The music group Vltava was founded in 1986. One of the most distinctive Czech bands has been a fixture of the Czech club and festival scene ever since. Its varied compositions full of images and musical lightness reliably reach listeners of all generations. The band is headed by actor, singer, guitarist, lyricist and composer Robert Nebřenský.

Parisian saxophonist Quentin Rollet is active on the local improvisational scene and as a publisher of a number of albums by European experimental artists. The fifteenth World of Other Music will give a taste of the output of his two labels – reQords and Bisou – as well as several guest appearances.

A trio of prominent personalities of the Czech music scene have joined together in a new artistic project based on playfulness, joy and tenderness. The essential essence is improvisation and imaginative, poetic lyrics interspersed with meditative soundscapes. A talk about the humour of mathematicians, world records, hairstyles for retirement, DIY musical instruments and the Lusatian Mountains. The show is connected with the recordings of the songs Topůrko and Improvizace, which the band played in the premiere on the stage of Ponava in June of the summer of 2024. Číro na důchod band are Jana Vébrová (vocal, janatron), Vladimír Václavek (guitar, vocal) and Petr Tichý (double bass, vocal).

Ultrafon is instrumental psychedelia with a lot of room for improvisation, mixing analogue electronics, rock, dub, jazz and contemporary influences. The band originates from Schwarzwald in Germany, where they also live, but the person of the bandleader Volkmar Miedtke has been firmly connected to the Czech alternative scene for years. Volkmar performed as a guest with the band Dunaj and was also a member of the band Klar together with Vladimír Václavek. Miedtke's studio has produced a number of albums of the Czech alternative scene. For example, Volkmar mixed all of Dunaj's albums (from Dunaj IV onwards), but also Rale, E, Deep Sweden, Švehlík or Ylo africký slon.

The concept from Bastl Instruments gives a space for aspiring and intermediate electronic producers to play their live works in front of an audience. For the performers, this is often the first experience of a similar format, and for the audience it is an opportunity to hear new artists before they become famous. Dozens of Bastl Jams have taken place since the concept was first conceived in 2014, some of which can be viewed on the Bastl Instruments YouTube channel. During Saturday's Ponavafest at Yurta Stage, lil john & soya boy, safra porte, Kimbo, Frantisek Hruska, Doctor of the Mountains and wrong dir<ction played. Samples of improvisations will be accompanied by the words of the duo James Aitken and Natálie Chatrná and Václav Mach.

Oldřich Janota is an inconspicuous titan, a figure whose voice, guitar, lyrics and melodies never quite fit into the folk category. A singer-songwriter who has made a significant impact on the direction of Czech experimental rock, marrying minimalism with so-called world music on the floor of teahouses... An improviser, and now an author of an opera. Perhaps justifiably, he earned the title The Man Who Walks Through the Wall at the Yellow Submarine Awards, but he himself responds to the metaphor with a dry "that's what the door is for." (text by Petr Ferenc, sound by Václav Menšík)

In the next episode of the show Šumařův průvodce po hudební galaxii, we will remind you that Radio Ponava is a partner of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, which is why we give space to student work, among other things. The first reportage was recorded by Bohdan Chrastil, a first-year student of Audiovisual Production and Theater. Bohdan was fascinated by the musical and artistic style of Vaporwave, which was created around 2010. What are the other specifics of this genre, and how it sounds - you will find out in his reportage. In the second reportage, we will touch on a slightly different genre. Martin Mikuš, Martin Kapek and Karel Ferda, members of the band called Merry Go Round, want to return melancholy and sensitivity to the floor. Their ambient synths definitely help with this and follow up on the electronic wave of the past decade. And what does Merry Go Round think about modern music? You will find out in a reportage recorded for you by Tereza Ondryášová, a first-year student of Audiovisual Production and Theater.

One of the legends of Brno's club scene, who was etched in the city's memory until the end of 2014. The memories left in an alcoholic haze, as Robert Břeň, the operator at the time, put it, are slowly dissolving even in time. Before they disappear for good, we will turn back to one stage of Brno's concert scene with Pavel Pilch, who was part of a group that organised parties in Boro under the name Keftes party, and in the second part of the programme, the Přidal couple representing the former Astral bubble booking agency will speak. Their words are interspersed with examples of bands and musicians whose music was played in the club and some of the few recordings made on the premises. The intricate corridors of Boro were a meeting place bringing the Brno community together with invited musicians from local and international projects. Visitors and organizers dispersed after closing time and mingled into the network of Brno's gradually growing club scene. New people and new venues arrived and took up the baton of maintaining the music culture here. The never-ending harmony constantly rings out in the streets of the city and does not leave the membrane proclaiming the gospel of sound in peace. Many recall Boro with heightened feelings, but the cycle of events goes on. Author: Jana Meluzínová Acknowledgements: Pavel Pilch, Bára and Tomáš Přidal for the interview, Ladislav Mirvald for his assistance and Fido for providing recordings made in Boro for the Ears&Wind records label. Music: Eric Chenaux – Sliabh Aughty, Dimished Man – Cooper’s Descent, Repetitor – Šteta, announcements by Stevie Brufen and Vas Szuszane, a concert by Záviš accompanied by Josef Kříž, Česnekový hlavy – Česnek pro let, and Stevie Brufen – Old Good new stalingrad.

Raviv Ganchrow studied architecture at The Cooper Union in New York and sonic arts at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague. Through installations, texts and the development of transducers, he explores the patterns and connections of sound, place and hearing. His installations explore aspects of auditory attention in contexts such as environmental infrasound or anechoic chambers, the materiality of radio transmission. In his recent installations he proposes site-specific circuits with human-geo-electrical connections. He publishes texts, teaches and lectures on the auditory context and the effects of sound. He is currently on the faculty of the Institute of Sonology at The Hague University of the Arts. → www.ravivganchrow.com

Jana Winderen is a Norwegian sound artist. She studied mathematics, chemistry and fish ecology. Her work focuses on the sound environment and vocal expressions of creatures that are physically and acoustically difficult for humans to reach - they live deep underwater, in ice or their voices are in frequency bands inaudible to the human ear. Her activities include site-specific and spatial sound installations and concerts presented in major institutions or public spaces. In 2011, she was awarded the Golden Nica Award for Digital Music and Sound Art at the Ars Electronica Festival. She publishes her audiovisual works with the UK publishing house Touch. → www.janawinderen.com

A portrait of the cultural cooperative Kafara and their main actors Martin Smělík and Tomáš Poprik, and especially of the area in the old rectory in Obřany where Kafara flourishes. A place that has its own history and a very specific touch. A place to sit in winter and summer, a café with outdoor seating, a children's playroom, a multifunctional hall with lots of music and a cultural keypoint not only in Obřany. Music: Černý Tesák, Vítrholc, Havelka & The Havels

Composer and harmonium and piano player Christian Wallumrød, who is one of the most respected musicians on the Norwegian jazz scene, is interviewed by composer and musician Ian Mikyska on the occasion of the CWE concert at Faun Festival 2023

Swiss composer, conductor and improviser Roland Dahinden collaborated with such personalities as Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Anthony Braxton. Compositions were written for him by Peter Ablinger, John Cage, Bernhard Lang, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros or Christian Wolff. On October 5, 2021, Dahinden presented himself at Ponava Café as a trombonist, composing in real time together with experienced Brno improvisers Peter Graham (piano) and Radim Hanousek (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone). Photo (c) Mila Vašíčková

One of the most interesting figures in the current British post-club scene. His debut album Ataxia (2019, Planet Mu), which caused quite a stir on the experimental electronica scene, contains familiar beats typical of breakcore, UK garage or footwork, but in such a warped and condensed form that it hardly bears comparison with anything else. Super-fast percussive sequences that rain down on the listener like machine gun fire at 180 bpm, unpredictably disintegrate into a frenetic cacophony of sounds, only to reassemble into strangely rhythmic units. Given his inherent compositional techniques, it is not surprising that Rian Treanor is very close to the Ugandan music collective and eponymous label Nyege Nyege Tapes and the East African style of singeli – extremely fast electronic music with tempos of up to 300 bpm, which originated in the streets and slums of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the noughties. The collaboration with the Ugandan label resulted in Treanor's second studio album File Under UK Metaplasm (2020, Planet Mu) and this year's new release Saccades (2023, Nyege Nyege Tapes), which the British musician recorded during an artist residency in Kampala with Ocen James – a Ugandan player of the traditional single-stringed rigi rigi violin. At the FAUN festival, Rian Treanor presented a music-dance-vocal performance that was partly created during his residency at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno.

The trio of Slovenian self-taught musicians Iztok Koren, Ana Kravanja and Samo Kutin describe their own musical style as imaginary folk – music that draws on folk traditions but is not geographically anchored (although many foreign publicists mistakenly associate it with Slovenian folk music). But to categorize the music of Širom as folk is too simplistic. In the wide palette of sounds of the Slovenian trio, as well as folk music influences, there are also traces of psychedelic rock, musical improvisation, drones, and even acoustic trance. This genre-lessness comes from the musical history of the members of Shirom – while Kravanja and Kutin played kalimba in the chamber duo Najoua, Koren was for many years a member of post-rock and industrial-noise bands. If we were to characterize the music of Shirom in some way, adjectives like hypnotic, exotic or obscure come to mind. Shirom work with a set of prepped and homemade acoustic instruments, often made from found objects. However, incorporating self-made instruments is not a concept in itself, but a natural process of finding the optimal sound to capture a particular situation. At the festival, Shirom played music from their fourth album, The Liquified Throne of Simplicity (2022, tak:till), which was enthusiastically received by the international music community, and which the prestigious and influential music site Quietus ranked among the top ten recordings of 2022.

A radical artist whose compositional and interpretative range includes chamber, electronic, contemporary, noise, silent, heavy metal, ambient, rock, pop, microtonality. He has collaborated with the Berlin Philharmonic as well as with artists such as La Monte Young, Phill Niblock, Merzbow, Christian Marclay. With Lou Reed and Sarth Calhoun he formed the legendary experimental rock project Metal Machine Trio. At the FAUN festival, saxophonist Krieger presented his project RAW. It is based on an original style of saxophone playing that Krieger calls "acoustic electronics". He uses the instrument as an analog sampler, further processing, amplifying and changing the identity of the acoustic sounds of the saxophone. Krieger is a professor of composition at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Interview conducted by musician and composer Mikuláš Mrva with Mohammad Reza Mortazavi and artist manager and musician Jonas Petry on the occasion of the first edition of Faun Festival 2023. The interview was conducted in English and German. Many thanks to Jonas for the simultaneous translation and everything. Iranian-born musician Mohammad Reza Mortazavi has dedicated his musical practice to playing the tombak and daf drums. His playing of these Iranian percussion instruments, however, goes far beyond traditional concepts and is devoid of any folkloric narrative. On the contrary, Mortazavi seeks new playing techniques that take the sonic range of these instruments to another level. In his performances he enters a kind of trance state that, as he says, blurs the boundaries between body and mind. Currently based in Berlin, the artist has performed at many major music festivals - Germany's Atonal, Holland's Rewire and Sweden's Intonal - and has demonstrated his virtuosity to audiences in prestigious music halls including the Sydney Opera House and the Berlin Philharmonic. His album Ritme Jaavdanegi (2019, Latency) was named one of the best experimental recordings of the year by Pitchfork.