2024-07-21 09:40:15
This year’s Folk Holiday Festival, which will take place as usual in Náměšt nad Oslavou in the Třebíč region, will give more space to musicians from the American continent. Banjo player Nora Brownová, who already performed here two years ago, will come, for example. This time, however, visitors will hear her in a duet with violinist Stephanie Coleman.
The festival, whose 38th year will last from July 27 to August 3, will also feature Colombian native Lucía Pulido, as well as performances by young banjo singer-songwriter Kelly Hunt and Norwegian tuba player Daniel Herskedal. The show will be opened by jazz double bassist and multi-instrumentalist Jiří Slavík with the premiere of his program Polkatime. In it, he refers, among other things, to the work of the classics of Czech music Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana.
Visitors can also expect Jiří Pavlica with Hradišťan or, on the final day, Saturday, August 3, the star of West African music Sona Jobartehová and the Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard. According to event dramaturg Michal Schmidt, the theme of this year’s festival is generations. For him, they are important in passing on the musical tradition in families, in society, in the region and in the nation. “The other meaning is a generational statement,” Schmidt clarifies.
The festival wants to present unique musicians from all over the world who are often performing in the Czech Republic for the first time or come with a specific project. Folk holidays have their main stage in the grounds of the Manor Castle. In addition to music, they offer theater, art or music workshops or exhibitions. In previous years, attendance was around 6,000 people.
This year, an installation prepared by theater artist Matěj Forman with friends will also premiere here. Its central theme is the fight of the century between two famous boxers, the American Joe Louis and the German Max Schmeling. It took place on June 22, 1938, and Louis knocked out Schmeling in a rematch in two minutes and four seconds. The world was then on the brink of war. In Nazi Germany, the sword was interpreted as a fight between a “Nordic hero and an inferior black race”, in America, on the other hand, as a fight between the free world and the Nazi rampage.
The installation will be located in the Old Weaving Room. People will also find exhibitions of photographers Irena Vodáková and Jana Lábrová under the collective title Stories on the scene and Heroes from the backstage. “The first one is called On the Scene of the Forman Brothers Theater and presents a selected series of color photographs from their performances and projects – Obludarium, Deadtown, the operas The Magic Kingdom, Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast and the stage performance of The Magic Rybovka, John’s Passion. And the second one, Hrdinové from behind the scenes, in turn, a selected series of black and white photos from the environment of studios, workshops, rehearsals and preparations for performances and projects of the same theater,” adds Michal Schmidt.
Folk holidays belong to Vysočina festivals with a long tradition, but they are four years younger than Holidays in Telč. This sixteen-day musical event, the main stage of which is the Telč castle, will be launched this year by the organizers on July 26. In the program, visitors will find Dan Bárta, Michal Prokop or Jiří Schmitzer. Cirk La Putyka will also perform.
Video: Sample from a project by Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman filmed an appearance together last year as part of the Tiny Desk series for American radio NPR. | Video: NPR Music