Central European Percussion
Ensemble Brno
European competition winners
This is a rare opportunity to meet the unique music
ensemble DAMA DAMA, the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic.
The music they perform, written by members of the ensemble as well as by leading Czech and
foreign composers for both traditional and very unusual percussion instruments, lies
somewhere between contemporary classical, rock and world music.
Between 1990 and 1999 DAMA DAMA played 250 concerts in 47 cities and was present at 48
festivals and summer courses, at which they performed more than 80 world premieres. These
activities resulted in 200 articles and reviews.
History ...
DAMA DAMA is an avant-garde
percussion ensemble, the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic. It arose in May 1990
out of the percussion section of the orchestra Art Inkognito (1985-90). The founding
members of the ensemble made successful appearances at the meetings of young composers in
Brno from 1986-90, took part in the Prague Rock-Fest in 1988 and 1989, the Smetana
Litomyšl Festival in 1989 and the Prague Jazz Days in 1990, and toured in Leipzig,
Dresden and Mannheim.
Description ...
DAMA DAMA consists of four
players who give premieres of most of the new Czech compositions for solo percussion. They
are graduates of the Janáček Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Brno. DAMA DAMA also
uses synthesizers, traditional and prepared piano, and special wind and string instruments
at their concerts.
DAMA DAMA makes use of a wide and attractive assortment of instruments (hundreds of
various percussion instruments are played) in all the compositions of its various
programmes. Many of these instruments were invented by DAMA DAMA members Dan Dlouhý (who
owns about 800 percussion instruments) and Adam Kubíček.
The concert programmes include pieces composed by members of the ensemble (mainly by Dan
Dlouhý) and pieces by prominent contemporary Czech composers who work in association with
JAMU, such as, for example, D. Forró, M. Ištvan, R. Ištvan, I. Medek, P. Novák, A. S.
Piňos or V. Zouhar.
Prizes ...
- Winners of the 1991 European competition of percussion ensembles in Enschede, Holland
- Holders of the Czech Music Fund Prize 1992
- Holders of the Czech Music Board Prize 1995
Discography - CDs ...
DAMA
DAMA
PEHY 1994/0004-4 |
DAMA
DAMA 2
Wolf
Records 1996,
WORE 960003-2 |
DAMA
DAMA 3
(Údolí lidí)
Wolf Records 1997,
WORE 970007-2 |
DAMA
DAMA 4
(Vlnoplochy)
Wolf Records 1997,
WORE 970008-2 |
KONVERGENCE
Wolf
Records 1997,
WORE 970006-2 |
DAMA
DAMA 1
(reed.)
Wolf Records 1998,
WORE 980012-2 |
SVĚT
DAMA DAMA,
Microsoft 1999
(CD-ROM DHTML)
Wolf Records 1999,
WORE 990009-2 |
DAMA
DAMA 7
(DAMA DAMA meets CAMERATA)
Wolf Records 1999,
WORE 990011-2 |
Iluminovaný
koncert
Údolí lidí, 1999
|
DAMA
DAMA 8,
(http://www.damadama8.cz)
Wolf Records 1999
WORE 990014-2 |
DAMA
DAMA 9,
(Confrontation)
FT Records 2001
A-63683/ FT0053 A |
DAMA
DAMA!,
(Energy OFF line)
2001 |
DAMA
DAMA 10,
(Pangea)
2000 Forza s.r.o. 2004 |
|
|
DAMA DAMA 8 (http://www.damadama8.cz), Wolf Records 1999
 Media
...
Dama Dama regularly records for Czech Radio and Czech
Television, as well as for broadcasting corporations abroad. Besides its appearances on
Czechoslovak and Czech television programmes (including the independent stations TV Nova,
Cabel Plus and Premiéra), four profile documentaries on the ensemble have been made (CST
1991, CT 1993, Cabel Plus and Premiéra 1995 and CT 1997). In 1994, DAMA DAMA participated
in recording the soundtrack for the Czech film „America“, based on the novel by Franz
Kafka.
The ensemble has released two profile CDs and co-operated on CDs of compositions by
Miloslav Kabeláč (8 Ricercari for Percussion Instruments, op. 51, PANTON 1993, 81
1146-2931) and Miloslav Ištvan (the composition Macroworlds, dedicated to DAMA DAMA,
Studio Matouš MK 0029-2 131 – Classic Prize ’96).
Current Activities ...
Among the ensemble’s performance highlights in 1995 was the premiere of the
composition “Sun Gate” for solo percussion and symphony orchestra by Vít Zouhar, as
part of the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra’s subscription series, and a concert at
the Prague Spring International Music Festival in May 1995. In October 1995, the ensemble
performed at the Brno International Music Festival “Exposition of New Music” where
DAMA DAMA presented Dan Dlouhý’s evening-long audio-visual show “Wave Fronts”.
In 1996, in addition to dozens of performances
within the Czech Republic, the ensemble gave a concert during the Days of the Czech
Culture in Jena (Germany), appeared at the gala closing concert at the International
Composition Master Classes in Český Krumlov, co-operated with the well-known
pyrotechnics ensemble Theatrum pyroboli (introduced in Czech TV’s programme Tactum
flaminis), appeared as guests on CDs with music by Czech composers, and made a series of
performance recordings for radio and television.
During 1997, DAMA DAMA recorded three profile CDs - DAMA
DAMA 3 and 4 and KONVERGENCE - and gave concerts at the International Music Festival in
Wolfsburg (Germany), etc.
The most remarkable projects in 1998 were the multimedia
show “The Valley of Men” in the Brno Boby Centrum opening the Exposition of
Experimental Music - the “Moravian Autumn” International Music Festival recorded by
Czech TV, and a performance at the festival of Czech culture Europalia 98 in Maastricht.
In 1999 DAMA DAMA performed three times at the “Prague
Spring 1999” festival (a special concert in the Archa theatre, a performance in the
Spanish Hall of Prague Castle as part of the Stockhausen’s Gruppen For Three Orchestras,
and Dan Dlouhý with the violinist Ivan Ženatý in the Rudolfinum hall). They issued
three other profile CDs and are due to give two concerts at the “Warsaw Autumn” Music
Festival.
For 2000, their plans include an exhibition entitled “The
World of Percussion Instruments” from the collection of Dan Dlouhý (approximately 900
instruments), the performance by DAMA DAMA of Dan Dlouhý’s orchestral composition for
concert percussion and symphony orchestra and, for the tenth anniversary of the
ensemble’s establishment, CDs DAMA DAMA 9 (with the solo compositions of individual
members) and DAMA DAMA 10 with compositions for symphony orchestra and percussion.
Contact Addresses ...
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