Music is an integral part of the Czech psyche. It is common to see students with an instrument case hanging on their backs. I would venture that every third person you meet has some musical ability. So... let the spring weather break and immediately temporary outside stages pop up everywhere (including the one in Old Town Square in Prague they were putting up today!!).
Tvrz
We were approached by Jiřina who had two extra tickets provided by the Letohrad mayor to a very special venue just outside town at Tvrz Orlicí. We drove out with Radek and Jiřina late in the afternoon to a very nice hotel complex with a permanent stage attached to the side of the building. This was the opening night of a series of concerts and there were loads of dignitaries there. The first half hour was acknowledgements and awards with flowers and other mementos. Then a full orchestra from Hradec Králové entered the stage, began tuning and was soon followed by the director and the featured performer, a violin player; as you can see from the flyer. The concert, entitled 'My Film Loves' ventured away from full classical to a more 'energized' presentation of film themes. Also note the flyer for some of the selections from Lord of the Rings to Fiddler on the Roof. It as a delightful treat.... not that the classical genre wasn't acceptable, but the variation was quite refreshing.
Ústí nad Orlicí
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| The ancient and the modern... |
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| It's a big crowd...as usual. |
OK... it's early in the evening and the cell rings.... it's Aleš. 'Hey, we are going to pop over to Usti and catch a concert... you two wanna go?' (very liberal paraphrasing!!!) Yea...sure...just let me turn off the computer, shelve the program I was working on, find my shoes and ...yea...sure. It's only a bit and the car pulls up and we are off. What concert you say... well, I don't know... remember you can find something like this all over country this time of year. And what does it matter? We arrive in town, search for a parking place... there are SEVERAL cars jammed every square inch near the square; as are the people from those cars jamming the actual square. The square proudly exhibits the expected bubonic plaque memorial from the late 14th century and just across from it the also expected temporary stage -- actually a very impressively engineered structure. We all wade into the crowd...not a chance to get up front since we just arrived prior to the concert... but soon are toe-tapping and bobbing along with the partisan crowd who knows the band and the song lyrics by heart from the radio. Ah... summer in CZ.
JamRock 2017
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| Park Stage |
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| Part of Tent City... |
And now the granddaddy of music festivals in
this part of the country... the annual JamRock. Beginning Thursday and ending on Sunday, it is situated in a large field just outside Žamberk. We had multi-day passes provided by Katka (by the way, we have not reimbursed her since she has been in Norway -- note to self -pay Katka!) JamRock is composed of three stages in the same area, the small Rock Stage, and the main stage or Jam Stage and finally the secondary large one, the Park Stage. Bands are scheduled over the four days to follow each other in rapid succession as they rotate through the stages... there were a couple times bands were in two of the stages but they did not interfere. And there are LOTS of people there along with food, drink and nick-nack vendors by the score. This goes on until after midnight and then a DJ takes over until the early morning hours. Who, you ask, would hang around for this insanity? Well, just adjacent to the field with the stages is a large field with
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| Jam Stage |
plenty porta-potties, a beer vendor and a carpet of tents each housing two to four people. I saw a couple small RVs but the vast majority were in camping tents. So, you simply hang out for your favorite band, go back and grab a wink or two and return for the next round of music. Of course, there are those of us who did not venture the camping style and showed up for the day events. But, ignoring the good intentions, we made most of the Friday concerts but previously scheduled events pulled us away for the remainder of the weekend. But no matter, the day we were there the spectacle was worth it.
We were approached by Jiřina who had two extra tickets provided by the Letohrad mayor to a very special venue just outside town at Tvrz Orlicí. We drove out with Radek and Jiřina late in the afternoon to a very nice hotel complex with a permanent stage attached to the side of the building. This was the opening night of a series of concerts and there were loads of dignitaries there. The first half hour was acknowledgements and awards with flowers and other mementos. Then a full orchestra from Hradec Králové entered the stage, began tuning and was soon followed by the director and the featured performer, a violin player; as you can see from the flyer. The concert, entitled 'My Film Loves' ventured away from full classical to a more 'energized' presentation of film themes. Also note the flyer for some of the selections from Lord of the Rings to Fiddler on the Roof. It as a delightful treat.... not that the classical genre wasn't acceptable, but the variation was quite refreshing.
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