Flashback Friday: "Stín Katedrál".

Today I am sharing with you a compilation of the Czech music scene. It is very different, and quiet possibly of very limited interest, as few (if any) of you can understand the words nor know the artist or the song.
Still, perhaps some of you can find the beauty in the haunting harmonies appealing.

I feel very much removed from the modern Czech music, as I have not grown up there and my teens were spend in the west. Thus my knowledge of the Czech or Slovak artists is very limited. All I recall are the performers of my parents generation, such as Karel Gott, whose music equals my childhood.

During the late 90' while living in North Carolina, I realized that multitude of radio stations, even European, were transmitting live online. Thus I found a popular Czech station and used to listen to it every day in the lab on my computer. In that period, I knew all the Czech hits. This was when I made a brief acquaintance with Peter Muk. Much later, when I visited Prague with my parents in the beginning of this decade, his songs were often played on the radio while we drove through the Czech country side. I became completely infatuated with his style. His compilations hold the very essence of what I look for in music. His lyrics are incredibly poetic and his sound has that airy, escapist feel to it that the romantic in me enjoys to dream myself away to.

My favorite compilation of his was not available for sharing, unfortunately, therefore I decided to share the one below. I am not completely sure, but I assume this is a live performance in 2007 or 2008 of his big hit from 1996, entitled "Stín Katedrál" , which translates something like "The Shadow of The Cathedrals". It comes across as a tribute to Karel Svoboda, who composed this song in the 70's, I believe.

Svoboda was a very talented composer of a multitude of absolutely magnificent compilations, throughout almost four decades. He wrote hit after hit for numerous Czech performers (including Karel Gott). It is quiet curios for me today to ponder the fact, that he originally studied in the medical field and was a close friend of my father, while they both attended the Charles University in Prague in the 60's.

Unfortunately and very sadly, Karel Svoboda died way before his time in the most tragic way - by taking his own life in 2007.

I hope you will enjoy this rare and absolutely stunning performance in a breathtaking setting, of one of the most hauntingly beautiful compilations I know...