, introducing a moment in time when no-one played nor did anything on the stage. The audience was disorientated.

Succesive performances included visual artist František Skála and often other guests. Remarkable events happened during Kilhets No. 6 – the band did a regular dance party in Hotel Tichý in Prague, raping world top hits. Kilhets created some parts of their instruments with their own hands – the most famous being the 11-stringed guitar with two necks facing each other.

During the whole period of existence, opinions on their music have always been sharply divided. The only ones who accepted and praised the band immediately were Jiří Stivín and Chris Cutler. When Křečan left, Kilhets disbanded. Mikoláš Chadima went on with Extempore and Classic Rock'n'Roll Band, Franta Skála went back to visual art (only some time later his musical project of Finský barok came forward) and Mirek Šimáček joined Petr Kofroň to apply himself to contemporary music.

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První hoře originated in 1998 from the ruins of local punk bands. Only two founders still remain – Milan Urza (guitar, bass guitar, vocals, lyrics) and Bertrám (keyboards, vocals, programming). The current band includes two more players, Medák on drums and Šťulda on accordion.

Na úpatí (At the foothill, 2003) was their first (and DIY) album – recorded, computer edited and released on their own expense. It included use of electronic samples and elements of industrial and synthetic music.

Consequently the band decided to leave the informal „garage“ conditions and started to perform more and moved to Prague. Which is where the first „professional“ record appeared – Commedia dell´arte (Black Point music, 2006). It gained its position on the alternative scene, accepted by audience as well as most musical journalists. První hoře brings the comedy and freak show aspects to their performances. Theatrical and motional features and the accordionist‘ role of a clown, various costumes and masks mark the character of the shows. The work oscillates between hard rock thrashing and art rock. Since 2004 the number of gigs has steadily increased and the band is considerably busy these days. Nevertheless, they would like to play even more. A popular participant of summer festival stages, their club co-players are often Už jsme doma or Znouzectnost.

October 2008, První hoře releases a third album called Lamento as a result of a year-long work in several top studios. The music has turned more toward hard guitar rock. Wild parts take turns with intimate piano or accordion solos, often accompanied by transitions of tempo or style. The mosaic of První hoře sounds both postmodern and modern, simply contemporary. The stylistic contrasts combined with instrumental skills of the players promise that there will be more about this band in the near future.

www.prvnihore.net

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Sylvie Krobová is an original performer, composer and lyricist. Her debut album Stín in 2006 gained a number of fans immediately. The critics acknowledged her extraordinary talent as a unique phenomenon on the Czech scene. Sylvie studied classical singing in the Prague conservatory and performed with Kuhn choir, the Agon ensemble and the rock band Drakar. Later she joined the group of Štěpán Smetáček and was a guest singer in MCH Band. Her debut album presented her singing, playing the piano and accordion, accompanied by bass player Ota Sukovský and cellist Vojtěch Havel, who produced the album.

Sylvie’s profession is predominantly as an actress – in the theatres Na zábradlí, Divadlo Ladislava Smoljaka, a guest appearance in Na tahu, which is directed by her father Andrej Krob, and finally in the Bilbo Compagnie, lead by her husband Bilbo Reidinger, the clown. This family ensemble travels the world and lets her sing her songs during the shows too.

Sylvie Krobová prefers playing in the music clubs, but she has succeded in attracting the thousands in the audience of a big open-air festival. Even her activities beyond the artistic field are quite impressive – she has been teaching singing in several art schools and founded her own, Otakárek. She has traveled far and near with theatre and chanson pieces, and raised a family of two kids.

The second album Svět podivínů (World of strangers) was maturing for two years. Sylvie worked on the accompaniment, searched for the best ways to play and introduced old-new names into the project. Finally she found Tomáš Alferi as the best fitting accompaniment, on piano and accordion. New compositions thus include two pianos or a piano with accordion.

The combination of a well-trained voice with a peculiar singing mode which joins opera with a quackery of a Russian mužik, makes her a rare and uniquely outstanding figure on the Czech musical scene. The content of this unusual form is taken from Sylvie’s exceedingly rich life. Her clamour, pathos, anger, helplessness and new hopes root in reallife experience, that could make for a book not of an entertaining genre. This is one of the reasons why Sylvie began composing and interpreting her songs after she turned 30. Who else does so deeply unburden their heart nowadays?

The CD Svět podivínů includes a video of the same name, directed by Karel Čtveráček. Digipack cover uses a painting („Světlo“, The light) by the academic painter, vice-chancellor of Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Jiří Sopko. It shares the mood of Sylvie Krobová’s World of strangers...

www.sylviekrobova.com

www.archatheatre.cz

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www.mchband.cz

Well, the MCH Band of Mikolas Chadima celebrates a quarter-century! And just on this occassion a narrative and practically exhaustive archive´s box from the "totalitarian era" of the changeful band from the years 1982 – 1989 is published at the Black Point music company on 6 CDs with a laconic sub-title of 25th Anniversary Edition with finally the long expected news Nech světlo dohořet, Kateřino (Let the light burn out, Catherine). A part of to date un-surprisingly timeless "discoveries" was already published in our meads and groves at the beginning of 90s in the last century though, partly as an album Es reut mich f… or on 2 CDs MCH Band 1982 – 1986. But until now we fully come in on to the heritage of one greatest icons of the Czech alternative scene.

Actually, the first disc with the Krokodlak programme offers a fascinating comparison of the studio and concert versions and so it allows introspection to the bossom of the Mikolas´s flexible soul as a congenial composer, an improviser and a bandleader. Then the other opus Jsme zdrávi a daří se nám dobře (We are healthy and we are going on well) unambiguously reflects schizophrenia of the Sorel´s reality and it shows the fact that Mikolas again advanced a step ahead and he "extricated" from the shade of otherwise wonderful poetics of his previous acting in the Extempore ensemble.

Quite innovating activity as a silver disc No. 3 called Feeling Fine in 1980Orwell, that was published only in Italy in the antiquity and it is here extra completed with a fascinating bonus in the form of forty-minutes improvizing with loops where the established "gadgeteer" Martin Klapper and his longtime fellow Jindrich Biskup or the vocalist, trumpetists and clarinetist Yveta Kratochvilova supplement the protagonist.

The year 1984 did not belong to lucky years in the history of Czech rock and especially in this genre of experimentally based scene and the persecution mania of before-gorbatchov perestroyka was felt fairly in all the spheres. That everything is perfectly reflected in the fourth compact disc with a significant title of 198Four Well? However, the period burden – as it happens many times – flogged Mikolas to the maximum effort then. The following dark work of Gorleben (that is published here in its original version) was created in the time of glasnost and perhaps this as well it might provide a place for a sort of "disident internationalism". Texts of the East-german forbiden poet Jurgen Fuchs perfectly corresponds with dark arrangements. The final CD of this fenomenal box belongs to the opus Es reut mich f… affected by electronics and in new mutation here.

There might be or not a comparison with the Plastic People Of The Universe´s complete recordings– but summarily it is totally another fairy-tale. It proves clearly that Mikolas always went his way and the expressions "underground" and "alternative" might have many things in common. However, despite it there are two different "categories" in concern. Moreover it is fully evident while careful listenning the anniversary six-cds how Chadima has influenced the Czech non-conformal scene since its beginnings until now. And it is needless to remind that really lots of musicians still declare their support to him.

The actual album Nech světlo dohořet, Kateřino (Let the light burn out, Catherine) has understandably "unloaded tune", pacification character and a sort of nostalgic esprit, which holds also for the Ivan Wernisch´s poetry. However, the sting (mayby lightly discreet) is definitely not missing here. In addition Mikolas intensifies his experience with jazz musicians here, which is among others supported with a trombone of Jan Jiruch (the instrument he used in his projects and bigbeat sound though. It is surely worthy to mention splendid vocals of Sylvie Krobova and Marketa Pursova. Nevertheless our "alternative´s forefather" cannot deny his roots and he returns in special astronomic spirals somewhere to his original principal and at the same time he proves his ability to move on without necessary beeing governed by fashion trends. He makes arrangements of his compositions in new contexts but in the way that "archaists" like it too. This opus has great communicative dynamics respecting our presents where it is indeed need to fight but also to listen to each other. I perceive it as a unit and I give up analyzing the single tunes to someone else. It is "relax" but it does not allow you falling asleep.
And what may be totally the most important, Mikolas Chadima is a person with a deep moral character who inside himself connects revolt and explosiveness with enormous inner humility and sensitiveness and positive pessimism with critical enthusiasm. And this credo he has been bearing in himself all the life and without question it is evident in his music.

Petr Slabý, specialist for ambitious music

MCH Band "Let the light burn down, Katherine" Jürgen Fuchs/Mikoláš Chadima/MCH Band "Tagesnotizen" (Blackpoint Music 2007)

MCH Band steht für Mikoláš Chadima Band. Dieser Name ist ein "ganz Alter" in der tschechischen Rockmusik. In vielen Bands war Chadima aktiv, viele musikalische Felder hat er beackert. Seine Hauptbands waren die Extempore Band, die in der zweiten Hälfte der 70er Jahre Rock, Folkrock, später Punk und New Wave spielten, sowie die MCH Band, die zwischen Avantrock, zappaeskem Progressive Rock und punkiger Attitüde ausdruckstarke Werke schuf. Mikoláš Chadima hat einige der wichtigsten Punk-inspirierten Alben der Tschechei komponiert und mit diversen Musikern eingespielt.
Auch als politische Person ist Mikoláš Chadima über die Tschechische Republik hinaus ein bekannter Name. Zu Zeiten des Sozialismus, wo Rockmusik, und besonders freie, abstrakte, ehrliche und grenzenlose Rockmusik unterdrückt wurde und der Geheimdienst, in der DDR die Stasi, in der tschechischen Republik die StB, Musiker und ihre Fans massiv unter Druck setzte, ihre Arbeit verbot oder sie gar einsperrte - diese perverse, geisteskranke Zeit, diese beschissene Idiotenherrschaft ist gottlob überwunden - der "Ostblock" hat sich seiner Seuche entledigt. Heute können tschechische, polnische, slowakische, deutsche, egal woher, europäische - alle Rockmusiker, die nicht in sie unterdrückenden, undemokratischen politischen Verhältnissen leben, ihren kreativen, freien Ausdruck uneingeschränkt finden - wenn sie ein Label zur Seite haben, das sie unterstützt, oder schlicht selbst veröffentlichen. Vielleicht ist es heute aus anderen Gründen, kommerziellen, nicht leichter, unangepasste Musik so zu veröffentlichen, dass sie bei den Fans auch ankommt, aber die Verbotsgefahr und die politische Feindschaft des eigenen Staates, und damit die böseste Hürde, sind weggefallen. Wer das erlebt hat, versteht das.
Blackpoint Music hat kürzlich eine 6-CD-Box der MCH Band veröffentlicht. Enthalten sind die originalen Alben sowie etliches Bonusmaterial. Zudem gibt es ein brandneues Album, gerade erst im September 2007 eingespielt. Die Texte der tschechisch gesungenen Songs sind auch in englischer Sprache im Booklet abgedruckt.
Die MCH Band und ihre Gäste spielen melancholischen, dezent von Frank Zappa inspirierten Rock, der in seiner Eigenwilligkeit Jazz und Progressive Rock nahe kommt, aber eigene Werte hat, die eher aus dem Jazzrock leben, typisch europäischer Natur sind und in ihrer intensiven Virtuosität spannend und erregend klingen. Die instrumentalen Ideen sind grandios, der Gesang ist zumeist gedoppelt gesungen. Die tschechische Sprache mag im ersten Moment hart klingen, in diesem instrumentalen Kleid geht sie perfekt auf. Die Texte sind poetisch, abstrakt, melancholisch, märchenhaft, und sicher politisch. Vor allem aber haben sie eindrücklich balladeskes Flair.
Musikalisch ähnlich, aber doch ganz anders klingt "Tagesnotizen". Mikoláš Chadima und die MCH Band spielen leise, tief melancholische, partiell elektronisch geprägte, avantgardistische Songs, die nicht nur druckvoll, sondern in ihrer Spannung gefährlich klingen. Die Stille ist wie zum Bersten gespannt; kraftvolle, wilde, aggressive Töne schälen sich aus den Minuten. Ungemein beeindruckend und in den Bann ziehend, was so ungemein düster und dramatisch aus den Boxen quillt.
Die Texte zur Musik hat ein Geistesverwandter von Mikoláš Chadima geschaffen. Jürgen Fuchs war einer der unterdrückten, progressiven Poeten in der heute längst beendeten DDR. Er begann als Student, Gedichte zu schreiben, kurze Gedichte, wie Schnipsel nur. Er musste die Universität verlassen, und nachdem er 1976 für Wolf Biermann eingetreten war, wie viele andere Intellektuelle und Künstler in der DDR (wovon die Meisten später unter massiven Druck widerrufen), wurde er verhaftet. 1977 wurde er nach seiner Haftzeit nach "West-Berlin abgeschoben. Doch selbst dort hörte der Druck der Stasi nicht auf. Es gab gar Versuche, ihn und seine zwei Töchter zu vergiften. Seine Verwandten in der DDR wurden schikaniert. Doch er schränkte seine Aktivitäten neben seinem Beruf, Jürgen Fuchs arbeitete als Psychologe, nicht ein. (Heute, fast 19 Jahre nach der politischen Wende in der DDR und den anderen ehemals sozialistischen Staaten, geht viel von der grauenhaften Wirklichkeit des politischen Alltages und der Unterdrückung der Zeit verloren - und Spielfilme helfen nur marginal, sich dem Vergessen entgegenzusetzen, weil ihre Stories zu schlicht, billig und öde sind). Im Mai 1999 starb Jürgen Fuchs an Leukämie. Es gibt Indizien, aber keine Beweise, dass er in der Stasihaft starken Bestrahlungen ausgesetzt war und das perverse System seinen Tod zu verantworten hat.
Die Songs auf "Tagesnotizen" haben deutsche Namen und deutschsprachige Texte. Die kurzen, wie angerissenen Themen sind düster, klingen aber nicht depressiv, sondern sehr poetisch. Sie haben die spröde Kraft des inneren Widerstandes, der eigenen Poesie. In einem Song heißt es schlicht:

"Jetzt bin ich raus, jetzt
Kann ich erzählen
Wie es war"

Die Kraft und Wut dieser wenigen Worte können in ihrer ganzen Tiefe vielleicht nur Menschen verstehen, die Unterdrückung erfahren und als solche verstanden haben.
Der Text ist länger, aussagekräftiger. Aber diese drei Zeilen reichen bereits aus. Die instrumentale Begleitung ist schmaler und zurückhaltender als auf allen anderen Alben der MCH Band - und es gab bereits deutschsprachige Musik der Band, etwa die Avantrock-CD "Es reut mich f…". Mal klingt die Musik wie moderne Theatermusik, mal wie Psychedelic Rock, dann wie düsterer Jazzrock oder von Zappa inspiriert, stets sehr eigen und unvergleichlich.
Das 20-minütige "Gorleben" zum Ende der CD klingt wie der Untergang der Menschheit, abstrakt, brachial und dunkel wie Univers Zero, stilistisch jedoch ganz anders. Wie ein Mix aus Avantrock, Punk und Jazzrock. Minimalistisch, aggressiv, hart und einem freien melodischen Aufbau, der abschrecken kann, wenn man derlei finstere Töne, in denen gar Walgesänge zu hören sind, nicht gewohnt ist. Ein grandioser Song, wie die CD, wie beide Alben, wahrhaft starke Kunstwerke, die ich unbedingt empfehlen möchte.
Das Label Black Point Music veröffentlicht eine Fülle progressiver und avantgardistischer Musik, stilistisch ist zwischen Punk, Hardcore, Jazz, Progressive Rock, Folk und Rock alles dabei.

www.ragazzi-music.de/mchband.html

The Czech Republic is being taken by storm by Mr. Globetrotter himself, Konstantin Ruchadze, who has lived and performed in six different countries.

At the end of the sixties, a music group calling itself Ruchadze Band emerged at the Strahov Student Club 1, then the most Western-oriented music club in Communist Czechoslovakia. With a very successful formula of Soul and Blues classics they were immensely popular with the Czech music audience. After the Warsaw-Pact armies occupied reform-willing Czechoslovakia, the band was forced to decide whether to change the musical direction or face a performance ban. This situation resulted in a splitting of the band. Some of the members chose to live in exile in the free West and others continued to live in Czechoslovakia accompanying officially accepted singers.

The leader of the band, Konstantin Ruchadze, emigrated and lived in Austria (where he played with Peter Wolf - keybord player with Frank Zappa and today famous producer), Spain (where he was a welcomed musical guest at Salvador Dali's home) and finally in Holland, where he continues to live in the capital city of Amsterdam. Along with his own very successful projects, The Goblet Band and Hot Bolshevik (fusion, jazz, funk, r&b) he has performed there with stars of the Dutch music-scene including Jan Akkerman (legendary guitarist of the world-famous Dutch band Focus, who in 1973 was chosen as world's a best lead guitarist) and Candy Dulfer (world-famous saxophone player with Prince).

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Konstantin and the rest of the old band came together and decided to return to their common music-roots to continue on the adventurous path of creativity for which the band was known. The overwhelming public reaction to the first concerts was the motivation to stay on course. Currently the band has undergone some personal changes including great young talent, revitalizing the band's image to establish links to a youthful audience. This new phase in the band's current history they decided to name "Amsterdam Beyond". More so because almost all Konstantin's compositions and arrangements were made in and under influence of the melting pot of that most cosmopolitan city of the world.

Amsterdam Beyond is the sole and unique force on the Czech music-scene uncompromisingly following the way of creativity and openness towards global music developments.

www.ruchadzeband.com

www.kostjamusic.com