At the world music Respect festival, which will take place on the weekend of June 17 and 18 on Prague’s Rohanské ostrov, the African continent will traditionally be strongly represented. The main stars include the Nigerian guitarist and singer Adédèjì, representative of the Afrobeat genre combining African influences with American funk.
The song Shyphiliezation by the group of Nigerian singer and guitarist Adédèjì, who will be among the stars of this year’s Respect. | Video: One World Records
The half-century-old Afrobeat, which was born by the now-deceased drummer Tony Allen and saxophonist Fela Kuti, lends Suddenly a new spark. Music magazine Songlines names him as potentially the best artist of this year and his album Yoruba Odyssey last year is one of the seminal African records of recent times, according to the organizers.
The first day of Respect, always held in the open air, will be opened by a one-string player called the ektaru Rina Das Baul with a group Rangamatir Baul. He belongs to the Bauls, a group of mystical bards primarily from the Bengali-speaking parts of the Indian subcontinent.
Rina Das Baul plays a single-stringed instrument called the ektaru. | Photo: Jacob Crawford
“Bauls, colorfully dressed with a predominant yellow saffron color, accompany themselves on simple instruments, sing in the markets, in the train, wherever there are listeners,” they describe organizers. Rina Das Baul and her bandmates performed at the world famous ethnic music festival Womex the year before last.
The second performer on Saturday will be a Bosnian representative of the sevdah style, compared to the American blues Damir Imamovićwho is accompanied by the American bassist Greg Cohen, known for his collaboration with Tom Waits, and the Turkish violin virtuoso Derya Turkan, who, for a change, is a collaborator of the authority in the world of classical music Jordi Savalla.
This will be followed by a group performance Al Bilali Sudan from Mali playing native African instruments. “Her music has a similar power to today’s desert blues with guitars, but offers a hidden layer: subtle melodic ornaments that will take you to the realm of dreams and African genies,” promise the organizers. The first day’s program will end with authentic Roma music with violins and dulcimer performed by the band Corina Sîrghi and Taraful Jean Americanu from Romania, also selected last year by an expert jury for the Womex festival.
A picture from the performance of the Somali Dur-Dur Band in 2019. | Photo: Rob Jones
The second day of Respect will be kicked off by cosmopolitan Somali funk Hard-Hard Banduwhose members fled the world after the outbreak of the civil war in 1991 and reunited only in 2019. The trio of Dutch singers and actresses will perform as the second Meral Polatwhich has Kurdish roots and combines them with the influences of Greek, Turkish or Persian music.
One of the highlights of the festival could be a concert by a quartet of a fifty-four-year-old Brazilian drummer and producer Guilherma Kastrupa. The Ethiopian project will be presented as the last one Box, backed by violinist Théo Ceccaldi with a background in jazz and classical music and singer Hewan Gebrewold. They founded a joint large group in 2019, they presented themselves to Czech audiences last fall at the Akropolis Palace.
The family character of the Respect festival will be emphasized by the children’s program. There will be food from around the world and non-profit organization stands. The show is organized by the Rachot agency.
The event, which was held in the past on Strelecky Island, in Ladronka Park or in Holešovice, has already introduced Czechs, for example, to Taraf de Haidouks, Guinean singer and choir player Mory Kanté, Malian Tartit or Pakistani native Faiz Ali Faiz, and Indian musician Debashish Bhattacharya.
Aktuálně.cz wrote about the festival bringing foreign music to the Czech capital for over twenty years and bringing distant cultures closer to Czechs, with which they might otherwise not have come into contact. Last year’s main star was the Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, who, among other things, discourages Africans from migrating with her songs. She encourages them to be proud of their homeland and, as a well-travelled woman, explains that the grass is not greener elsewhere. “Africa is not poor,” she also sang in Prague.
Video: Kastrup Quartet performance
Percussionist and drummer Guilherme Kastrup from Brazil will present himself in Prague with his Kastrup Quartet. Record from May 2022. | Video: Lyra das Artes