Brno – Electronic music stars GusGus from Iceland and Leftfield from Britain danced today in the packed Brno velodrome, where the Pop Messe festival started. It will end on Sunday night, in three days almost 60 performers of various genres will perform. The festival mainly focuses on contemporary pop, electronica, rap and the independent scene. Three music stages were in operation today, two more will be added on Friday and Saturday, plus a Czech TV cinema and a conference program.
The festival opened at 16:00 with an unconventional brass band performed by František Skála and the Provodovjané ensemble. Skála created a unique repertoire for wind music with texts full of puns, absurdities and parodies of genre clichés. “We miss the sound of the military brass passing through the streets, the brass of the spa orchestras and the funeral march behind the coffin,” said Skála, an otherwise well-known painter and sculptor. This afternoon he managed to get several couples dancing to the rhythm of the waltz or polka.
Right after Provodovjany, the musical atmosphere changed with the performance of the British punk rock band Bad Nerves, which plays a repertoire similar to, for example, the Ramones or The Strokes, and whose fans reportedly include Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones band. They also found new supporters in Brno. “You’ve never heard faster songs,” lead singer Bobby Nerves told them.
In the evening, the crowd was danced by the trio GusGus, followed by Leftfield, genre legends who have been on the scene since the turn of the 80s and 90s. “For me and for many other people, it is the soundtrack of their lives,” said the festival’s program director Tomáš Kelar.
After several years in the area behind Lužánky, this year the festival moved to the velodrome near the Brno exhibition center and its immediate surroundings, mainly the Enter club and one of the fair halls. This year, for the first time, the festival will last three days, previously it used to be two days. The organizers register more interest from abroad, mainly from neighboring countries, i.e. Austria, Slovakia, Germany and Poland, said Kelar.
This year’s novelties include the Pop Talks conference, which on Friday and Saturday will offer, for example, debates on the relationship between culture and urbanism with foreign and domestic experts, as well as a Czech TV cinema with screenings of documentary films, a Saturday bike ride around Brno or commented architectural walks.
Visitors can purchase a special Brnopass, thanks to which they will have free public transport and will also receive discounts or free entry to interesting places in Brno. Pop Messe cooperates with the city’s tourist information center, the aim is to offer visitors, in addition to music, other activities and experiences.
CR pop music Pop Messe AUDIO festival Brno PHOTO
Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz
