Tearooms in post-revolution Czechoslovakia symbolised places through which new spiritualities were flowing, and the influx of largely uncharted ways of life closely intertwined with new age, ambient, folk and minimalism. With their minds altered thanks to smuggled records by Fripp & Eno or Steve Reich, this loose network of musicians had begun composing meditative music, using loops and handmade instruments, with a different sensibility. Compared to the boisterous Zappa-adjacent and booze-soaked underground movement, which was led by Plastic People of the Universe and provoked the state authorities, this music was meant instead for tea rooms and spiritual sites like churches or monasteries, as if occupying some place where time flows anticlockwise. Music journalist Pavel Klusák dubbed this 1990s scene a “tearoom alternative”. Experimental folk singer Oldřich Janota, Jaroslav Kořán’s various ensembles like Modrá or Orloj Snivců (The Horologe of Dreamers) or Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi were drawn by the light and composed music that didn’t match the fast pace of newly imported capitalism.
Mix created by: Miloš Hroch
Given all life leads to jazz we might as well take the scenic route. An uncanny hour of words and music from producer Phil Smith. Carefully formulated but never formulaic, an inclusive hour of the straight-ahead and the experimental.
Given all life leads to jazz we might as well take the scenic route. An uncanny hour of words and music from producer Phil Smith. Carefully formulated but never formulaic, an inclusive hour of the straight-ahead and the experimental.
Tracklist
Paolo DamianiPaolo Damiani
Ab
Renato Carosone & Il Suo QuartettoRenato Carosone & Il Suo Quartetto