History / Chodsko Folk Festival 2006 / Performers
Performers
KONRÁDY’S BAGPIPE BAND FROM DOMAŽLICE
It is incredible but this bagpipe ensemble celebrated their 50th anniversary last year. From the original bagpipe ensemble founded in 1955, two founding members, Antonín Konrády and Zdeněk Bláha, are still on duty. Accordingly they can use the help of bellows to blow into their billy goats. The famous and outstanding clarinetists Vladimír Baier and František Pikhart were not so lucky. They ran out of steam from their warbling but were replaced by the excellent „whistlers„ Roman Kaas and Vlastimil Konrády. The latter is a maintainer of the family tradition and both are teachers at Elemetary Art Schools. Some excellent singers from Chodsko are involved in the popularity of the KBB, as well as the well-known singers, Věra Rozsypalová and Václav Švík. Antonín Konrády has got successors not only in his daughter and son, but also in four grandchildren, who besides squeezing the goats, devote their talents to other musical instruments, too.
DOMAŽLICE BAGPIPE BAND
The origin of the band dates to 1994 when the Youth Bagpipe Band was founded. The bagpiper Josef Kuneš became arranger and artistic leader for the band. In 1998 Kamil Jindřich, Martina Johánková, and Josef Stočes joined the group and it was renamed the Domažlice Bagpipe Band. Long term efforts of the ensemble have been the interpretation of the original folk music from the Chodsko area. Getting on getting on pretty well in the present form, they have an impressive combination of meticulous musicality and original interpretation. This lends itself well to a performance on stage musical spontaneity. DBB released their first CD „Ha ty svatyj Vavřinečku“ (And You, Saint Lawrence) in 2001 – where may be heard the enthusiasm and spirit of which Chod music is filled.
THE YOUTH BAGPIPE BAND
The Youth Bagpipe Band has been performing since 1996. It is the successor to the children´s bagpipe groups that were active at the Music School in Domažlice for many years. The leader of this band is Vlastimil Konrády who teaches clarinet and bagpipes at the Music School in Domažlice. The band performs regularly at the Chod Festival in Domažlice, at other festivals of folk ensembles in the Czech Republic and Germany and at other events.
CHODSKO GROUP FROM MRÁKOV
The Chod ensemble Mrákov was founded in 1961 and since its beginning it has introduced the folk culture of Lower Chodsko to their audiences. Group members are dancers, singers, and musicians of all ages from Mrákov and its surroundings. The group organizes „Chodsko hyjta„ – a show of Chodsko folklore every year on the first Saturday after August 10th (the holiday of Saint Lawrence, the patron saint of the village). The ensemble has been led for years by one of its founding members, Josef Nejdl.
BAGPIPE ORCHESTRA FROM MRÁKOV
Since 1978 the group has had its own Mrákov Bagpipe Ensemble. The bandmaster Václav Kupilík from Spáňov played an important role in its genesis. A great contribution to its beginning was the close cooperation with the composer and folklorist, Vladimír Baier. The Bagpipe Band has typical instrumentation of E-flat and B-flat clarinets, bagpipe, violin, and double bass. After the premature death of the bandmaster Václav Kupilík, the instrumental and vocal components of the group are led by the exceptional bagpiper Dr. Vlastimil Dřímal.
CHILDREN’S FOLKLORE GROUP MRÁKOV – MRÁČEK
The children’s folklore ensemble Mráček was founded in 1989. In their program they present the folk dances and customs of Lower Chodsko whose authentic themes are borrowed from the locality or from the Jindřich Jindřich’s songbooks. Mráček is separated into parts consisting of older and younger children. The younger children are between 4 and 9 years old and the older from 10 to 17. The group has also its own bagpipe orchestra consisting of E-flat and B-flat clarinets, bagpipe, two violins, and double bass. Mráček ensemble occasionally performs at various local events, dance and sing at the Chodská hyjta in Mrákov and the Chodsko Folk Festival every year. The children from Mráček also take part in the competition called Folk Song in Rokycany.
ETHNOGRAPHIC GROUP POSTŘEKOV
EGP have had more than 70 years of existence behind them, thus the group coming from one of the most distinctive villages in Chodsko rank among the oldest important folklore ensembles in the Czech Republic. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the group manage well: they perform songs and dances from the Upper Chodsko at many festivals mostly in the Czech Republic and are successful in remakes of old show and sequences and preparing new songs.
POSTŘEKOV BAGPIPE ORCHESTRA „SEKÁČI„
The band has been an integral part of the Postřekov Folklore Ensemble from the very beginning. Their members have played in this established form since 2000 and they concentrate their efforts on renewing the initial configuration of musical instruments of malá selská muzika or „small rural band„ – so superbly voiced in folk polyphony.
CHILDREN’S ETHNOGRAPHIC ENSEMBLE POSTŘEKOV
CEEP passed to the Ethnographic Group Postřekov members‘ possession this spring.
The children spent a week in the traditional camp in Germany, they are going to the Bagpipe Festival in Strakonice in late August and to the MFF Dýšina in early September to perform in the staging of „The Chodsko Wedding„. There are 25 children in the 6–13 age range attending the ensemble.
MEN’S CHORUS HALTRAVAN
The men’s chorus Haltravan began in the 1980s thanks to an initiative of the renowned duet of Albert Švec and Oldřich Heindl. It is named after, Haltrava, the forest above Klenčí on the Bavarian boarder. Its repertoire is composed of songs from the collections of Jindřich Jindřich, Jindřich Šimon Baar, and Jeník z Bratřic. In addition to the customary bagpipe accompaniment they also use instruments and tools seldom used for their original purpose today. These are various kinds of „fanfrnoch„ (an old folk instrument classified as a friction drum), bells, plus tools of farmers, shoemakers, spinners. They also play on staffs used by youngsters to fight and later to lean on by the older generation.
THE 1ST BOHEMIAN HIGHLAND PIPERS
The 1st Bohemian Highland Pipers – historically the first Scotish bagpipe band in the countries of center and east Europe. 1st BHP have performed during their existence at several festivals and social events, appeared on the Czech Radio, TV, etc. The individual members have also gained international achievements just as the band.
BOHEMIAN BESEDA (PATRIOTIC SOCIETY) PREKOPAKRA – CROATIA
The dancers, singers, and musicians of the BBP from Croatia are members of TheAssociation of Compatriots which was founded in 1907 to keep the Czech language of the Czech minority. The members dance various Bohemian dances and play original tunes preserved from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the way their forefathers brought them from different partsof Bohemia.
LEDCE BAGPIPE BAND
The Ledce Bagpipe Band comes from the Pilsen region and is led by Libor Valečka. The band was formed in June 2000 from two other bagpipe ensembles. One group was the „Castle Bagpipers„ (founded in 1988) and the other the „Pilsen Folk Orchestra„. Both bands met with great success during their activity in Czech Republic and abroad (mostly performing in Germany). The activity of the ensemble has already been crowned by several achievements such as recordings done for Bavarian 2 Radio and German TV. Most of the repertoire of the Ledce Bagpipe Band are folk songs from Chodsko, but they also perform songs from other locales of our republic as well.
METELÁČEK
This group was founded in 1982. Mrs. Hana Metelková, a teacher at the School of Folk Arts no. 4 on Chválenická Street in Pilsen, oversaw the group’s onset and the group is named after her accordingly. Gradually the ensemble grew and attained an artistic quality. During its existence, tens of young musicians have already replaced former members. Today the group performs under the leadership of Edita Koukalová and Alexandra Pelcová and is among the best bands in the country. They mostly play arrangements by Zdeněk Bláha, Karel Koukolník, Jaroslav Krček, and others of southwestern Bohemian folk songs. The group has toured, for example in: Slovenia, Lithuania, Germany, Slovakia, and France.
JOSEF ČERNÍK BAGPIPE ENSEMBLE
The Josef Černík Bagpipe Ensemble originated alongside the dulcimer ensemble of Josef Černík in Zlín, which was established in 1985. It takes advantage of „Moravsko – Slovenské Kopanice„ and „Luhačovské Zálesí“ areas and uses mostly the manuscripts of Josef Černík, an important collector of folk songs in the formentioned region. The collections of Ludvík Pilát, father of band leader Petr Pilát, are another source of material. During its existence the dulcimer ensemble of Josef Černík, with their recordings of poor mountain cottagers’ songs, have enriched the voluminous archives of folk songs of Czech Radio and Television.
POŠUMAVSKÁ BAGPIPE ENSEMBLE
This ensemble introduced themselves for the first time at the 9th International Bagpipe Festival in Strakonice. They have performed at home and abroad since 1989. Besides performances in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Bavaria they have been guests in Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Switzerland. The home of the group, Strakonice, is the town where you can still find an active bagpipe tradition. The members of the ensemble come not only from Strakonice and its surroundings, but also from the Lower Bohemian Forest. That is why their repertoire is mostly composed of folk songs and dances from „Prácheňsko„, the Bohemian Forest and its foothills, and even from the parts where German was spoken.
THE DANCE GROUP RITENITIS
The dance group „Ritenitis„ was established in 1947 as the dance group of Riga’s region, Garkalne village culture house. Dancers’ generation and leaders have changed.
In 1963 the dance group took the name of Latvian ethnographic dance „Ritenitis„, which in literal translation means a small wheel, and in the dance this rolling has also been represented.
Trough all years students from different Riga universities as well as representatives from different occupations form the main group’s memberships. The average dancers’ age is 23 years.