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One on OneDaphne Carr - American music writer and scholar teaching at Charles University
Daphne Carr is an American music expert and writer. The focus of her
research is not classical but popular music, a field that only recently has
warranted attention from academics. Carr’s passion for writing started
within what is commonly referred to as the zine culture, zines being small
and often underground publications that became popular in America in the
1980s and 1990s. She has stayed true to the underground and found a new
favorite in the Czech Republic: the Plastic People of the Universe, who she
learned about when she first came to Prague in 2000 to take summer courses.
Carr now teaches a class on popular music at Charles University’s
Institute of Musicology. Daphne talks about her course, the unique Czech
genre of tramp music and what first piqued her interest in music.
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MagazineMagazine
In Magazine this week: the head of the Czech Roman Catholic church shows
believers around Prague’s Archbishop’s Palace in a series of online
videos; Radek Štěpánek and Nicole Vaidišová exchange vows – but they
aren’t the only Czech sportspeople to marry; and PC monitoring software
suggests Czechs are now slacking less at the office.
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Current AffairsBeatles gigantic success “no surprise”, says original drummer Pete Best at Prague exhibition
The name Pete Best became a synonym for nearly man after he was kicked out
of The Beatles before they became the biggest band the world had ever seen.
The group’s original drummer is currently in Prague to perform at an
exhibition at the Czech Museum of Music entitled Beatlemánie, which
features original memorabilia and documents how young people in
Czechoslovakia, like their peers elsewhere in the world, were thrilled by the
explosion of the Fab Four. On the eve of the show, I discussed The
Beatles’ continued popularity with Pete Best.
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Current AffairsBeatlemania back in Prague as new exhibition opens at Museum of Music
Good news for Beatles fans – a new exhibition at the Czech Museum of
Music opens on Thursday evening featuring the music and the men – the
museum’s even borrowed George Harrison’s banjo, one of John Lennon’s
shoes, and lots more Beatles memorabilia. The exhibition’s highly
interactive however - there’s even a little recording studio where you
can try belting out Beatles songs. Earlier we spoke to the exhibition’s
curator, Dagmar Fialová.
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MagazineMagazine
Beatlemania is heading for Prague in the form of a new exhibition recalling
what the Fab Four meant for young people growing up under communism. Brno
is to get a major new tourist attraction and, the man who gets a kick from
collecting tractors. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.
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One on OneJoe Karafiát – guitarist and songwriter with Plastic People of the Universe
Joe Karafiát is a songwriter and guitarist with the legendary Czech
underground rock band the Plastic People of the Universe. Karafiát, who has
also played with groups like Garage and his own Joe Carnation Band, had
first met the Plastic People’s Vratislav Brabenec in the 1980s when the
two were living in exile in Canada, but didn’t become a member himself
until 1997. When I met Joe Karafiát (53) in Prague last week, we first
discussed his beginnings as a musician.
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ArtsPlastic People return with first new LP in nearly 10 years
The Plastic People of the Universe are back with a new album entitled Maska
za maskou [The Mask behind the Mask], their first release in nearly a
decade, and the first written since the death of their previous lead
songwriter Milan “Mejla” Hlavsa. The group are absolute legends of the
Czech rock underground, and it was their imprisonment by the communist
authorities which famously sparked the Charter 77 protest movement. But
while they may now feature in modern history books, the Plastic People
always insisted they just wanted to be allowed to play their music – and
since 1989 have been more or less a regular gigging band.
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One on OneClapton and Harrison’s muse - Pattie Boyd
The model Pattie Boyd was the inspirational force behind two of the
greatest modern musicians, “quiet Beatle” George Harrison and the
legendary Eric Clapton. Both her former husbands – also very close
friends – immortalised her in some of their most famous songs and
popular
ballads. Now on display in Prague’s Old Town is a collection of
Pattie’s private photographs from the inside of that triangular love
story, the unintended moral of which is that behind every great man – or
two - is a great woman. “Layla” herself was in Prague to share her
memories as well, and she told me about how her life’s fortunes started
taking shape around the age of 20. More
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