Sunday Music Show | All stories

This week’s Sunday Music Show is dedicated to a Czech composer and band member Jaromír Vejvoda whose work is probably a lot better known than he was in spite of his prolific output.

In this edition of Sunday Music we'll be playing some of the best known songs by popular Czech singer Petr Hapka, who passed away last week at the age of just 70. Hapka worked closely with a number of lyricists but with none more closely than Michal Horáčeck. Together they produced some of the best known hits in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s.

Singer Ida Kelarová is a singer, musician and choirmaster who performs some of the best Romany music to come out of the Czech Republic. But, ironically it was many years before she learnt of her Romany origin and was able to fully connect with her legacy.

For Semafor is a unique album initiated by the Czech music journalist Pavel Klusák on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the legendary Semafor Theatre in 2009. It features 20 cover versions of the most famous hits by Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr interpreted by some of the best known Czech indie bands, such as Květy, OTK or Ecstasy of Saint Theresa.

Never Sol is essentially the solo project of Sára Vondrášková, a songwriter and keyboardist whose rich, smoky voice belies her tender years. Her Jan P. Muchow-produced debut LP Under Quiet – which occasionally brings to mind the likes of Portishead or Muchow’s The Ecstasy of St. Theresa – has been nominated for Best New Act and Best Female Act in the Czech music industry’s Anděl music awards.

Halloween, Czechs always say, is an import, a holiday that has taken root only recently. But the kids love it (at least in schools and nursery schools) and, more broadly, who doesn’t like being scared?

Mandrage is a Czech band which is not easy to place: its music has been described as soft-rock, pop-rock, punk-rock and it has recently been experimenting with electronics. Some critics find it hard to digest but since its formation in 2004 it has been gathering momentum and has built-up a dedicated fan-base.

The first album by the Czecho-Slovak duo Monikino Kino (Petr Marek of MIDI LIDI and Monika Midriaková) reflects the story of a relationship from start to finish in a series of songs combining intimate electronic pop with reflective, playful lyric.

Inspired by US guitar bands like The Pixies and Sonic Youth, Houpací koně formed in Ústí nad Labem in 1991, releasing their eponymous debut LP four years later. While the group – with leader Jiří Imlauf the only constant member – have been ploughing their own independent furrow for years, they won a new generation of fans with their most recent LP, the acclaimed Everest.

The singer, songwriter and film score composer Petr Skoumal, who passed away last Sunday aged 76, wrote hundreds of songs for both adults and children. He will be remembered as an ingenious composer with a great sense of humour and irony as well as a melancholic streak that came out in many of his tunes.