There is so much LIVE CULTURE in Plzen, especially music and song

     Last night a young Czech told us, “Every Czech thinks he is a musician and at least 1 in every 10 persons does play a musical instrument.”  When we go to music events, the audience sings the words, and I mean the MEN SING as well.  Everyone is moving their lips.  It is awesome.   This past weekend we went to a Lochotin 2007, 24 hours of folk and country music over 2 days, and the outdoor amphitheater echoed with 2,000 people singing along.  I taped the tunes I recognized:  Louisiana Saturday Night, The Rose, Jamaica Farewell, and lots of Willie and Johnny Cash, as well as Czech folk and country favorites, but ALL SUNG IN CZECH.

     When we go to the elegant Peklo which squeezes in 650 persons, it is a Lawrence Welk crowd with a L.W. host, (we are the youngest) for the traditional old Czech music, lovely waltzes and lyrical polkas sung to brass music.

     When we go to the small Jonas Theater which seats 80, it is for bluegrass, country, folk, the smaller traditional music group.

     Czechs are not religious as a whole, so many of the churches and the Great Synagogue are used for concerts, and make great sound chambers.

     In the local Sokolovnas, similar to our old grange halls, we listened to 6 hours of "heligonka", little accordions, again with an over 75 age crowd.  People listen, then slip out to the next room for a beer, grab a grilled sausage/ bread/ mustard or pork/ bread dumplings and after some visiting, come back in for more music.  You see few younger folks at these events, so this culture will soon be lost.  (It reminds me of the Owls in Evansville with it’s stage and old time music.)

     In addition to this kind of music, there are also 2 main opera houses, art cinema, a week-long film festival open to the public (showing the most popular Czech films since 1969 at 4 theaters), plus symphony and classical concerts and dance clubs for the young set.   (I saw films "Little Miss Sunshine" and "East of Eden" in English, yeah.)

     Event posters are plastered on billboards around every bus/tram stop, at the bus/train stations, in free publications a month in advance to ensure good attendance.

     The only culture we have not found is Czech folk dance, which seems to be isolated to Moravia, the area between Czech and Slovakia.    Most folk festivals are in  July-August and  Plzen's  International  Folk  Festival is 4  days after we leave.    Darn  it.