Open-Air Concert

On Thursday, the Janáček Theatre out on a free open-air concert, in front of the theatre, to kick of the start of the 2023-2024 season.

Kája and I met up there after work to enjoy the performances before going to dinner.

There were performances by soloists, a choir and the opera company orchestra.  

Here are a couple of videos I took during the performance.

78th International Folklore Festival

We spent the weekend in Strážnice with Kája's family.  Every year, Strážnice hosts the International Folklore Festival, the largest and oldest folklore festival in Europe.  

Czech TV even broadcasts it across the country.  This year was the 78th edition. 

The festival is organised by the National Institute of Folk Culture which is part of the Ministry of Culture. 

The festival includes dancing, music, and various competitions for both children and adults.  This year there were over 31.000 visitors who came to see 3.150 performers from across the country.

There were another 230 performers that came from Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the USA.

The first festival was in 1946 and it was only for ensembles from across Czechoslovakia.  In 1957, the first foreign folklore ensembles participated.  The festival is for both amateur and professional groups.

On Saturday, there was a parade that proceeded to the open-air museum and stadium.

It was pretty interesting.  It's interesting to see how each region and village's traditional costumes vary.

2023 Eurovision Semi-Final 1

It's Eurovision time!!  It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since Ukraine won last year.  Since Ukraine won last year they should host this year's competition but they can't due to Russia's invasion.  Therefore, the UK, last year's runner-up is hosting in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine.

This is the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and there are 37 countries competing this year.  Russia and Belarus are banned due to the invasion while Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia opted not to participate due to cost reasons.

Last night, 15 countries participated in the first semi-final with 10 advancing to Saturday's final.  Finland came in first followed by Sweden and Israel.  

Czechland came in 4th place.  Way to go Vesna!!

©Eurovision Song Contest

Rounding out the top 10 were Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Portugal, and Serbia.  

Latvia, Ireland, Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Malta failed to qualify and are out.

Aside from Czechland, my favourites last night were Sweden, Moldova, and Switzerland.  Plus France who automatically qualifies to the finals as one of the Big 5 countries.  Here are their performances from YouTube.  Let's see you makes it to the finals from tomorrow night's second semi-final.

©Eurovision Song Contest

©Eurovision Song Contest

©Eurovision Song Contest

©Eurovision Song Contest

Kleopatra

On Saturday, I got to experience another first.  Kája surprised me with tickets to Kleopatra, my first Czech language musical.  

Saturday's performance featured Kamila Nývltová in the lead role as Cleopatra and Daniel Hůlka as Caesar.

I didn't understand everything because it was entirely in Czech but it was still an excellent show and I enjoyed it.

I found this video, back from 2010, out on YouTube os scenes from the musical with Kamila Nývltová as Cleopatra.  

©musicalcz

2023 Czech Eurovision Entry

Česká televize recently decided on this year's entry for Eurovision.  From 2 November to 8 December 2022, artists could submit their entry for 2023.  There were 170 entries received and the field was narrowed down to five which were announced in January.

The rules were that solo artists had to have Czech citizenship.  For group entires, the maximum number of members was six and at least one of the lead vocalists had to have Czech citizenship.  This citizenship requirement was a Czech thing because there's no Eurovision rule that says a contestant must be a citizen of the country being represented.  For example, Céline Dion won in 1988 competing form Switzerland even though she is Canadian.

This is the first year that the country will compete at Eurovision as Czechia instead of as Czech Republic.  This is also the first time that Czech TV organised a live broadcast to determine who would be selected by audience vote.  The vote was weighted as 70% for international voting and 30% by local Czech voting.  

Here are the five entries that battled it out on TV.

Up first was Maella with her song Flood.  The daughter of a jazz musician, she grew up in Prague but has been living in London for several years where she studied songwriting.

©Česká televize

Up next was Pam Rabbit with her song Ghosting.  She is Czech with Armenian roots and she competed at the 2018 Eurovision contest as a backup singer for Mikolas Josef.

©Česká televize

Up third was Markéta Irglová with her song Happy.  She's from Valašské Meziříčí and has lived in Ireland, the USA, and now in Iceland.  She won an Academy Award in 2008 for Best Original Song, Falling Slowly, for the film Once.

©Česká televize

Vesna performed fourth with their song My Sister's Crown.  Three of the six members of the group are Czech, with a Bulgarian, a Slovak, and a Russian.  Their song is about empowerment and pan-Slavic sisterhood with the lyrics in English, Czech, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian.   

©Česká televize

The final performer was Rodan with his song Introvert Party Club.  In 2021 he was nominated for Discovery of the Year 2021 and the music magazine Headliner included him amongst the 50 hopefuls of Czech music.

©Česká televize

A few weeks ago the results were in and Vesna won by a landslide.  Here are the results:

1. Vesna - 10.584 points
2. Pam Rabbit - 4.217 points
3. Rodan - 1.995 points
4. Markéta Irglová - 1.009 points
5. Maella - 599 points

Czechland will compete in the first semi-final on 9 May.  Vesna will perform in the second half of the show.  Good luck Vesna!

Update May 2023: Vesna placed 10th at the finals.

Brno Philharmonic

Filharmonie Brno was formed in 1956 and last September it kicked off its 67th season.  The season includes three international tours.  Last October the Philharmonic was in the UK and South Korea, and in February it will play seven locations.

08.02. - Carnigie Hall - New York City, NY
10.02. - Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI
13.02. - Granada Theatre, Santa Barbora, CA
14.02. - McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert, CA
15.02. - The Soraya, Northridge, CA
18.02. - Helzberg Hall, Kansas City, MO
20.02. - Buddy Holly Hall, Lubbock, TX

This will be the first time that the Brno Philharmonic has played in the USA in 50 years.

©Filharmonie Brno/Brno Philharmonic

Besední dům is home to the philharmonic.  In May it will celebrate 150 years since it opened.

It 1918, the front balcony was used to inform the townspeople that the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia declared independence after almost 400 years of being ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Dennis Russell Davis is the Brno Philharmonic's music director and chief conductor.  He's American and earned his doctorate at Juilliard.

He's been the chief conductor in Brno since the 2018-2019 season.

There's a cool thing that the philharmonic is doing this season to help get children interested in music.  Na půlku za půlku (Half for Half) is geared for children form 7 to 12 years old, who can manage the first half of a concert but aren't yet old enough to manage the second half.  So on three selected Friday evenings, kids and their parents enjoy the first half of the concert, and during the second half, there's a music workshop for the kids while the parents continue to enjoy the concert without them.  On these evenings, the children's discounted tickets receive a further 50% discount.

Ema Destinová

Ema Destinová  is considered to be one of the greatest soprano opera singers of all time.  She was born Emilie Pavlina Věnceslava Kittlová on 26 February 1878, in Prague when it was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

She grew up in Milešov, about 50 km (31 miles) south of Prague.  At 14, she was sent to a German boarding school in Prague to learn German.  From the age of 13, her voice teacher had been Marie von Dreger Löwe-Destinn, and Ema eventually took her surname, Destinová, as an homage.

She had a short engagement at the Dresden Opera and in 1897 she was rejected by the Prague National Theatre.  However, in 1898 she debuted at the Berlin Court Opera where she won over the public.  She remained in Berlin until 1909 where she sang in 54 operas, including 12 premieres. 

In 1904, she debuted in London and appeared in several operas over the following two seasons.  In 1908, she debuted in New York at the Metropolitan.  In 1914, she returned to home after the start of WWI.  Due to her links with the Czech resistance, Austria-Hungary revoked her passport and she was under house arrest until the end of the war.  She returned to New York in 1919 but her voice had become rusty but she continued singing at the Met until 1921.

After returning to Czechoslovakia, which was now a new country, she married Joseph Halsbach, an officer in the Czechoslovak Air Force in 1923.  She retired in 1926 but her final concert performance was in London in 1928.  She passed away from a stroke in České Budějovice on 28 January 1930, a month before her 52nd birthday.

There's no doubt that she was talented.  She could play both the piano and the violin.  She was also fluent in Czech, German, Italian, French, and English which allowed her to sing in multiple languages.  She sang the first Carmen to be recorded.  

Here's a short video I found on YouTube so you can hear her voice.

©Trisolde

A film, Božská Ema, "The Divine Emma" was released in 1979.  Although it was submitted as an entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 54th Academy Awards it wasn't nominated.

Ema Destinová is featured on the 2000 Kč banknote.

1200 Years of Moravia

Tomorrow evening there's a concert at the Brno Exhibition Centre to commemorate the first written mention of Moravia back in 822 AD.  1200 years ago!  The Brno Philharmonic will perform Janáček's Sinfonietta, his most famous work, for an audience of 1200 people.

Back in the autumn of 822, the Frankish King Louis I the Pious, who was the son of Emperor Charlemagne, went to Frankfurt am Main to spend the winter after a hunting trip.  While he was there a congress was held where the envoys of all of the Eastern Slavs could be heard.  The Moravians were among those there and this is the first written mention of Moravia and the Moravians.  

The concert sounds nice but unfortunately I've already got plans.  

Update 2022:  Here's a short YouTube video I found from the concert.

©MixTV

2022 Eurovision Finals

Last night were the grand finals of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Italy.  This year's competition had 40 countries enter and compete in two semi-final rounds with 25 in the grand finale.  Again, Russia was not allowed to compete due to its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

Kalush Orchestra, who won the first semi-final, won this year's contest.  They won with 631 points which is incredible.  Their song "Stefania" is the first song sung entirely in Ukrainian.  It's also the first song to ever win with hip-hop elements.  Here's their winning performance.

©Eurovision Song Contest

The UK came in second place.  Sam Ryder's song "Space Man" received 466 points.  This sets a record for the UK with 16 second place finishes.

©Eurovision Song Contest

The winner of the second semi-final, Sweden, finished in fourth place behind Spain.

Czechland didn't do so well.  We Are Domi earned just 38 points and ended up in 22nd place.  But at least we made the grand finale and beat Iceland, France, and Germany.

©Eurovision Song Contest

If anyone's interested in watching the full grand finale then here's the complete 4,25 hour show that's available on YouTube.

©Eurovision Song Contest

Well done Ukraine!  I hope that this isn't the only thing that they win this year.  Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

2022 Eurovision Semi-Final 2

Last night was the second semi-final round of the this year's Eurovision Song Contest.  The first semi-final on Tuesday was won by Ukraine.  Eighteen countries participated in last night's competition.

Sweden came in first place.  Cornelia Jakobs sang her song "Hold Me Closer" in English.  Here's the video of her performance from YouTube.

©Eurovision Song Contest

Czechland placed fourth in the last night's competition so they qualified for Saturday night's final.  This year the Czech entry is the group We Are Domi which is a Czech-Norwegian electro pop group that started in the UK in 2016.  

Dominika Hašková is the lead vocalist.  She's actually Czech-American as she was born in the USA to Czech parents.  Her father is Dominik Hašek who used to play hockey for the Buffalo Sabres.  In 2010, she made the final of season one of Česko Slovensko má talent. 

Casper Hatlestad and Benjamin Rekstad are Norwegian musicians.  Since 2020, they are both music teachers at the International School of Music and Fine Arts in Prague.

Their song, "Lights Off" is sung in English.  Here's their performance from last night.  Let's see how they do in the finals.

©Eurovision Song Contest

Feast of the Three Kings

The Feast of the Three Kings, or the Epiphany, is on 6 January and it officially marks the end of the Christmas holidays.  Even though the last Christmas public holiday is 26 December for St. Stephen's Day. 

If you haven't taken down your Christmas tree yet then today's the day to do it.

The day commemorates the adoration of baby Jesus by the three kings Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior, who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  

The tradition is to write on a door frame, in white chalk, the initials "K + M + B", the initials of the three wise men.  In Czech it's Kaspar since the "K".  And the little "plus" isn't a plus sign, it's a Christian cross.

Out on YouTube I found the traditional Czech Christmas song My tři králové jdeme k vám (We Three Kings are Coming to You).

The Plastic People of the Universe

The Plastic People of the Universe was an underground rock band formed in Prague in 1968 just after the invasion.  The band was inspired by Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground.  

Following the invasion, the overthrow of Alexander Dubček and the end of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia instituted "normalisation" which was a return to hard-line communism.  As such, psychedelic rock music wasn't high on the list of communist values so the government revoked the band's license to perform in 1970.  Since they weren't able to perform openly, they basically established an entire underground cultural movement during the 1970s.  I imagine it was a Czechoslovak version of hippies wanting to change the world just as there were similar movements across the world.

In 1976, the band performed at a festival which resulted in their arrest and conviction for the "organised disturbance of the peace".  The band members, and others, were given prison sentences ranging from 8 to 18 months.  The band had no political association but since they were prosecuted by the communist regime it started a number of protests.  Václav Havel and others wrote Charter 77 in response to the arrests and the trial ended up becoming a milestone for human rights against the government.

The band broke up in 1988 however they reunited in 1997 in honour of the 20th anniversary of Charter 77.  Since then they have continued to perform around the world.

Here's a short video that I found on YouTube that shows part of an interview with one of the band's members.

©Radio Free Europe

No Eurovision This Year

Eurovision was cancelled this year due to COVID-19.  The finals were supposed to held on 14 May.  Now we'll never know how Benny Cristo's song Kemama would have fared.

This year's event was supposed to be held in Rotterdam.  I don't know if the Netherlands will host in 2021.  Each country can choose if they will send this year's artists next year or choose a new entry.  However, this year's songs can not be reentered next year.

While there was no Eurovision this year at least there was Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.  The Netflix comedy is brilliant and the music sounded authentically Eurovision-ish.  While not the real Eurovision it is the next best thing.  The movie is even available on Netflix in Czech so I get to count watching it as language practice.

Here's the movie trailer I found on YouTube.  

©Netflix

2020 Czech Eurovision Entry

Eurovision 2020 is coming up in a few months and this year it will be in The Netherlands.   Last year, Lake Malawi came in 11th place which is the country's second best finish.  Mikolas Josef finished in 6th place in 2018 which is Czechland's best finish to date.

2020 will be Czechia's ninth shot at the Eurovision title.  Česká televize had received 152 submissions to be the country's official entry.  Interestingly, of the 152 entries, only 72 were from Czech musicians.  Somehow the 152 was whittled down to seven.  The selection process was made up of combination of an international jury panel of ten former Eurovision entrants and a public vote made on the official Eurovision Song Contest app.

Here are the results...

In 7th place is Pam Rabbit with "Get Up".  Pam Rabbit was born in Armenia and came in 4th place during last year's selection process.  In 2018 she was a backup vocalist for Mikolas Josef during the Eurovision finals.

©PamRabbit Official

In 6th place was Olga Lounová with "Dark Water".  She started acting in TV and movies in 1998 and she released her first album in 2011.

©Olga Lounova

In 5th place was Karelll with "At Least We've Tried".  Karelll isn't well known on the Czech music scene. However he was the first Czech to take part in the Los Angeles MUSEXPO.

©Karelll

In 4th place was We All Poop and their song "All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)".  The group formed specifically to compete in this year's competition.

©WeAllPoop

In 3rd place was Barbora Mochowa with "White & Black Holes".  She also came in 3rd place during last year's selection.

©Barbora Mochowa

In 2nd place was Elis Mraz & Čis T with "Wanna Be Like".  Eliška Mrázová reached the 2014 semifinals of Nova Hlas Česko Slovenska (The Czech-Slovak version of The Voice).  Čis T is a hip-hop artist from Bratislava who's released 13 studio albums.

©Elis Mraz

And 1st place went to Benny Cristo with his song "Kemama".  Benny Cristo is a Czech of Angolan descent and since 2013 he's had 11 top ten hits here in Czechia.  He's also a professional jiu-jitsu competitor and in 2009 he made the finals of SuperStar (the Czech-Slovak version of Pop Idol).

Here's the official Eurovision bio about him that I found out on YouTube.

©Eurovision

Here's Czech Republic's official entry for the 2020 song contest.  "Kemama" is short of "Ok mama" and the song is entirely in English.

©Ben Cristovao

Benny will perform in the second semi-final round on 14 May.  Fingers crossed! 🤞

Update:  Eurovision was cancelled this year due to COVID-19.

Ewa Farna

In preparation for my language exam I'm listening to more Czech music.  One of the Czech artists I have on my iPhone is Ewa Farna.

Ewa Farna is a Polish-Czech pop singer.  The first tip is that her first name is spelled in Polish.  The Czech spelling would be "Eva".

Ewa was born in 1993 in Vendryně, to a Polish family, near the Polish border.  She has dual-citizenship with Czechland and Poland.  In 2004 and 2005, she started winning local talent competitions in Czechia and Poland.

In 2006, at just 13, she released her first studio album called "Měls mě vůbec rád" (Did You Even Like Me).  The song hit #3 here, the album went platinum, she won a Český slavík for best new artist and became the the youngest commercially successful singer in Czechland.

She's released four studio albums in Czech and five in Polish.  Her albums have gone gold and platinum in both countries.  In 2013 she was a judge on Czech & Slovak SuperStar.  She's also been a judge on Poland's versions of X Factor and Idol.

One of my favourite songs is Na ostří nože (On the Edge of the Knife).  Here's the music video for it that I found out on YouTube.

©Universal Music Group

Czech Citizenship Exam: Significant Personalities From the 19th Century to the Present

Here are the 10 study questions for the Czech Citizenship exam from section 29: Significant Personalities From the 19th Century to the Present. 

1.  Which of these musical works was composed by Antonín Dvořák?

Z Nového světa - From the New World.

2.  What is the name of the main character of Jaroslav Hašek's most famous novel?

Josef Švejk.

3.  Which Czech writer won the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Jaroslav Seifert.

4.  Which famous Czech director lived in the USA and received server Oscar film awards?

Miloš Forman.

5.  In 1959, Jaroslav Heyrovský was the first Czech to receive the Nobel Prize.  In which field did he get it?

In chemistry.

6.  In which field did František Kupka excel?

In painting.

7.  What was the name of the Czech businessman and founder of a major engineering company in Plzeň?

Emil Škoda.

8.  What did the Czech chemist Otto Wichterle invent?

Soft contact lenses.

9.  What is the name of the literary work written by Karel Hynek Mácha?

Máj.

10.  In which sport did Jaromír Jágr become famous?

In ice hockey.