Great music and tears on the edge. Lucerna Music Bar paid tribute to Radi Hladík
The fact that Radim Hladík was one of the most shining names in Czech guitar art probably doesn’t need to be debated for long. It’s been six years since he died, and after two postponements, a Tribute to Radi Hladík concert was organized on Tuesday. It was held at Lucerna Music Bar and it was definitely not just a party for the elderly and advanced.
Live: Tribute to Radim Hladík: A New Synthesis
place:
Lucerna Music Bar, Prague
date: December 6, 2022
set list: Indolence, It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Czech version), Get Down From The Tree, Rainy Day, Sun Is So Bright, Still On, Losses and Raids, Awakening, Gotta Put On Shoes and Then Go Long, Southeast Direction, Ej falls, the dew falls, My Game, Ticks, Paradises, New Synthesis 2, Sunny Grave, Teahouse
Photogallery
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
So – although at first it looked like the evening would have well-deserved witnesses who flocked to the entrance of Lucerna Music Bar even before it opened, inside she dominated youth. Those in their thirties and forties led the way. This is a very positive finding. The event was not only a tribute to an excellent and irreplaceable guitarist and a nostalgic memory of him, but also a confirmation that Hladík’s music has timeless qualities that appeal to the age of the audience. The concert in honor of Radim Hladík was postponed more than once due to covid. In the end, it turned out, including the christening, more precisely the commemoration (because why the hell was nothing really christened) of the double album, which combined the two “New Syntheses”. And these then-groundbreaking recordings from 1971 and 1974, which combined a rock band and a jazz big band, were played heavily on Tuesday.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The program itself was conceived simply: guests changed around the unchanging core, the rhythms of the renewed Blue Effect of Václav Zima and Vojtěch Říha and guitarists Adam Krofian (The Atavists) and Roman Helcl (November 2). The first was Viktor Sodoma, who made the three-song block focused on the band Matadors special with the Czech lyrics to the Dylan song “It’s All Over Now (Baby Blue)”, written by Michal Žantovský in the seventies. They were replaced by Yannick Tevi from Vanua 2, whom in songs from Mišíkovský the period was helped by Michal Pavlíček, the last surviving member of the imaginary Czech guitar triumvirate. And it was a strange paradox when he took over Hladík’s parties, a guitarist of a somewhat different nature. However much he kept within the confines of the original versions, he did not deny his own style. The bridge from big beat to progressive rock was “Stále dál”, originally from the Flamengo repertoire. This was shared by two vocalists Pavel Bohatý and Tomáš Fröde, and it was one of the highlights of the evening. That guitar riff and screaming chorus are extremely powerful live. Through the instrumental “Zráty a nadludy” and the fragile “Awakening”, the text for which was written by Michal Hrůza and sung by Iva Marešová, the program unobtrusively rolled into the second half.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
It was already dominated by the Chrudim big band Kyx Orchestra and the repertoire from both “Syntéz”. Extensive compositions – including the fantastic half-hour monument “New Synthesis 2” – were once again sounded in full glory. Compositions originally outside of “Syntézy” also received an orchestral arrangement. And while “Rajky” worked great, “Rosenka”, perhaps due to the clash of three opposing currents (rock, folklore and new jazz), lost part of its charm. But that’s just a small thing. Kyx Orchestra played like they were alive and did a great job with rhythmically tangled songs. None of the musicians crammed into the small, semi-circular stage played on mehe did not try to draw attention to his performance, but humbly served the admirably balanced ensemble, which presented the entire breadth of Hladík’s work.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The conclusion was provided by mandatory notches. The “Sunny Grave” was the expected place to pull out the phones, there was no such opportunity at the encore “Tea Room”. A tear glistened in more than one eye. For the first time during the evening, the projection screen was used behind the musicians, and the original tones of Hladík’s black Les Paul sounded from the loudspeakers, backed by a live band. A simple trick in its essence, but extremely impressive. As if the legendary musician was really still present here. And also that he is – if not as a living being, then he is firmly imprinted in his music. And his legacy, even thanks to such respectful tributes as the one held on Tuesday in Prague’s Lucerna Music Bar, remains here.