INVISIBLE WORLD

Complete information about this unique band here...

Druha Trava (which means “Second Grass”) was formed in 1991 by singer-songwriter Robert Krestan, banjo and wind instrumentalist Lubos Malina, dobro player Lubos Novotny and other veterans of the Czech acoustic music scene. Today’s line-up also includes guitarist Emil Formanek and bassist Tomas Liska. DT’s distinctive sound is based on exceptional musicianship combined with Krestan’s gritty vocals and original songs. DT “uses American roots music as a launching pad for its own synthesis of jazz, pop, folk and even classical motifs,” stated an article about the band in The New York Times. “In doing so it transforms a quintessential American idiom into a richly textured, highly personal statement that defies genre classification.” The winner of multiple Czech music awards, DT has a loyal following at home and in the United States. They first performed in the U.S. in 1993 and continue to tour extensively annually. The band has recorded more than a dozen albums, including collaborative CDs with American stars Peter Rowan and Charlie McCoy.

Robert Křesťan – vocal, mandolin, guitar
Luboš Malina – banjo, whistles, tenor sax, backing vocals
Luboš Novotný – dobro, lap steel, backing vocals
Radek Hlávka – guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
Tomáš Liška – acoustic & electric bass
Martin Novák – drums and percussions

Turumtay / Erdogan / Liška / Dés is a quartet of extraordinary virtuosi with different musical and cultural backgrounds, exploring ever-widening musical horizons on their quest to find a collective identity.

Vienna-based violinist Efe Turumtay is accompanied by Tomáš Liška’s dazzling bass lines, András Dés‘s moving rhythm partitions and melancholic tunes of Turkish fretless guitar virtuoso Cenk Erdogan.

Efe Turumtay – violin
Cenk Erdoğan – fretless guitar
Tomáš Liška – double bass
András Dés – percussion

András Dés – perkuse

Tomáš Hobzek, drummer and a founding member of Organic Quartet, describes his style as modern jazz or improvised music with the elements of avant-garde jazz. „I suppose, thematically, I have been most strongly influenced by musicians such as Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Aaron Parks, and their generation in general. In terms of sound, the strongest influence has probably been the Wayne Shorter Quartet. Generally, I’m most interested in simple themes and their application and development in extensive improvisations.“

Marcel Bárta – tenor, sopran saxofon, efects
Vítek Křišťan – piano, Fender Rhodes, synth
Tomáš Liška – double bass
Tomáš Hobzek – drums

The three musicians that make up the instrumental trio Malina-Liška-Nejtek are rooted in three very diverse musical genres. Together they find common ground in a style which could be defined, somewhat all-encompassingly, as “New Acoustic Music“. Their first joint performance took place in November 2014 in the Bohemian town of Český Krumlov and by the end of 2015 they released their debut album Fragile Bliss (Animal Music).

The trio´s repertoire relies primarily on original compositions by multi-instrumentalist Luboš Malina (a regular member of the bands Druhá tráva, Garcia, Kon Sira and Malina Brothers) and upright bass player Tomáš Liška (Druhá tráva, David Dorůžka Trio, Kon Sira, Points Quartet). They are complemented, in turn, with compositions by pianist Michal Nejtek (Kollerband, Michal Pavlíček, NTS). The music arising from their interaction and mutual inspiration does not intend to be necessarily “new“ or “different“, but (hopefully) cheerful, dynamic, playful, and open in equal measure to the possibilities of melody and to journeys outside the boundaries of genre. Only time will reveal where these journeys will lead!

Pénte is a new imaginative project by bassist and composer Tomas Liska, hailing from the Czech Republic. Tomas chose four German colleagues and then they embarked on an experimental voyage together. The path is, sometimes wild, sometimes toughtful, sometimes joyous, sometimes debateful, but still respects the inclination towards chamber dialogue.

The music unites the improvisational, classical, as well as song and jazz forms, working with contrasting layers and sounds, with space in the compositions, all of which creates a balance across these genres.

Tomas Liska (CZ) – acoustic bass
Fabiana Striffler (D) – violin
Šimon Marek (CZ) – cello
Markus Ehrlich (D) – clarinets
Natalie Hausmann (D) – tenor sax

In December 2014 the band released brand new album Bercheros Odyssey.