DJ Krush is an old-school mix-master DJ from Japan with a singular and muscular sound—some call it abstract hip-hop, but it is overall a slow or dopey atmospheric and mostly instrumental lusciousness culled from rare-groove jazz, and other genres of American black music with a mellow groove. Krush’s real name is Hideaki Ishi (born 1962), and he has been a well-known record producer and DJ since the 1990s, in parallel with the era of trip-hop (Ninja Tune) and his peer, New York’s DJ Spooky. Some could say that this was the era of club DJs at the top of their game, artists handling vinyl like frenzied lab scientists, so for those who had the pleasure of seeing DJ Krush close-up in action back then, he was like a Master sushi-chef handling and flipping records with finesse and speed unlike any others. Unfortunately, now Krush is using computer like everyone else, so this visual treat is an artifact. On tracks with vocals, Krush collaborates mostly with the smoothest American rappers on the scene, from Mos Def, Guru, or DJ Shadow. Soundscapes with urban American poetics in deep and hazy beats is the main treat for Krush, but then he also includes...
Here, on 28th October 1918, the National Committee ceremonially declared Czechoslovakian independence with a manifesto for the nation. It was a day that shaped Czech history. The Municipal House is justifiably proud of its past and celebrates the National Holiday with an Open Day. This year, on the 104th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic, the Municipal House once again opens its prestigious premises to the general public. Prague residents and visitors to the Capital, therefore, have an opportunity to view the unique Art Nouveau interior of this National Cultural Monument. The tour of the building will take in all the exquisite halls on the 1st floor: Smetana Hall, Patisserie, Moravian Slovak Salon, Božena Němcová Salon, Oriental Salon, Grégr Hall, and Palacký Hall to Mayor’s Hall, the artistic decoration of which was the highly esteemed work of world-famous Alfons Mucha. Other artists who contributed to the decoration of the Municipal House include painters Mikoláš Aleš, Jan Preisler, Max Švabinský, František Ženíšek, sculptors Josef Václav Myslbek and Ladislav Šaloun. The exquisite interior of the Municipal House will be open to the public on 28th October from 9 am to 3 pm. Smetana Hall The hall attracts attention with the figured...
Prague’s very own slice of Edinburgh is back! From Monday 26th September to Saturday 1st October, audiences can enjoy six days of international, multi award-winning, theatre in English, presented by 28 theatre companies from all over the world. Five unique and atmospheric venues in Malá Strana will be full of high-quality theatre (and more than a smattering of comedy), with tickets cheap enough that you can see more than one show per evening. Some Prague Fringe favourites returning this year include multi award-winning writer and performer Henry Naylor, straight from a sell-out, highly acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe, with his new show ‘Afghanistan is Not Funny‘, a true-story based on his research trip to war-torn Afghanistan in 2002. El Diablo of the Cards who returns with his mind-bending card trickery! Families can enjoy Jon & Ollie (two thirds of The Latebloomers who took the fringe by storm with their show Scotland! in 2018) with their brand-new show ‘Strictly Come Barking‘. And Fringe favourite Pip Utton is back after his sell-out run at our 2021 Autumn Fringe (Playing Maggie and Churchill)with two more one-man shows ‘Hitchcock‘ and ‘Bacon‘. There is also stand-up comedy from Spain, Finland and England, music from Scotland,...
Clam-Gallas Palace in the Old Town of Prague ranks among the most prominent architectural monuments of Prague and the Czech Republic. One of the prime works of Prague Baroque architecture, it is a splendid example of historical housing and the lifestyle of the aristocrats. On Wednesday, 28 September, it will welcome guests for the first time after four years of reconstruction. The palace was a famous cultural center of Prague. It hosted musical concerts, including Mozart and Beethoven, theatre performances and painting exhibitions. Following World War II the palace housed the City of Prague Archive. The planned cost of the renovation project was around CZK 500,000 and it was due to be completed last year. The palace is situated on a large construction site comprised of a four-wing Baroque building around the central square courtyard. In the axis of Karlova Street, it is connected with the entrance tower-shaped avant-corps, the staircase tower near the north-eastern corner, and the eatern wing near the rear wings of houses that constitute the western front of Malé (Small) Square. The palace area further includes three smaller yards and a corner garden. The external and internal monumental look of the palace dates from the second...
Archaeologists digging near Prague have discovered the remains of a Stone Age structure that’s older than Stonehenge and even the Egyptian pyramids: an enigmatic complex known as a roundel. Nearly 7,000 years ago during the late Neolithic, or New Stone Age, a local farming community may have gathered in this circular building, although its true purpose is unknown. The excavated roundel is large — about 55 meters in diameter, or about as long as the Leaning Tower of Pisa is tall. And while “it is too early to say anything about the people building this roundel,” it’s clear that they were part of the Stroked Pottery culture, which flourished between 4900 B.C. and 4400 B.C., Jaroslav Řídký, a spokesperson for the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IAP) and an expert on the Czech Republic’s roundels, told Live Science in an email. Miroslav Kraus, director of the roundel excavation in the district of Vinoř on behalf of the IAP, said that revealing the structure could give them a clue about the use of the building. Researchers first learned about the Vinoř roundel’s existence in the 1980s, when construction workers were laying gas and water pipelines, but the...
There are many things the Czech Republic is very well known for, one of them being Czech Glass. To be more specific, Bohemian Crystal. The production of Bohemian Crystal, from the Bohemia and Silesia regions, is a rich centuries-old tradition that is still thriving today. If you have ever walked through Prague’s city center, you might have noticed the high volumes of glass on the shelves of souvenir shops. Maybe you’ve even bought a vase made of Czech glass. Well, what if we told you that there is an exciting story behind Czech glass. And no, they are not trying to be a competitor to IKEA. The Celtic roots of Bohemian crystal The story of that piece of glass you bought starts in the ancient times of the Roman Empire. During those times, the Celtic tribes of Markomania (what they called the Czechia back then) figured out how to utilize materials they found underground. Back then, the Celts made tiny beads from the glass they manufactured, which they shipped to markets across the Roman Empire. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Celts were pushed out by nomadic Slavs, who settled in what is modern-day Czechia. It looks pretty bad for your glass,...
The Lunchmeat Festival continues its tradition of a week-long program every Autumn bringing top-notch cutting-edge digital artists and musicians/producers/DJs in contemporary electronic music. This includes a symposium, performances in venues around Prague, and sometimes an element of shock. While Lunchmeat Festival places great emphasis on local and the most promising of rising acts in the genre, they assure a consistency of top artists from around the world and across multiple generations. A pioneer of underground electronica from the UK and at Lunchmeat for the first-time ever is Squarepusher. Squarepusher is Tom Jenkinson, an electric bass guitarist, electronic musician, producer, and a DJ. He was at the forefront of progressive electronic jazz and drum & bass since the 1990s releasing tracks on Ninja Tune and Warp Records. These days, he has become a multimedia-one-man-act with his furious attack on bass with a mobile arsenal of electronica for a full-bore performance. Another veteran this year includes the return of Lee Gamble, an artist, producer, label owner and a DJ. You can expect from a DJ mix of Lee Gamble’s anything from conceptual sound art, jazz, drill, dream pop and rave classics, since he has been at the forefront of progressive electronica...
For a year now, a unique project Some Like It Czech from Prague’s Aero cinema has been showing to expats and Erasmus students Czech culture through Czech movies. Thanks to the wonderful turnout that happened with each screening, the organizers decided to continue in their educational but entertaining mission. The screening series Some Like It Czech was founded by two students Anna Šenfeldová and Šárka Bekrová, with the aim of introducing Czech culture and history to foreigners living in the vicinity of Prague. “After our first year of screenings, we have found that conveying Czech culture through film is something that both we and audience members have enjoyed, as evidenced by the wonderful turnout that happens with each screening.” In the upcoming season, audience can look forward to popular hits like the Christmas classic “Cozy Dens,” and cult films by Oscar-winning directors Miloš Forman and Jan Svěrák. Before each screening, there is always a short introduction, which explains the various realities of the movie in an entertaining way without spoiling it. “It took us a while to find the right form of introduction, but I think we finally honed it to perfection,” says co-founder Anna. After all, the authors of the...
Archaeologists are investigating a puzzling 7,000-year-old circular structure discovered in Vinoř, an area on the outskirts of Prague. The purpose of the ancient Neolithic structures is still unclear, but scientists hope further studies will shed more light on why the monumental buildings were constructed and who and by whom they were used. Despite being older than the Egyptian pyramids or England’s Stonehenge, these intriguing ancient structures are still extremely well-preserved. Few people know about Central Europe’s ‘roundels’, but these Neolithic circular enclosures have secrets to reveal. “The so-called roundels are the oldest evidence of architecture in the whole of Europe. They are a series of circular ditches and they are always arranged in a circle with two, three, four or more entrances to the center, four being the most common. The circular ditches usually number between one and three, or very rarely four. The whole structure reaches an average of between 30 to 240 meters, but you most commonly find them in the range of 60 – 80 meters. Perhaps I should emphasize that these ditches are usually around one and a half meters wide, but we know of ditches up to fourteen meters wide and six meters deep,” said...
Oscar-nominated actor John Malkovich will present the world premiere of his latest show, The Infamous Ramirez Hoffman on November 11 at Prague’s Congress Centre. The Infamous Ramirez Hoffman is based on the work of Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. The title of the play is taken from the final chapter of Bolaño’s 1996 novel Nazi Literature in the Americas, which was expanded upon in the novella Distant Star. The book is a story about an artist who cares only about aesthetics rather than ethics. The Infamous Ramirez Hoffman will be staged in English, likely with Czech supertitles. Tickets for the performance are available for purchase on Ticketportal, and run from CZK 1490-2990. About John Malkovich John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor and producer best known for his performance in movies, such as ‘Places in the Heart’ and ‘In the Line of Fire’ for which he received ‘Academy Award’ nominations. He has enjoyed a long and productive career spanning four decades in Hollywood. Starting out as an actor, he eventually made it big as a producer too. A love for performing arts was something he was born with, though neither of his parents was from show business. He displayed a keen...
Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) selected Il Boemo as this year’s Czech Oscar candidate. Period drama, written and directed by Petr Václav, will represent the Czech Republic as the official submission for the 95th Academy Awards in the category Best International Feature Film. Set in the second half of the 18th century, Il Boemo tells an extraordinary story of Josef Mysliveček, son of a Prague’s miller, who leaves for Italy to fulfil his dream and establish himself as a composer in the very centre of European opera. Thanks to his talent but also to his charisma and luck, in a few years he manages to break through where many others have failed before him. From an unknown musician “from the north”, he becomes one of the biggest stars of the musical firmament at the time. Recognition and fame bring him satisfaction, give him access to the highest circles of society, and provide him with constant favour of women, including the most famous opera divas. Yet, despite his success, he is unable to provide for himself materially on a permanent basis. Petr Václav spent more than 10 years making his dream film, which will be introduced in world premiere at San Sebastian IFF in...
The desecration of Jewish cemeteries under the communist regime of the former Czechoslovakia has been given official recognition with a new memorial fashioned from headstones that were carved up and used for paving stones in Prague. The Return of the Stones monument, consisting of 7 tonnes of broken tombstones, was unveiled on Wednesday in Prague’s old Jewish cemetery, which itself was partly desecrated to make a public park before becoming the site of the city’s soaring television tower. In the shadow of the 709ft (216-metre) tower, Karol Sidon, the Czech Republic’s chief rabbi, recited a Hebrew blessing for the new structure, which was commissioned by the local Jewish community after the cobblestones were dug up in Prague’s Wenceslas Square in May 2020 at the start of an extensive facelift. The paving stones are thought to have been made from headstones taken from Jewish cemeteries in the northern Bohemia region during the communist period, which ended in 1989 when the Velvet Revolution ushered in a new era of democratic rule. They were laid in Wenceslas Square in a pedestrianisation project carried out in preparation for a visit by the then Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to Prague in 1987. Prague city council...
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