PRAGUE 1 APPROVES: THE ISLANDS WILL BE ON THE ISLANDS!
The district municipality of Prague 1 has issued its final approval of the locations for the United Islands festival without comments! Now it is certain that more than 100 bands from 10 countries will appear on the stages, located on the Střelecký Island, Kampa, Slovanský Island, Dětský Island and the surrounding river banks. We are now busy with working on the program which will unveil the first confirmed acts. Speaking of international participants, we will gladly welcome The Cinematics from the UK, Amparo Sanchez from Spain and Miloopa from Poland. As to domestic artists, the audience will see Xindl X, Sporto, Midi lidi, Poslední výstřel, BraAgas, Burana orchester and many more.
“The United Islands festival represents one of the most important culture venues in the capital; therefore, the Municipality of Prague 1 has adopted a decision to grant its full support to the event,” says ing. Martin Skála, councilor for culture at Municipality Prague 1. Using their experience from the previous year, the festival officials have decided to change the arrangement of the stages to deliver higher level of comfort for the audience and to increase the onstage experience for the performing artists. Martin Voňka explains that the Střelecký Island will only hold the Main Stage: “Having seen a crowd of as much as eight thousand spectators packed on the Střelecký Island during the Saturday night performance, we have decided to keep here only the Main Stage so as to extend the backstage area and provide more refreshment opportunities for the visitors.” The Ethno&folk Stage, previously located here, will move to Kampa and broaden the traditional Radio 1 Stage. Last year’s novelty, the Czech Stage, will remain at the Slovanský Island, and the opportunity for young singers, Open Mike, will still be located at the Janáčkovo Bank. Again this year, the Mánes will become the refuge for fans of electronic music.
As of now, the festival confirms the performance of a Scottish revelation, the guitar quartet, The Cinematics. Their refreshing sound, as much as similar to the onrush of similar guitar bands, has attracted a large number of fans; the American label TVT Records (Nine Inch Nails, Guided by Voices) decided to release their debut album, Strange Education, making the band the first British artist under its wings. Their current record, Love and Terror, which the band will be presenting at United Islands, is more polished in terms of both the lyrics and music, trying to present current Britpop in a slightly post-modern guise.
“The festival will open with the singer Amparo Sánchez, who terminated its long-term project of Amparanoia. We are overjoyed that this Andalusia star, who released her long-awaited solo record, is making her first appearance in the Czech Republic at the United Islands festival!”, says David Gaydečka, one of the festival organizers. However, as Amparo Sánchez has said, the new album, Tucson-Habana, on which she has participated with Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino, is a major difference from the work of Amparonia: “It was my intention to experience something new, something more intimate, something that would touch the audience in a quite different way.”
Other representatives of the electronic scene are the promising Polish band of Miloopa which has had remarkable success in many of Europe’s clubs and festivals. In their work they are trying to keep the link of the aural and the visual; they do not believe in boundaries between individual styles, so their music contains elements ranging from breakbeat, drum’n’bass, jungle, dubstep to downtempo and lounge melodies. Their latest record, Unicode, was born in cooperation with Roli Mosimann, who has worked, among others, with Faith No More, The Young Gods, Björk, New Order, or The Smashing Pumpkins.
The Czech scene will be represented by Xindl X, Midi lidi, Poslední výstřel, BraAgas, Burana orchester, and many more. The open-air festival will also present bands that had major success in last year’s Club Night, such as Sporto. Information on other confirmed performers will be continuously released on the festival website.
This summer will see the seventh year of the United Islands of Prague. This international music festival is held in the early summer on Prague’s islands on the Vltava. This year of the event will be organized between June 24 and 26, 2010. The festival’s four main and four side stages will present 100 bands from 10 countries. The festival itself is preceded by the Club Night when selected music clubs of Prague are open free of charge. The festival is organized by Ostrovy s.r.o. The festival is realized with support from the Prague City Hall and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
