Jiří Smrž and Dobrovod • Člověk krve

Two-time Anděl Award winner and one of the most remarkable Czech singer-songwriters performs for the first time at Divadlo 29. Člověk krve opens the evening with songs from forests and abandoned churches.

Jiří Smrž's songwriting is unlike anything else. A two-time Anděl Award winner in the Folk & Country category and author of six albums, he moves through the world with a firm resolve to do things his own way. His expression is both urgent and humble, shy and tender, angry and harmonious - he doesn't persuade, but unsettles, suggests, and leaves room for mystery.

In the band Dobrovod, he found a musical partnership that he completes himself on guitar with an intensity reminiscent of Filip Topol, with whom he once sat in the same class at the conservatory. Violinist Ben Lovett adds improvisations that often draw applause right on the spot, bassist Ivan Křenek brings certainty to the sound, and the overall sonic character has drive, swing, and elegance.

Smrž stands outside media attention, perhaps because he defies conventions and isn't entirely easy to listen to. Audiences seeing him for the first time are often surprised and moved - and so a circle of listeners has formed who travel to his concerts in distant places year after year.

"I believe everything Jiří Smrž does. No musician a generation younger than me has guided me so profoundly." - Jiří Černý
"When I think of Jiří, his writing, his songs, I see a man who was given to serve his whole life, whose days have become a living prayer." - Glen Hansard
"Sovereign poetry, worthy of the legacy of Reynk, Zahradníček, Zábrana." - Vladimír Merta