Festival of unpopular music. Czechs and the world avant-garde will come to Mikulov

by times news cr

2024-08-19 23:07:12

Non-commercial music and fringe genres standing outside the mainstream will be given space by the Mikulove music festival, which will take place on the last holiday weekend in the amphitheater of the summer cinema in Mikulov in Břeclavsk. It continues the tradition of the Eurotrialog show, from which it also took the subtitle Festival of Unpopular Music.

At this year’s fourth edition, bands associated with the Czech alternative scene will play on August 30 and 31. But guests from Britain and Japan will also arrive, promises the organizer Petr Pošvic. He organizes the festival with Radim Svatoně.

The original Mikulov Eurotrialog was organized by promoter Romek Hanzlík from 1999 until his death 20 years later. The first year of the successor event took place in 2021 after a subsequent two-year forced break due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hanzlík’s friend and teammate Miroslav Wanek, frontman of the rock band Už jsme doma, took charge of the dramaturgy. It is she who will perform this year on the evening of Saturday, August 31, when she will exceptionally accompany the British singer Renaldo M. from the avant-garde band Renaldo and the Loaf in Mikulov. This pair has been active on the British scene since the 70s of the last century, working with, among others, the anonymous American band The Residents.

At the Mikulov concert, they mix the Czech group’s repertoire with compositions by Renaldo and the Loaf. “We have already adapted some of Renaldo and the Loaf’s songs at home into our arrangement, and Renaldo will sing them together with us. On the other hand, some of our band’s material will sound as if it were played by Renaldo and the Loaf,” advises Miroslav Wanek. “Both of these transcriptions will be a real challenge, because the bands have a very different sound, instrumentation and way of arranging. But just as it was with The Residents, the link is a similar spirit, humor and originality,” believes the Už jme doma band leader.

The progressive metal band Plastic Dogs will arrive from Japan. The Czech scene will be represented by singer-songwriter Karel Plíhal or the groups Vltava, Helmutova strikačka, OTK, Zuby nehty, Fru Fru and Povodí Ohře. The concerts will be complemented by Saturday screenings of a three-year-old documentary film about Renaldo and the Loaf called 23rd Century Giants, exhibitions or a program for children.

The festival, like the former Eurotrialog, takes place in the recently renovated amphitheater of the summer cinema in Mikulov, in the adjacent park and in other places of the historic South Moravian city. A tent town will be available to visitors, the area is barrier-free. A two-day ticket in the GoOut network costs 1,590 crowns.

Video: Trailer z filmu 23rd Century Giants

The festival will also screen 23rd Century Giants, a documentary film about the band Renaldo and the Loaf. | Video: Well Dang Productions

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