Czech Music Encore: 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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