Music from the Heart

Do you believe in magic? Not the supernatural one but the one when there's no need to say anything, when you just feel the love and connection. Thursday February 2^nd marked the 1^st anniversary of the death of Fergus O'Farrell of Interference, singer with a golden voice and inspiring human being. Glen Hansard gathered friends and collaborators to celebrate the man. The first gig took place on February 2^nd at Cork Opera House and the second one was in Vicar street in Dublin on February 5^th. You could certainly feel the magic there.

15 years ago Ireland lost one of greatest songwriters of his generation. Mic Christopher died tragically on November 29^th 2001, aged just 32. To mark the anniversary, Glen Hansard gathered friends on Tuesday in Vicar street to celebrate music and life of the charismatic musician who had a huge impact on so many people.

Brno Gospel days, organized by Brno Gospel Choir (which is lead by Zuzana Petlanova), became a tradition in this time of the year. As a part of this event there's always a concert in the Church of Holy Family where everyone can come and sing. You don’t have to be a believer, love for gospel music and will to sing is enough. Another part of Brno Gospel days is a weekend workshop lead by experienced lecturers. This is year was no exception and the workshop was lead by an experienced choirleader from Denmark, Rune Herholdt who came to Brno for the third time. Back home he leads a big gospel choir and is also a member of a swing quartet Gospel Brothers. His liveliness gets everyone who sees him live, he gives himself to people while being on stage and you feel he just can't be without the contact with people. He´s so charismatic, throws smiles around and once you see him singing you won't get it out of your head.

Everyone should be proud of their roots but every nation sees it differently. Irish people are very proud of their roots and it can be seen this year more than ever as the Irish republic celebrates 100 years of independence. There are many events concerning this anniversary and one of the highlights, broadcasted live on Saturday April 2^nd on RTE Radio One, was special event at National Concert Hall in Dublin called "Imagining home: This is Ireland"put together by Glen Hansard. It has been sold out for long time and the combination of great musicians and contemporary Irish authors promised an unforgettable experience.

Irish singer/songwriter Niall Connolly is well known among Czech audience. And people love him. So no wonder that when he came to play in Olomouc on Tuesday, February 16th so many people gathered in Kulturní centrum ArtUm that the organizers were forced to move the event to a bigger space than planned.

Despite a typical autumn weather and knowing the name of the venue evokes this time of the year too ( English version of the name would be chestnut), I knew this gig is going to be great, no matter how many people arrive. The venue isn't situated in the city centre, it's quite small but with a friendly atmosphere appreciated by the musicians as well.

This was my first visit to a newly opened music venue in Brno called Sono centrum. I didn't expect anything special from this place, it's just another big concert hall where you're constantly watched by security and feel like a bird in a cage. But that was wrong. The truth is the venue is quite big but the whole impression isn't as awful as you'd expect. And despite the size of the place you still feel in contact with the artists.

It's Saturday evening so why should you stay at home? Let's go out, have a wonderful view of Prague and a great music. And we don't mind the cold outside when the sun goes down. Let's have something hot to drink and everything will be allright. I don't know how many of you know Travis O'Neill and His Cardinal Sins. Travis is an Irishman from Sligo who's based in Prague now but his music doesn't have anything to do with an Irish music as we know it. It's something between singer/songwriter and country music.