I'm a keen collector of world music but I must confess that much European traditional folk music leaves me cold. Scandinavia excluded, it can sound very homogenous with it difficult to tell a song from Greece, Portugal, Romania or wherever. Czech music can fall into this category. I've been to a concert with a Czech ex-girlfriend to see Ostrava's favourite son Jaromir Nohavica, perform and although all the Czech, Polish and Slovak emigres in London who watched it with me had a great time I was left feeling a bit 'yes, but....'. I guess, when you don't understand the words and because of the different cultures you can't put the music into a historical context then you are left with just the music and there is only so much oompa or accordian you can take before you get a feeling of deja vu.
A traditional Czech performer who can break this feeling is Radůza, a Prague-born singer/songwriter still in her 30s. She's a multi-instrumentalist with a lovely melancholic voice, much travelled (where she draws a lot of inspiration from) and seems to keep a low profile despite achieving much success both in her native country and beyond. I've featured her before on this blog with the string arrangement 'Oh My Blackish Angel' which you can listen to here (and I do recommend you to listen. It's beautiful) but this time I am picking her piano-based piece 'Dopis Taťáně'.
Nice selection. I fall into a similar camp re: world/traditional folk music. Just discovered Raduza; I was instantly struck, and impressed that she had so many records already. She doesn't strike me as traditional though; more Czech indie to my ear. But labels are just a roadmap; what's important is a musical voice that transcends language.
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