music

music

Fujara is not some new action game on your iPhone but a 6-feet-long rare folk Slovak musical instrument from 12. century. It looks like a large flute with 3 side holes and a parallel smaller tube, which supplies air to the top of the flute. Cherished in the seclusion of Slovakian mountains by shepherds, the fujara and its rich spectrum of healing overtones were preserved over the centuries. Until recently the fujara was not known outside of Slovakia, where only a small number of traditional musicians play the instrument, and a handful of craftsmen there can make one. But now people all over the world are discovering beauty and unique qualities of fujara, and there is growing number of fujara players…AND you can be one of them (you don’t have to know how to read the notes)!

Learn to play Slovak fujara at the Common Ground on the Hill (non-profit organization in Maryland) from a Czech musician Bob Rychlik. [click to continue…]

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This young Slovak violist does not only have a talent but also a great sense of humor!
CZ: Tento mlady slovensky violista nepostrada talent ale ani smysl pro humor!

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Take a pick for the most wonderful Christmas gift ever :) .

CZ:Vyberte si ten jekrasnejsi vanocni darek ze vsech :) .

1. Czech Christmas Carols – volume 1/ Ceske Vanocni koledy – volume 1 (28 songs)

1. Já bych rád k Betlému, k Ježíšku malému

2. Jak jsi krásné, neviňátko

3. Štěstí, zdraví, pokoj svatý

4. Narodil se Kristus pán

5. Půjdem spolu do Betléma [click to continue…]

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Czech Christmas carols, Czech folk music and Czech lullabies are always in a high demand and  that’s why they are available again on Czechmate Diary. This year the selection is a bit different from the last year’s selection, so nobody can complain of boredom ;)

CZ: Uz je to tady – novaVanocni selekce ceske hudby! Koledy (dil 1. a dil 2.), ukolebavky a dechovka. Tato nabidka je trosku jina, nez co byla k mani rok minuly, takze si nikdo nemuze stezovat na nudu ;) . [click to continue…]

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Since a lot of Czechs and Slovaks tend to enjoy classical music (myself included), I am pretty sure this YouTube video will be a hit. This 3-year-old boy (yes, a ‘regular’ American kid, nothing Czech or Slovak about him) just fell in LOVE with classical music and you just watch how that love translated into his life:

CZ: Myslim, ze se vsichni schodneme na tom, ze vetsine z nas se libi vazna hudba. Jestlize se nachazite v teto vetsinove skupince, musite se na nasledujici video kouknout. Toto 3-lete dite (je to ‘nudne’ Americke ditko, zadne CS predky nema) se TAK zamilovalo do vazne hudby, ze misto hrani si s hrackami se zabyva necim uuuuuuplne  jinym…..

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The first time I heard the song “Windows are open” by Amos Lee on the radio, my brain almost had a mini-stroke. At first it was telling me that’s the Czech singer Michal Tucny. But then, a few seconds later, the hard reality hit. “Wait, he is singing in English, that must be someone else!”. I restlessly waited for the end of the song to find out who the artist was. And that’s how I found out about Amos Lee.

The funny thing is that not only their voices are almost identical but the song has a very similar melody (especially at the beginning) when you compare it to Michal Tucny’s song called “Abych tu zil”. See for yourself and you will see! It’s amazing!!!!
CZ: Michal Tucny ma dvojnika!!!! Dokonce i ty jejich pisnicky (tedy alespon tahle) zni velmi podobne! Mrnete na vido Amose Lee a pak si poslechnete Michala Tucneho, pisnicku “Abych tu zil”. No nemam pravdu?



 

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This is one of those sentimental posts again so get your handkerchiefs ready. Here are some of those top runners who back then broke almost every girl’s heart:

CZ: Pripravte si kapesnicky, jdeme si zavzpominat na hitovky z roku 1985. Kvuli komu ze budete v pristich peti minutach ronit slzy (nebo naopak dostanete zachvat smichu)? Tady je jen par jmen k pripomenuti:

  • Pavel Hornak
  • Karel Gott
  • Michal David
  • Elan
  • and others…..

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I don’t want to sound like I am bragging but I came to the conclusion that the Czechs (and of course the Slovaks too) tend to have many talents. I don’t mean just in the field of music (hence the saying “Co Cech, to muzikant”, meaning “Every Czech is a musician”) or handy-work (hence the saying “Cesi maji zlate rucicky”, meaning “Czechs have golden hands”), I mean overall, like we are some kind of a resurrected Renaissance nation ;0)
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Hi Folks,

I hope you are enjoying Christmas season and all of you have finished your letters to Santa (or Jesus). To make these moments complete I selected a few YouTube videos of Czech Christmas carols. The last song is sang by Karel Gott (also known as the Golden Voice of Prague), probably the most famous current Czech singer whose career has spanned over four decades. He sold over 30 million records and became one of the first multimillionaires in the socialist Czechoslovakia.

CZ: Doufam, ze si vsichni uzivate predvanocni pohody a ze jste jiz dokoncili dopis Jeziskovi. Aby byla ta vanocni pohoda uplne dokonala, tak jsem si pro vas pripravila par klasickych vanocnich pisinicek. Nejdriv je to samozrejme Rybova mse, pak par koled a pak nas nezapomenutelny Gottik :0)

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Here is an exciting calendar of Czech and Slovak activities for October. We are blessed this month to be visited by Czech bands like MIG-21, Druha Trava AND Marta KUBISOVA!!!! Not very many Czech Halloween parties though….actually to be exact, there are none.
CZ: Tento mesic nas prijede navstivit slavna ceska kapela MIG-21, take Druha Trava a nekecam, take Marta KUBISOVA!!! To je pocta. Zatim jsem neobjevila zadnou ryze CS halloweenovskou party…..a Dusickove party se moc neporadaji ;0)
1. New York, NY

What: Czech Street Festival
When: 10/2/2010

What: “Growing up in NYC (Helen was born in Prague and raised in Manhattan…)
When: 10/7/2010

What: Concert of MIG 21 (popular Czech pop-rock band)
When: 10/26

What: Czech and Slovak Fairytales (Puppet theatre)
When: 10/30/2010 [click to continue…]

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