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This week in Mailbox: We hear about how Algerians have a tradition that is
not unlike some of the Czech Republic's Easter customs. We also have
reaction to our report on a planned Hollywood film about Milada Horakova
and we also discuss a recent Magic Carpet programme that featured the
music of Czech accordionist Raduza. Listeners quoted: Bezazel Feraht ben
Rabah, David Eldridge and Alastair Fairweather.
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ArtsRaduza: a singer with unbounded inspiration
She is a young fragile-looking woman but with a raw and deep voice, full of
life and energy. She started as a very young girl busking with a guitar.
Now she is one of the most popular Czech folk singers. Raduza - as she
calls herself - has now released her third CD, but the new album is not
just a continuation of her previous work - one can feel that Raduza has
found new inspiration and that her music is developing. But she says that
she hasn't gone for a deliberate change of style.
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Czech MusicEncore: Zuzana Navarova - remembering an exceptional Czech musician
Today we remember an extraordinary Czech musician, Zuzana Navarova, who
died last week of cancer at the tragically early age of 45. Her band Nerez
became hugely popular in the 1980s. This was a time of growing popularity
of singer song-writers, but Zuzana Navarova was different. Music critic
Petr Doruzka remembers: More
Current AffairsMuch respected singer-songwriter Zuzana Navarova dies at 45
Czech music fans and musicians were deeply saddened on Tuesday by the news
that the singer-songwriter Zuzana Navarova has died of cancer at the age
of just 45. Her death came as a shock to many: she appeared in concert
only last month, and received a gold record for 10,000 sales of her 2001
CD Barvy vsecky.
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Czech MusicEncore: Raduza - the emotional power of the accordion
When the "Year of Czech Music" was launched in January, the jazz
flute player, Jiri Stivin, complained that this year's celebrations were
focusing far too much on classical music. So I make no apology for
departing from our usual classical themes in this week's Encore to look at
a musician whose music comes closer to the beer hall than the concert
platform. The thirty-year-old singer Raduza shot to fame a decade ago,
when she shared a stage with Suzanne Vega here in Prague. She accompanies
her songs on the accordion, and despite a huge and still growing following
here in the Czech Republic, she prefers to play in the intimacy of pubs
and clubs. Raduza's songs are powerful, raw and emotional, and are firmly
rooted in the pub and folk tradition. My colleague Mark Fernandes caught
up with her at one of her regular concerts in the Balbinova Club just
round the corner from the radio here in the centre of Prague. He recorded
some of her songs and she talked about her music.
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