KATEŘINA GARCÍA (ES/CZ/IR) & ROBERT HARVEY a EILIS LAVELLE (IR)
The return of the queen of Irish music.
Katka García is a Czech-Spanish singer, who has been living in Ireland for years. In Czechia, she is mainly known for her work in the band DÚN AN DURAS, which reached the top of the domestic Irish music scene after the year 2000. Her voice bewitched even Robert Křesťan and Pavel Bobek, who she’s recorded a number of songs with. She performs in Czechia rather sporadically, but Lodžie Worldfest 2023 has managed to book her for a concert alongside prominent Irish musicians Robert Harvey (flute) and Eilis Lavelle (harp).
DVA
The folklore of non-existent nations and pop music from non-existent radio stations.
DVA is a Czech musical duo consisting of Bára Ungerová and Jan Kratochvíl. Their music is characterized by lyrics in their own invented languages and a musical mixture of kitchen beatbox, freak folk, acoustic electronic music and bizarre pop. They emerged from the legendary theater DNO, and have since made a name for themselves in the country and abroad. Their music has also gained popularity beyond concert stages thanks to their scoring video games for Amanita Design.
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BISON ROUGE (PL)
The Polish singer and cellist combines vocal and string pieces with electronics.
A powerful cello, a strong expressive voice and loop effects – that’s Ashia Grzesik. Her music ranges from serious and playful classical music to Polish and Roma folk tunes to electronics.
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BALKANSAMBEL (SK)
The musical whirlwind of a Balkan brass band from Slovakia.
This group of free-spirited musicians with temperamental female vocals and a love for the Balkans combines traditional folk music with modern jazz.
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TULEJE BAND (PL)
An experimental take on Polish folk music.
Tuleje Band consists of Gosia Zagajewska (vocals), Ksawery Wójciński (double bass) and Wojtek Kurek (drums). Their interpretation of the folk music of the eastern Wielkopolska region is brimming with deep reverence for the original material while also expressing their own subjective view of tradition. It is a daring view, full of references to jazz, blues, old music and free improvisation. Tuleje Band’s repertoire is inspired by folk melodies from villages surrounding Konin. Their lyrics are written by singer Gosia Zagajewska, who is also a poet.
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JONO HEYES a BEEHIVE (NZ/CZ)
The international band of a New Zealand multi-instrumentalist and composer inspired by ethnic music.
Singer, composer and guitarist JONO HEYES was born in the South Island of New Zealand, but he currently lives in southern Bohemia. He experiments with music and vocals, and he’s proficient on a number of stringed instruments. His music contains traces of West African rhythms, Arabian thunder, the energy of flamenco, Latin-American sunshine and various other influences from all over the world.
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CROCHE DEDANS (F)
A trio of sailors from Brittany, France.
Music from ship decks, fishing boats and port taverns comes alive with the incredible energy of three musicians from the Breton city of Nantes.
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KORJEN (BiH/SK/PL/CZ)
An ethno-beat take on Near-Eastern folk songs performed by three energetic women from three European countries accompanied by two Czech musicians.
Korjen is a multinational band that is inspired by the member’s roots and idiosyncratically interprets traditional music. It currently consists of three female voices: Ewa Żurakowska from Poland, Aida Mujačić from Bosnia and Světlana Sarkisian from Slovakia with Armenian ancestry. They’re complemented by two Czech musicians: the guitarist Marek Novotný and the drummer Jan Šikl.
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JANA VÉBROVÁ a BAND
A quirky songwriter with her band in its original make-up.
Jana Vébrová is a musical maverick from the Sudetenland region. Her work is characterized by an exceptional vocal style, self-taught accordion technique and the unexpected composition of her songs. This spring, after a sixteen-year wait, her second album entitled “Kameny ze dna” came out to an extraordinarily positive reception. At our festival, just like on the album, she will be joined by a number of outstanding musicians and masters of their instruments: Alexey Aslamas on the violin and the viol (S.V.A. trio), Miloš Dvořáček (Radůza), Jan Jirucha (MCH Band) and Petr Tichý (Hlaskontrabas and more).
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VLADIMÍR VÁCLAVEK
A legend of Czech alternative songwriting and minimalist guitar music.
Vladimír Václavek is a Czech musician whose work is influenced by alternative rock and world music. His compositions consist of poems, original and otherwise, set to music with atmospheric melodies in his distinctive style of minimalist guitar-playing. He is known as a member of the band Dunaj and for his collaborations with Iva Bittová.
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DELIOU (F/CZ)
This Czech-French duo combines a Norwegian violin and a Breton harp.
Breton ballads and original compositions inspired by music from all over the world. The Czech violinist Jitka Malczyk and the Breton harpist Celestine Doedens play instrumental music of cathedral naves, marine landscapes and arboreal realms.
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VOJTĚCH HAVEL & DAGMAR VOŇKOVÁ
Multi-instrumentalist work bridges classical and meditative music with motion picture soundtracks.
Due to Irena Havel's injury, Vojtěch Havel will perform solo at the festival.
World-famous composers and multi-instrumentalists Irena and Vojtěch Havel rose to fame primarily for playing the old stringed instrument viola da gamba. Together, they have put out as many as 14 original albums and collaborated on many others. At the same time, they score films as well as theater and dance performances. The pair have performed in over 30 countries and collaborated on many international multimedia projects.
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SHUM DAVAR (BY/GEO/SK/CZ)
A fusion of klezmer, Roma, Balkan, Slovak, Georgian, Armenian and Belarusan folk music.
Musicians from Georgia, Belarus, Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia enrich Shum Davar’s repertoire with traces of klezmer, Romani, Balkan, Slavic and Caucasian folk music peppered with elements of jazz.
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LES GARS DEN BAS (F/CZ)
The acoustic gypsy swing of a Czech-French group.
A concert of nomadic musicians performing original music influenced by jazz, gypsy swing and chanson.
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SKUMENN: CÉLESTINE DOEDENS & NICOLAS DEMAILLE (F)
Expressive and poetic improvisation of a French piano-and-saw duo.
Nicolas Demaille’s piano compositions with the ambient sounds of a singing saw intuitively played by Célestine Doedens.
Skumenn (sea foam) invite you on a voyage through various moods, from tranquil waters to the turbulent ocean.
SERGIO DÍAZ DE ROJAS (PERU)
A piano concert of a young Peruvian pianist with a dance performance.
Sergio Díaz De Rojas is a Peruvian pianist and minimalist composer, currently based in Valencia, Spain. At Lodžie Worldfest 2023, he’ll accompany a site-specific dance performance created just for this year’s festival.
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SBOR SUBITO
A composed concert of a mixed choir.
The Prague-based chamber choir Subito, usually comprising around 24 passionate members, primarily focuses on 20th century choir music and compositions of contemporary Czech and foreign composers. Moreover, they also like to dive into the depths of Renaissance and Baroque music.
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YAMAHA ORIENTAL
Hits from contemporary Balkan weddings, christenings, discotheques and station restaurants.
This new band is the answer to the eternal question “Does Czechia even have a single Balkan brass band?”
Hypnotic grooves and psychedelic melodies of Roma musicians from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania with a pinch of Prague jazz.
IRISH SESSION
A gathering of performers of traditional Irish instrumental music.
Perhaps the most traditional musical gathering in Worldfest's history. It’s not a concert, but a musical party of Irish tunes. In recent years, every Irish Session in the Loggia has also become a symbolic way to remember the late bandmate Lukáš Radostný.
HUSO
Again?!!
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Waxwing Theatre - ROK PRASETE
An original tragicomedic puppet show with live music and a crafty parable about greed and conspiracy.
Rok Prasete (The Year of the Pig) is an original puppet show from the theater company Waxwing Theatre about thieves, misers, charlatans and what happens when the natural order of things is exchanged for a cheap traveling attraction.
Concept: Zuzana Smolová and Peter Gaffney / Puppets and stage design: Peter Gaffney / Cast: Zuzana Smolová and Peter Gaffney / Support: Sladovna (Písek)
For adults and children 10+ / 55 min
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Le Cabaret Nomade (F/CZ) - NIDOS
An experiential object theater performance taking place in the theater caravan.
Three actresses from three countries muse on the topic of home. Home can be stable, but also mobile and on wheels. And that’s exactly the kind of home the creators of the project picked as the setting of their meeting with the viewer. The caravan represents travel and movement, but also a home and a nest traveling through time and space.
Concept, performance: Aude Stulírová Martin, Marie Svobodová, Ekaterina Plechkova / Music: Aude St. Martin
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The performance will take place in the caravan in the park beneath the Loggia. The caravan is closed and viewers enter one at a time. Each will experience the story, which lasts several minutes, on their own.
Husam Abed (PALESTINA): WAR MAKER
Performance is in English.
A unique production of the Palestinian puppeteer Husam Abed fusing visual arts and new media with documentary and object theater.
The performance is based on a true story of the Palestinian artist Karim Shaheen. It follows his absurd journey through a brutal war-torn landscape, transformations of identity and the difficulty of making decisions at the crossroads between dreams, love and family ties.
Director: Husam Abed / Dramaturgy: Marek Turošik / Art director: Astrid Mendez / Set design: Katarina Cakova / Lighting and sound design: Matěj Vejdělek / Video: Reka Deak, Dmitri Berzon / Cast: Husam Abed, Matěj Vejdělek
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KRAJINA V BAŤŮŽKU
A documentary show about a journey around Ireland.
A music-object travelog from a landscape populated with stories. From the island where sheep are painted blue and pink and it rains upside down. Hitchhiking, sleeping, inquiring, busking, wandering. And a lot of rain.
A family show primarily for adults.
Cast: Iva Ščerbáková, Markéta Labusová and Tomáš Zahrádka
Tmel - O, JAKO OTESÁNEK
A wordless horror puppet show based on a well-known Czech fairy-tale.
A one-of-a-kind take on the tale of Otesánek in the form of an apocalyptic horror story with a unique dark set design.
Director: Viktor Prokop / Set Design: Berta Doubková / Dramaturgy and music: Jan Froněk / Cast: Antonie Rašilovová, Jakub Müller, Nikolas Ferenc
(This production was created with the support of DAMU as a semester thesis of 2nd year students of KALD DAMU)
Length: 40 minutes / For children 7+
Le Cabaret Nomade (F/CZ) - PLUME
A puppet poem about the fragility and power of birth.
A puppet show from the theater collective Le Cabaret Nomade, Plume is the personal testimony of performer Aude Stulírová Martin about the fragility and power of birth. A mother’s conversation with everything her body and mind goes through with this new, as yet undiscovered, responsibility.
Concept, performance: Aude Stulírová Martin / Set design, production, lighting, technical support: Drahomír Stulír / Dramaturgy: Paulína Petáková / Choreography: Marie Svobodová / Puppets: Katanari / Music: Jono Heyes
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Vi.Tvor - DLOUHÝ, ŠIROKÝ A BYSTROZRAKÝ
A puppet show based on a classic Czech fairy-tale.
“Dlouhý, Široký a Bystrozraký” is performed with wooden totem puppets inspired by the poetry of the artist Zbyněk Sekal.
The creative team: Alžběta Vitvarová, René Vitvar, Lukáš Bouzek, Štěpán Lustyk / Cast: René Vitvar, Štěpán Lustyk, Milan Vedral
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Jakub Folvarčný - KARLOVA A JAROMÍROVA POHÁDKA
A unique take on Karel Jaromír Erben’s fairy-tale “Jabloňová panna”.
A very non-traditional retelling of the traditional fairy-tale, making use of vinyl records and other junk. The play is very interactive, even participatory.
For children 4+ years old.
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Divadlo Krtek - CIRKUS PLNÝ POHÁDEK
Cult classic interactive show by the famous actor Marek Sýkora from Naivní divadlo Liberec.
A playful interactive puppet show for all ages. Children won’t just watch, but rather become a part of the play, influencing it with their ideas. Improvised fairy-tales built around any three words. A story unfolds as the audience determines its plot...
Waxwing Theatre - LOUTKOVIŠTĚ
An interactive puppet playground.
Five unique self-contained puppet theater sets with various set pieces and a suite of puppets intended for play and capturing the imagination of the whole family in a public space. A reminder of the Baroque tradition of puppetry, as well as a new form of interaction and an opportunity for entertainment. An open play for all children and parents with an imagination.
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POESION: Jakub Řehák
POESION: Klára Krásenská
Moments of poetry at the festival.
Three prominent poets – Klára Krásenská and Jakub Řehák read their own works.
Čtení v kouzelné chaloupce
Readings in the Magic Hut - Those who long for peace and want to hear a fairy-tale shall seek the fairy-tale hut.
In the forest east of the Loggia in the middle of a bog stands a solitary hut. Within, one can meet a wise old woman who may read you a fairy-tale. However, the hut is located on a small island, and one must cross a rickety bridge to reach it. So go and you might find a fairy-tale in the woods too…
IRSKÁ LESNÍ KAVÁRNA
