Composer and singer Michael Kocáb will celebrate his 70th birthday at Prague’s Metronome festival, which will take place from June 20 to 22, 2024. The founder of the rock group Prague’s Selection, who also left a strong mark in politics, describes the planned concert as a “crazy ride”, which will not happen again.
“What if the music of Prague Castle started it all? After all, my fanfares for the midday changing of the guard have been playing for 35 years,” he recalls Kocáb a tradition from the time when Václav Havel became president. “Then I would start with classical piano, then some chamber and big band jazz, touch on chanson and pop and continue with crazy strings, symphonic opera, the Aftershocks project and finally, of course, the Prague selection solo with orchestral accompaniment. It will be challenging, and if it doesn’t hit me, then never again,” thinks the musician, who will formally celebrate his 70th birthday only on July 28, i.e. roughly a month after the festival.
“To be sure, I’ll also take the coffin, which I still have hidden from one of the comebacks of the Prague selection. You never know,” points out Kocáb.
Festival director David Gaydečka considers the upcoming performance an event. “When Michael Kocáb arrived at the Jamiroquai concert this year, we agreed that he would also prepare something for Metronome. In the end, it turned out to be a round birthday celebration,” he explains how the collaboration was born. The funk band Jamiroquai was one of the stars of this year’s edition, and even President Petr Pavel heard their performance at the Metronome.
For example, the British electronic music band Kosheen will perform at the next edition. This year they celebrate a quarter of a century, with a birthday show called 25 years of Kosheen, they will also visit Prague after the British and Australian tour. Kosheen goes to the Czech Republic regularly, since the beginning of the millennium they have performed almost four dozen concerts here.
The duo Milky Chance, which has 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify, also awaits listeners. The concert at the Metronome will be their fifth in the Czech Republic, the last time they presented themselves to the people of Prague was last year at the Karlín Forum. Other performers will be introduced by the organizers.
Kocáb, born in Prague, became famous as the leader of the band Prague Selection. In the early 1990s, as a federal deputy, he went down in history as the man who organized the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Czechoslovakia. It was symbolically rounded off by a big tour by the band Prague Selection and a concert in Prague’s Sports Hall.
A recognized author of scenic and film music, Kocáb was close to politics even later. He belonged to the circle of associates of President Václav Havel, from 2009 to 2010 he served as Minister for Human Rights in the governments of Mirek Topolánek from the ODS and Jan Fischer.
Video: Without Gorbachev, the USSR would not have collapsed, says Kocáb
Although Gorbachev did a great deed for the world, it meant total collapse for the Soviet Union, Michael Kocáb recalled last year on DVtv. | Video: Daniela Písařovicová
2023-12-11 20:55:46
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