Musicians from far flung areas of the world are brought together once a year, thanks to the Respect Festival, a Prague tradition in its 28th year, as an open-air weekend with not only music, but ethnic foods and goods with a family atmosphere, while the musicianship is always inspiring.
The headliner on Saturday, June 14, is Mari Boine, a Norwegian Sami singer, who performs traditional Sami music or joiik with folk, rock, jazz and contemporary beats influences. Boine appeared on the European music scene on a self-released album in 1989, but then re-released on Peter Gabriel’s label, RealWorld in 1990. Since then, she has been praised as a vocal shamaness for our earth and for the Sami, indigenous peoples of Sapmi, also known as the Artic Lapplands.
Others on the first day include Justin Adams & Mauro Durante. Adams is a Blues-influenced English guitarist and producer, who collaborated most notably with Led Zeppelin’s vocalist Robert Plant, and with Public Image Ltd’s bassist Jah Wobble. Durante is from Salento (southern Italy), and a master on frame drums and violin with Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. Adams & Durante will perform their recording “Sweet Release” (2024) combining Taranta (a southern Italian ritualistic dance) with expansive electrified guitar-rock, and vocals in English and Italian.
As a welcome surprise from usual programming, there is Kahil El’Zabar (born Clifton Blackburn in 1953) from Chicago, with his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. As a percussionist, Kahil is most influenced by his long-time membership in the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a collective of avant-garde jazz players who bring together jazz with traditional African ritual and rhythms, using an arsenal of African folk instruments. Kahil El’Zabar’s overall sound is described as Afro-centric spiritual jazz, and it is similar to Art Ensemble of Chicago, who is the best known group from the legendary collective (AACM).
The earlier afternoon acts on Saturday include Paolo Angeli, who considers himself “a one-man band of the new millennium,” as he plays a self-designed, modified Sardinian guitar with added petals and strings; it appears to be an acoustic, but it is wired electric for an array of multi-instrumental sounds to become a magical guitar. He’ll be backed with a vocal quartet, the Tenore Morales de Orgosolo. And there will be Bassekou Kouyate, from Mali, playing the ngoni, with his wife, vocalist Amy Sacko performing West African traditional songs, i.e. their roots music.
The headliners on Sunday, June 15, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly’s MESTIZX featuring James McClure, Ben Boye & Matt Lux can be seen as a Latinx counterpart to Boine and El’Zabar. Ferragutti was born in Bolivia, raised in Brazil and with Italian roots. She is based in Amsterdam with her partner Frank Rosaly, who is a Puerto-Rican American, raised in Arizona, and an established drummer on the avant-garde jazz and improvisational music scene. With veteran experimental improvisational musicians, and a bit of electronics, this project embraces cultural roots of the Americas with a new Mestizo sound, rituals and an emotive performance.
Also on Sunday, there will be Deli Teli, an upbeat Greek band with Turkish and Middle Eastern rhythms. Their sound is ideal for a summer night dance party. While Madalitso Band is a youthful duo, low-fi troubadours with a crude guitar, a homemade babaton, which is a single-stringed instrument with a two-meters long neck, and a single drum. They play a soothing and danceable trance-inducing music of their homeland Malawi, in southeastern Africa.
A highlight of the Sunday afternoon is Al Bilali Soudan from Timbuktu, Mali. This is Saharan desert blues, slow trance music by a multigenerational band of master musicians. They were scheduled to perform Respect Festival in 2023, but it was cancelled at the last minute. And the opening group is one not to overlook. Polypheme – Wassim Halal & Gamelan Puspawarna is an experimental ensemble led by Wassim Halal, a French-Lebanese percussionist, combining Turkish and Middle Eastern rhythms with traditional Balinese Gamelan bronze percussion.
For more information, see the website: RESPECT FESTIVAL 2025 – Rachot
Respect Festival 2025
Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June 2025
Ostrov Štvanice
