A Vocal Afterlife Listening Post 355. If poetry is a lost art, Lenka Lichtenberg’s latest album is a welcome reminder that what is lost can also be found. In 2016, the Czech-Canadian Jewish singer-songwriter was in her native Prague, sorting through the belongings of...
Zither and Yon Listening Post 341. Like a grand journey to distant lands, Barbora Xu’s debut album Olin Ennen (I Was) explores affinities and contrasts: In her delicate-resonant voice, the Czech-born artist sings ancient Finnish and Chinese poems, for which she...
The Bearable Lightness of Butterflies Listening Post 321. Virtually all Western music comes from the same 12-note scale, so maybe it shouldn’t be remarkable that Tara Fuki— Dorota Barová and Andrea Konstankiewicz—accomplishes so much with two voices and two cellos....
Fish Gotta Swim, Birds Gotta Fly Listening Post 188. In the enchanting voices of the Czech quartet BraAgas, the sovereigns of sky and water serve as messengers, bearing wise counsel, ill tidings, memory and witness to lovers young and old. On O ptácích a rybách (About...
Flying in Formation Listening Post 104. They are local and global, gifted artists who sing and play traditional Moravian songs together but with individual experience in diverse worlds—violinist Šuranská in the classical and folk realms; mandolinist Martin Krajíček in...
The Power of Song Listening Post 64. In the 1980’s, before he had released a single record, Jaromír Nohavica was named one of the top 10 Czech artists in a national poll, but the Communist regime panned his lyrics and prevented him from performing at a festival. He...
Tempered Joy Listening Post 49. There’s mystery and tension between the title of Aneta Langerová’s fourth album Na Radosti (On Joy) and its brooding, nostalgic tone. Mixing a pop sensibility with folkloric tropes and narratives, Langerová—one of the leading Czech...
