Podnohama Zem

“There’s no need to read about such music, it must be experienced…:” These words from the review of the album Waltz in the Rock & Pop magazine in 1999 are also well suited for the long-awaited new album from the legendary AG Flek. Podnohama Zem is their third LP collection since their foundation. It presents the three legendary singers (and two authors),  Ivo Viktorin, Blanka Táborská and Karel Markytán. Thanks to the participation of many guests, it is the most varied album of the band. However, varied doesn’t mean fragmented: high sound quality - the imprint of the the work in the renowned Studio V of Ivo Viktorin - gives the recording a unified face that satisfies even the most demanding listeners.

Ivo Viktorin and Karel Markytán split the new album author-wise. They both wrote five songs that reflect themselves both in the musical feels and in lyrics. Blanka Táborská received two songs from each of them, and the authors kept the rest. The eleventh track comes from the 1980s, from the era of the first record by AG Flek, with the vocals of Karel Markytán accompanied by the typical ‘flek’ choir. The album was named after the song Podnohama Zem, which symbolically closes everything that was experienced, without pathos, with a lightness and energy, and above all, with the perspective of an experienced observer of the world. The world that, despite all its hardness, remains colorful and remarkable.

Although the new album is the return of AG Flek to the studio after eighteen years, the band and its members didn’t laze around. Karel Markytán released a solo album called Konec sladkostí (i.e. End of Sweets)  in 2001 and in 2005 recorded an album Večírek (i.e. Party) with the band, Odpolední směna. Ivo Viktorin released his solo album Vlna za vlnou (i.e. Wave After Wave) in 2005, where he invited Blanka Táborská as a guest. Their fans would have appreciated their great concert form from the recording of the performance in Zlin-Malenovice, which was released on DVD (2009) and on CD (2012).

The new album Podnohama Zem was created between April 2014 and February 2018. During that time, a number of prominent musicians brought their energy into it. The bass guitar was played by longtime member of AG Flek (also important vocalist) Josef Šobáň and Petr Vavřík, who was also responsible for the mastering. The drums were played by Marcel Gabriel and David Velčovský, guitars bz Michael Vašíček and Petr Hoffmann. Other guests such as Luboš Novotný (lap steel), Aliaksandr Yasinski (accordion) and Ruda Brezina (saxophone) enriched the album sound with their instruments. An important detail in the song Vnitřní archeologie (i.e. Inner Archeology) is the Armenian instrument called the duduk, played by the Slovak master, Marek Pastírik (he also plays saxophone on the album) and double bass recorded by the man with experience both from jazz and folklore, Marian Fiedl.