Related articles

The Brno band Poletíme? describes itself as an original banjo-punk-future-jazz-band. Established in 2007 by artist and musician Rudolf Brancovsky it soon became a regular at clubs and festivals around the country. Its songs are a colourful mix of genres and are based on witty and often shocking texts –what the band calls “simple songs about a complicated life”.

In this week’s Sunday Music Show we listen to music by the soulful a capella group Yellow Sisters and speak with one of its four members Bára Vaculíková (and her young daughter). Antonia, Bára, Hawa and Leňa have been singing together since 2005, using their versatile voices to create full, rhythmical and often playful music.

Singer and songwriter Zuzana Michnová is one of the most distinct vocalists of the Czech folk rock scene. For many years, she was part of the legendary band Marsyas, and has also released an acclaimed solo album. After a long break, the band recently made a comeback, and can again be seen – and heard – in clubs across the country.

This week we are profiling the band Ahmed má hlad (Ahmed is hungry) a band that revives and draws on Balkan and East European folk music, while giving these traditional gems a modern slant.

The singer, songwriter and musician Filip Topol, the leader of the rock band Psí vojaci, died on Wednesday at the age of 48. Filip Topol ( (the younger brother of author Jáchym Topol) was highly respected on the underground music scene, writing numerous songs including Žiletky (Razorblades) which inspired a 1994 film of the same name directed by Zdeněk Tyc. Czech TV reported that Mr Topol died after suffering from a long illness.

Singer and songwriter Zuzana Michnová is one of the most distinct vocalists of the Czech folk rock scene. For many years, she was part of the legendary band Marsyas, and has also released an acclaimed solo album. After a long break, the band recently made a comeback, and can again be seen – and heard – in clubs across the country.

This week’s Sunday Music Show profiles chanson singer, guitarist and composer Lenka Filipová. The singer, who started out as a classical guitar player and developed into a successful chanson singer has enchanted audiences in Prague and Paris and recorded more than two dozen albums in a career spanning more than 30 years.

The 1999 movie Pelíšky (Cosy Dens) is a bittersweet drama set in the period leading up the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia August 1968. Chock-full of names like Václav Neckář, Blue Effect, Waldemar Matuška, The Matadors, Hana Hegerová and Petr Novák, its soundtrack is an excellent primer to the Czechoslovak music of that era and a brilliant compilation by any standards.

This week we are profiling the band Ahmed má hlad (Ahmed is hungry) a band that revives and draws on Balkan and East European folk music, while giving these traditional gems a modern slant.

The Prague-based rock band Schodiště, formerly known as Nahoru po schodišti dolů band, this year marks 30 years on stage. Founded at the height of the new wave, the band with its original sound and melancholic lyrics, somewhat undermined by their irony and sarcasm, has evolved into a steady fixture of the Czech rock scene.