Sunday Music Show | All stories

Dné is the alias of Ondřej Holý, a keyboard and laptop wizard who last month released his atmospheric debut long player These Semi Feelings, They are Everywhere on a German indie label. A live rendition of one track, the haunting Asos Model Crush, has had over 250,000 views on YouTube. Other titles accompanying the mostly instrumental material – including Driving A Car While Listening To Bill Burr’s Podcast – also show off Holý’s immersion in Western pop culture.

In this edition, hear new music by jazz trumpeter Laco Deczi who left Czechoslovakia in the 1980s for America. The name of the album is Symphonic Ballads and was done in cooperation with Petr Janda, the frontman for the great Czech pop group Olympic.

Terne Chave is currently one of the most successful Romany bands in the Czech Republic. Its seven members started out performing Romany songs at special events in their home town of Hradec Kralové and ended up touring European countries. Today they still draw on their Romany roots but they compose their own music laced with Latino, jazz, punk, reggae, flamenco, and rock. Check-out our Sunday Music show for a taste of what they have to offer.

In today’s edition of Sunday Music show we’ll be listening to jazz arrangements of songs by Jan Nedvěd, a legendary Czech folk singer-songwriter. A selection of Jan Nedvěd’s best-known songs, featuring the Vilém Spilka Jazz Quartet, has just recently been released on an album called Podvod or Betrayal. Guitarist and music promoter Vilém Spilka selected eight of Jan Nedvěd’s songs, which have become staples around Czech campfires, and reinvented them in original jazz covers.

Last year Děti mezi reprákama (Children Among the Speakers) picked up the Best Newcomer prize at the Vinyl music awards. Recently the Prague group – led by former Post-hudba man Dominik Zezula – returned with their sophomore release, the short but captivating Haiku. Highly recommended if poetic lyrics (helpfully posted on Děti mezi reprákama’s Tumblr account), lo-fi piano and guitar squall are your cup of čaj.

In today’s Sunday Music Show we’ll be listening to the most recent album by the Czech alternative rock band Priessnitz. The group, established in 1990 by Jaromír Švejdík and Petr Kružík, has always been closely tied to the north Moravian town of Jeseník, and their new album is no exception. Zero Gravity was released after a ten-year pause and despite critical acclaim, the band has said it will be their last.

Michal Horáček has had something of a storied career, from author and journalist to businessman and music producer, and prior to that, in 1989, acting as a representative of Civic Forum. As of this week he is also a presidential hopeful. Arguably, his greatest accomplishment to date, though, has been his work as a lyricist. In today’s programme, we play some of his very best hits.

Hana Hegerová, dubbed “the Slav Edith Piaf” turned 85 in October. In the course of a career spanning more than six decades she recorded over twenty albums, appeared in more than a dozen films and gave thousands of concerts. In this edition of Sunday Music we pay tribute to the queen of Czech chanson.

The Prague band Republic of Two comprises Jiří Burian and Mikoláš Růžička, both of whom perform the music, sing and write the songs. After releasing their well-received debut LP, the indie folk duo were named Best New Act at the Czech equivalent of the Grammys, the Anděl awards, five years ago. Since then they have brought out three regular albums, with the most recent, Back to the Trees, coming out in the summer.

This week’s edition of Sunday Music show is dedicated to the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, which recently entered its 90th season and we’ll be listening to the opening concert featuring Ludwig van Beethoven’s violin concerto performed by Jan Mráček, and the Heroic Symphony number 3.