Karel Plíhal - Recital

Karel Plíhal, one of Czech songwriting's greatest pleasures for over 30 years, returns to the concert stage accompanied by guitarist Petr Fiala. Plíhal is an original composer, lyricist, and guitarist - economical, restrained, endlessly playful, and meticulously careful. He crafts unrepeatable texts full of poetry, finding interesting rhymes and word combinations that he pairs with pleasant melodies. His songs caress rather than kick. The recital atmosphere underscores the delicacy of his work, and Plíhal also recites some of his poetic miniatures.

After a forced break due to injury, Plíhal returns to concert stages with the support of guitarist P. Fiala. A self-taught guitarist who began playing at 15, Plíhal has never had formal musical training yet became a songwriter. He studied mechanical engineering in Olomouc and worked as a constructor and theatre stoker before finding his true calling. He is a four-time winner of the Porta music festival competition prize.

Plíhal's gentle and playful poetics unfold through intelligently humorous, often maturely self-ironic texts and short verses that introduce or complement individual songs. His delivery is inimitable. Above all: masterful guitar artistry. Waltzes, blues, Latin-American rhythms, swing, and his characteristic mood pieces played with distinctive augmented and diminished major chords - all executed with ease and bravura. Plíhal is strong, positive energy wrapped not in sugar but in song, recitation, and playing. It is an experience to hear Plíhal.