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According to some, Lubos Andrst is the best blues guitarist in the Czech Republic bar none. Andrst began his music career back in 1966, in a rock band called "The Roosters" - but gave up rock a few years later for the jazz and blues he has been playing ever since. As a musician, he's been most influenced by B.B. King and Eric Clapton, and he has a special talent and sensitivity for vocal arrangements. He often plays Prague jazz clubs with his quartet, but this is a rare chance to see him play with his blues band.

Vera Bila is becoming ever more popular, and perhaps in a less racist country she would already be a superstar. She sings traditional Romany songs in a distinctive alto voice backed up by her band, Kale. Together, they put out their first CD in 1995, and sales are encouraging. You can find them most nights at the Corona Bar, a brand new Latin restaurant and night spot just steps from Charles Bridge with remarkably reasonable prices for everything except the Mexican beer which gives the venue its name and goes for 75 crowns for a third of a liter. It's a much better idea to choose from one of the ten domestic brews on tap - especially if you plan to stay there drinking until the bar closes at three in the morning. Not only is the Czech beer a lot cheaper at 25 crowns for a half a liter, but it was, after all, the Czechs that originally taught the Mexicans how to brew beer oh, so many years ago.

Another rare opportunity to see a Czech music legend make an unusual live performance, this time by the singer/actress/violinist Ivana Bittova (as a child she also performed in the ballet, theater, and in films) and the band Dunaj. The band started playing together in the 1970's and their sound is kind of jazz, kind of fusion, and kind of rock, in other words, it is mellow and somewhat hard to describe - but it is sure to please.

The King of the Revival bands, as Karel Gott is the King of Czech Pop. KG Revival got its beginnings from the Industrial rock band "Brave Heart" (Odvazna srdce),which has since fallen apart. When the Revival movement was at its strongest and most serious in this country, the members thought up this gig as a gag. They really do play his songs (it's more of a small orchestra than a large band). The lead singer, however, has a deep voice and is quite fat, so the effect is highly amusing. Even more rare (and more outrageous) is when these same people do the Afric Simon Revival. Afric Simon was from Cuba or some other commie country who was very popular here with the communist regime and played a lot. He may have danced with a chair in his teeth but his songs were even worse than Gott's. Nevertheless, they play the songs faithfully, playing it to the hilt: "the infamous afric simon who just finished a successful tour of the Soviet Union" etc. Unfortunately, the revival bands play even more rarely than Gott. They're popular with the youngest dissident crowd - who're getting close to 30 yrs in age these days - and pseudointellectuals.

Led by musician/cartoonist Jan Vycital, the Greenhorns were one of the first bands in the Czech Republic to play country music, and under the communists were forced to change their name to "Zelenaci" (The Green Ones) because their English nomer sounded too western-imperialist. Thirty-five years ago, there were no country music bands or clubs here; today the commercial radio station "Country Radio" has some of the highest ratings in the nation and the Czech Republic is well peppered with country music clubs. The Greenhorns are one of the mainstays of this popular genre, and unlike most country bands, they specialize in songs with silly lyrics rather than depressing ones; they occasionally throw some oom-pah-pah oldies into their repertoire as well, like their variation on "Roll out the Barrels," the original of which, "Skoda Lasky," made its Czech composer, Jaromir Vejvoda, both famous and rich.

Many Czechs hold the erroneous belief that the tramps of the old American Wild West were a happy-go-lucky and harmless bunch of silly, freight-hopping free spirits. In the summer, whole clubs made up of modern-day Slavic "tramps" traipse across the Czech countryside, occasionally bumping into camps of Czech "cowboys" or Czech "indians" - both of which have their own groups of enthusiasts here. And all of these groups - tramps, cowboys, and indians alike - listen to "tramp" music - sung around campfires in the summer and in concert halls when the weather turns glum. Hop Trop, however, is anything but glum. Their songs are among the very best of this distinctly Czech genre, and they love to perform. In 1995 they celebrated their 15th anniversary as well as their first gold record.

This blues band, like "Bosa Hlava" (Bald Head) before it, was spawned from the legendary Bluesberry band - which is still around, though not with all its original members. These bands, in addition to the Yoyo Band, Ivan Hlas, and others, all got their start in the 1980's at the legendary Houtys pub in Hanspaulka, one of the ritziest residential districts in all of Prague. But when the communists finished building their monstrous Praha Hotel in the middle of Hanspaulka in the middle of the last decade, they closed the Houtys pub lest their communist friends who were staying at the hotel wander out and accidentally stumble upon a bunch of dissidents hanging around in the neighborhood - and these bands were forced to find other venues. Krausberry play original Czech blues songs, mostly in 3/4 time - which makes them sound suspiciously similar to the oom-pah-pah music that's so inexplicably popular in this part of the world.

This legend on the Czech music scene was discovered in 1961 in a Czechoslovak Radio contest for young talent. She became immensely popular for her protest songs in the 1960's, for which she is still best-known today - perhaps because she was banned from performing after 1970. She took an active part in the political events of autumn, 1989 - and is a favorite of President Vaclav Havel's. It is extrememely rare to see her - for, though hers is a household name, she hardly ever performs live - so you may want to consider booking tickets in advance should she perform, just to be safe.

It's really hard to believe these five have been around for 35 years now, with their folk negro spirituals, gospels harmony, protest songs and ballads, but it's true. They started as a male quartet in 1960, adding a female shortly after. Amateurs singing for fun at first, they never guessed they'd make a living at it - which they've done since 1968. They even toured Czechoslovakia with Pete Seeger in 1964. After the Soviet invasion they became popular singing negro spirituals about freedom, though they were watched by the authorities for the same reason. They play about 160 concerts a year and remain a hit with audiences here even after the revolution, and were recently awarded a platinum record. Influenced in the early days by "Everyman Opera" songs recorded here in the mid-50's.

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