Zlatý slunovrat (2CD)

review by François Couture - www.allmusic.com

In early 2002, Jirí Pavlica and Hradistan's 1999 album, O Slunovratu (At Solstice), was awarded a gold record for its sales. A very rare event in the life of the Czech non-commercial music label Indies, it was celebrated with the release of an expanded version, a two-CD set retitled Zlaty Slunovrat (Golden Solstice). Disc one contains the original album. Disc two presents 71 minutes of excerpts from an evening of poetry reading and music recorded on November 20, 1987. This was still the era of communist Czechoslovakia. Poet Jan Skála, the host of the evening (and whose poems served as the basis for Pavlica's album 12 years later), was still banned from public life. Jan Gogola acted as the master of ceremonies, interviewing Skála. Lubor Tokos and Vladimír Doskocil read some of his poems and Hradistan interpreted a few Moravian folk dances. The group showcased here sticks to the traditional repertoire. Sound quality is shaky, as the event was illegally recorded. Non-Czech-speaking listeners will have a hard time relating to anything here -- the short musical interludes alone don't make this disc worthwhile. But Zlaty Slunovrat is sold at the price of a single disc.