Two years ago, in cooperation with ERSTE Foundation, the Archa Theatre in Prague launched the project Where is My Home, which deals with the topics of xenophobia and migration through a combination of music and theatre. In collaboration with refugees, host communities, students, actors and musicians, a series of new theatre pieces, musical works, performances and workshops is being created. The participating artists come from different countries and live in the Czech Republic. The core group forms the well-known Allstar Refjúdži Band.
Allstar Refjúdží Band is a collective of musicians with various cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs and political opinions. The Prague-based band mixes Kurd folk and pop music, the East-European accordion, Chinese opera and pop music, reggae and rock, Dixieland, Swiss mountain and cabaret songs, jazz and experimental music. Through music and theatre productions, the band addresses topics connected with migration and explores possibilities for solving social issues. Since its foundation in Archa Theatre as its home turf in 2008, the group has appeared at major festivals and concert stages in the Czech Republic and abroad.
The new album, Kdo žere psy? / Who eats dogs?, which is released three years after the band’s successful debut SPAS!, features several new band members, such as Lukáš Mičko (guitar) and Kryštof Verner (trumpet). The song Children’s Dreams features three twelve-year-old Roma boys from Ústí nad Labem – Marek Baláž, Patrik Gorol and Milan Makula – who rap their own poetry. Other special guests on the album include Ondřej Smeykal (didgeridoo), Jaryn Janek (contrabass) and Tiny Beat (beatbox).
This publication is available at ERSTE Foundation Library.
