Topic Archive Culture
Two voices
This week’s Sunday music show is devoted to a refreshing female duo
called Two Voices. At first glance they have little in common - Jana
Rychterova is a classic chanson singer, who writes her own lyrics and
accompanies herself on the guitar while mezzo-soprano Edita Adlerova
studied opera. What brought them together is a sense of humour and a
natural talent to entertain the crowd. More
Kolín - more than just a railway junction
Surrounded by railway sidings and industrial estates, it's easy to get the
impression that Kolín is simply a town travellers pass through on the way
from the Czech capital to the nearby tourist-friendly Kutná Hora.
Nevertheless, anyone who gets off the train in Kolín and takes the trouble
to walk the short distance past the factories and business parks to the
city centre will find that it is a place worth visiting. More
Czech Catholic literature 1918-1945: from utopia to despair
Opposed, later persecuted – and finally forgotten. That was the fate of
many Czech Catholic writers, who stood outside the literary mainstream. In
one of Europe’s most atheist nations, the impact of these authors
gradually diminished throughout the 20th century although in their heyday,
in the interwar period, they managed to convey many original ideas and
intriguing artistic expressions. More
Hana Hegerová, the Czech Edith Piaf, turns 80
“The Great Lady of Chanson”, “Edith Piaf from Prague” or a
“Chanteuse with a Slavic Soul” – that’s how critics have described
Hana Hegerová, the Czechoslovak singer who turns eighty on Wednesday.
After a career spanning almost half a century, Hana Hegerová saddened her
fans a couple of months ago by announcing her retirement from the stage and
cancelling all her scheduled concerts. More
Rabindranath Tagore: an Indian poet who inspired a Czech generation
This year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Bengali poet,
Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1913. Tagore has a special significance for Czechs, as we
find out in this week’s Czech Books. More
Pinter’s "In Other Rooms" at Divadlo Na Zábradlí
In this week’s Arts, I talk to David Peimer, professor of theatre at
University College in the UK, also involved with the Pinter Centre for
Performance and Creative Writing in London. In our interview Mr Peimer
discusses In Other Rooms - a production in English of lesser-known short
plays by the late Nobel Prize laureate Harold Pinter. While not as
widely-known as Pinter’s most famous work, the short plays are highly
recommended – and Czech audiences will have a chance to see them this
weekend when the production, co-directed by Mr Peimer, comes to the Theatre
on the Ballustrade in Prague. More
Music by much-loved pop star Miro Žbirka
In this edition of the Sunday Music Show we profile Slovak pop star Miro
Žbirka. The Prague-based singer, widely known by his nickname Meky,
released his first album in Czechoslovakia in 1979 with the pop group
Modus, a band with which he recorded now classic hits like Dievčatá,
Drahá and others, before moving on to a successful solo career. Žbirka,
whose mother was from Great Britain, also sings in English so we’ll be
hearing a variety of material, including one song off from remastered
material recorded in English in West Germany in the 1980s. More
Author Jaroslav Rudiš discusses Alois Nebel – graphic novel and film focussing on the fog of history and troubled European past
In this week’s Arts, I speak to Jaroslav Rudiš, the author of an
influential graphic novel (trilogy, actually) that delves into the fog of
history and troubled Central European past. The story of Alois Nebel – a
slightly mad railwayman working in a remote border region – it has been
made into a new film that premiered last week in the Czech Republic after
being featured in festivals in Venice and Toronto. More
New documentary depicts actor Jiří Voskovec’s life in US
A new documentary that will premiere in Czech cinemas next week depicts the
lesser known part of the life of the Czech-born actor Jiří (or George)
Voskovec. In his homeland, he is best known as the co-founder and co-star
of Prague’s pre-war avant-garde theatre troupe, the Liberated Theatre.
Having spent the war in exile in New York, Jiří Voskovec again moved to
the US after the 1948 communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. The new film,
entitled My Father George Voskovec, follows his daughter Gigi retracing her
father’s life, from the difficult beginnings through his career on
Broadway and in Hollywood, to his passing away in 1981, at the age of 76.
Jan Richter saw the documentary and spoke to its director, Libuše
Rudinská. More
Czech theatrical legend Jiří Suchý turns 80
The popular Czech actor, singer, songwriter, playwright, painter,
screenwriter and director Jiří Suchý turned 80 on Saturday. In top form,
the living legend of Czech theatre received standing ovations at a special
concert he held to celebrate his birthday at Prague’s Semafor theatre. More
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