Müller & Koller: Kryl

A festival tribute to the guitar-wielding bard and the conscience of the Czech nation, Karel Kryl, whose influence in this double anniversary year is more pertinent than ever.

Rudolfinum will be the setting as Prague Sounds pays its respects to Karel Kryl, the uncompromising critic and tender poet of his native Czechoslovakia. David Koller and Richard Müller, two icons of Czech and Slovak music, will come together on stage to pay intimate tribute to Kryl in this cathedral of Czech culture.

We'll hear twenty of Kryl's songs in acoustic versions and chamber arrangements, all specially prepared for this unique concert. Koller and Müller have chosen songs taking in all of Kryl's major creative periods: from his early days (Strejček strach a teta obava), through his iconic 1960s songs (Bratříčku zavírej vrátka, Salome, Veličenstvo kat, Anděl, Pieta), songs written in exile (Karavana mraků, Děkuji), to songs from the period of the Velvet Revolution in 1989 to Kryl's death in 1994 (Ukolébavka, Od Čadce k Dunaju, Babylon, Monology).

This unique tribute takes place during the Year of Czech Music, celebrated traditionally in years ending in 4, since so many important Czech artists (from Dvořák to Smetana, Martinů to Janáček) were either born or died in years ending in this number. Karel Kryl richly deserves his place among these big names – though far from only because of the dates of his birth and death (1944–1994).

At at time when an increasing number of people are recognising Kryl's enormous influence, and a time of war and unrest in our European backyard, the prophetic message in the songs of the bard with the guitar are sure to take on renewed power on stage at Rudolfinum.4

This concert will be recorded by Czech Television.