British Punk Legends The Vibrators Celebrate Their Fortieth Birthday at Fléda

17 January 2017, 3:00
British Punk Legends The Vibrators Celebrate Their Fortieth Birthday at Fléda

Brno’s Fléda club will resound to 70s punk. The concert of Britain’s The Vibrators will be opened by the Slovak power pop group Princovia, and the evening will be wound up by DJ Wrong.

The Vibrators are returning to Fléda after their successful concert in 2015. During their forty-year career the group has recorded 21 albums. The last of these, On The Guest List, came out ion 2013. The Vibrators were present at the birth of British punk. In September 1976 together with the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash, the Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Stranglers and The Damned the group took part in the first punk festival in history. It took place in London’s famous 100 Club and definitively started a new era in popular music. The first singles by The Vibrators, We Vibrate and Pogo Dancing also caught the interest of the legendary DJ John Peel. In 1977 they played support for Iggy Pop on this British tour. Their debut album Pure Mania was placed by The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Popular Music among the 50 best punk records of all time.

Groups such as the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash or The Vibrators also strongly influenced Czechoslovak unofficial music of the eighties. “Punk reached us mainly thanks to Radio Luxembourg and records which people got on the black market or someone brought from the West. The minimalist three-chord aesthetic  founded on simple harmonies, a regular rhythm and an upbeat tempo attracted the musically untrained with their simplicity undirected energy,” adds Marie Butula Cichá, Fléda’s director.

The concert will take place on 25 January from 8:00 pm in the Fléda club.

The Vibrators will be supported on the stage by the Slovak group Princovia, founded in 2002, and who like the headliners have undergone many changes in their line-up. It was founded by Jaro “Leďo” Lederleitner and Martin “Revo” Revický, who then went on to also play in Zóna A. During its existence Princovia has recorded the demo disc Nechceme ísť do Disneylandu! (2003) and the two LPs Čo takto otvoriť hubu?! (2005) and Na zámku sa opäť spieva a tancuje (2011). They characterise the music they now play as power pop, which in many ways overlaps with punk. In 2016 they released the single Kapitán in just 69 copies. From evening to morning the Slovak DJ Wrong will be playing an exclusive set in the style of punk and new wave.

The Vibrators/ photo group archive

The last opera première of the National Theatre Brno this year was Hurvínek Sells the Bride, which was co-produced with the Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre. The première continued the thematic focus associated with the Year of Czech Music and took place on 24 November in the large hall of the Reduta Theatre.  more

With Thursday's concert entitled Bruckneriana, the Brno Philharmonic under the direction of Principal Conductor Dennis Russell Davies launched the subscription series Philharmonia in the Theatre I. The orchestra performed works by Anton Bruckner and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, a Polish-American conductor and composer who devoted his life's work to Bruckner. Performers wearing crimson sashes with the inscription "Playing forte!” appeared in front of the audience, joining the "Let's not let culture die” initiative, which draws attention to the underfunding of culture and opposes the government's plan to invest just 0.64% of the state budget into culture next year, moving further and further away from its promise to spend at least 1%.  more

The Brno Philharmonic Orchestra has been running the Orchestral Academy of the Brno Philharmonic (OAFB) project for nine seasons, enabling young talented musicians to gain orchestral experience in a professional ensemble. In this manner, the orchestra educates the next generation of musicians, both permanent and external. However, working here also gives young people the opportunity to show their skills in chamber music and in a concert series called Young Blood aka Music Up Close. The first seasonal concert took place on Wednesday 15 November at Besední dom.  more

Baladas da Luta, Fighting Ballads, is the title of the sixth album by Brazilian singer Mariana Da Cruz and her Swiss-Brazilian band Da Cruz. It is a combination of modern music that combines Latin American tradition and contemporary electronic elements with strong lyrics. In them, the author fights for women’s rights, stands up against dictatorships and specifically criticizes the atmosphere that has evolved in Brazil under the now former authoritarian President Bolsonaro. Da Cruz performed at Brasil Fest Brno in August 2023. We revisit this festival with an interview conducted following their concert at Zelný trh. Singer Mariana Da Cruz and keyboard player and producer Ane Hebeisn, performing as Ane H, responded to our questions.  more

The programme for Janáček Brno 2024, an international opera and music festival now in its 9th year, was unveiled at a concert held to mark this occasion entitled Janáček to the start! On Saturday, 4 November, the Mahen Theatre was filled not only with devoted fans of the festival, but also with foreign journalists, politicians and prominent figures from the world of culture. In addition to a collection of wonderful musical performances, the audience was also treated to a lineup of renowned artists – Kateřina Kněžíková (soprano), Václava Krejčí Housková (mezzo-soprano), Josef Špaček (violin) and, last but not least, Robert Kružík, who took on the role of both conductor leading the Orchestra of the Janáček Opera at the National Theatre Brno during the evening and also performing as a cellist.  more