Samo Smetana – Zuzana Homolová – MIloš Železňák foto: Peter Drežík
Zuzana Homolová sa interpretácii ľudových balád venuje desiatky rokov a stala sa synonymom tohto žánru na Slovensku. Na jej albumoch sa vždy podieľali významní českí a slovenskí hudobníci / Vladimír Merta, Jan Hrubý, Jiří Stivín, Vlasta Redl, Daniel Salontay, Samo Smetana spolu s ďalšími špičkovými hudobníkmi. /
Album ľudových balád Tvojej duši zahynúť nedám získal prestížne ocenenie Aurel 2005 za najlepší album v štýle world music. /
V náväznosti na úspech tohto albumu Homolová a Smetana – duo, pôsobiace spolu od r.1987, vytvorili jeho koncertnú verziu spolu s multižánrovým gitaristom Milošom Železňákom, známeho zo svojich jazzových, bluesových a rockových projektov. Vytvorili moderný, originálny a veľmi aktuálny hudobno-zvukový štýl.
Trojka Z. Homolovej vydala r. 2013 album ľudových naratívnych piesní Ňet vekšeho rozkošu, nominovaný na cenu Radiohead r. 2014.
Z. Homolová a M. Železňák vydali r. 2014 album zhudobnenej poézie Medzi dvomi prázdnotami, nominovaný na cenu Radiohead r. 2014.
K 100. výročiu skončenie 1. “veľkej vojny“ vydala Trojka Z.Homolovej album ľudových piesní o vojne Keď vojačik narukoval, nominovaný na cenu Radiohead r. 2019
Trojka Zuzany Homolovej interpretuje ľudové balady a piesne netradičným spôsobom, pohybuje sa na pomedzí viacerých žánrov a spája zdanlivo nespojiteľné: objavuje pozabudnuté klenoty ľudovej kultúry a a predkladá ich v novom hudobnom svetle.
For years, Zuzana Homolová has been devoting her energy to creating specific renditions of folk ballads. It is no wonder, that her name has become synonymous with the genre throughout Slovakia. As her albums are not released on a regular basis, every new release is welcomed as an extraordinary event. In creating her albums she has cooperated with several distinguished Czech and Slovak musicians such as Vladimír Merta, Jan Hrubý, Jiří Stivín Vlasta Redl, Daniel Salontay, Samo Smetana and others.
Tvojej duši zahynúť nedám
Her CD: I Won´t Let Your Soul Pass Away, was awarded the prestigious Aurel 2005 for the best musical achievement in the category of World Music. The CD I Won’t Let Your Soul Pass Away, co-produced by her sideman Samo Smetana and by the alternative guitarist and producer Daniel Salontay (www.longital.com), features some of the finest folk, jazz and contemporary instrumentalists of the country. In 2005 it was awarded the prestigious Aurel 2005 – the prize of the Slovak Music Academy – for the best remarkable achievement in the category of etno/world music.
Trojka Zuzany Homolovej – Zuzana Homolová Trio consists of her long-standing sideman Samo Smetana playing the violin and a multi-genre guitarist Miloš Železňák, well-known for his jazz, blues and rock projects. The cooperation of musicians resulted in further unanticipated dimensions. While searching for the very fundamentals of the human existence, for features lurking from the subconscious of the human mind, they emphasise a concise form of the songs and stories of the past. The group balances between various genres and proceeds with untraditional renditions of folk ballads. Their music bridges centuries and connects the seemingly unconnectable, discovering the jewels of forgotten folk culture and presenting them in the new light of contemporary music. The trio of singer Zuzana Homolová has for several decades been well-known for her arrangements of Slovak folk ballads, In their music, and on their most recent album, they blur the artificial lines between folk, world music, chanson and renaissance music in an innovative, strikingly minimalist way.
I
Won´t Let Your Soul Pass Away /Slnkorecords, 2005/
Nothing
Like the Joy / Z.H. Trio,
Slnkorecords, 2013/
Between
the two voids/
Homolová – Železňák, Slnkorecords, 2014/
When
the soldier was drafted Z.H.
Trio, Slnkorecords, 2018/
The
Z. H. Trio played on different festivals
United Islands of Prague / CZ/ 2007, Festival Zahrada 2007 / CZ/, Pulse festival in London 2007 /UK/, Summer cultural fever in Dubrovnik / CR / 2007, Lodenica 07, Prázdniny v Telči / CZ / 2008, Festival Velehrad / CZ / 2008, Etno Brno 2008 / CZ /, Festival Mikolajki Lublin / PL / 2008, Summer festival Warsaw 2009 / PL /, Festival Slnkorecords Brno 2009 / CZ /, Folk Martin 2009, Festival Náměšť /CZ/ 2011, Festival Na Mune / CZ/ 2011, Jesenik / CZ / 2012, Trutnov Festival / CZ /2013, Palác Akropolis, Praha / CZ/ 2015, Festival Radio awards – FF live 2015 Bratislava , Czech Music Crossroads, Ostrava /CZ/ 2016, Fabryka snów Lódz / PL / 2016, Bratislava 2017, Festival WM, Bratislava 2016. Folk festival, Východná 2018. Festival Lodenica, Piešťany 2018. Valašský Špalíček, Valašské Meziříčí /CZ/ 2018, Festival WM, Bratislava 2019
CD Recensions
Ňet vekšeho rozkošu Slnko Records 2013
Nothing Like the Joy Slnko Records 2013 Z. H. TRIO
…All of Homolova´s previous albums bear the traces of
distinguished arrangers and producers, such as Vladimír Merta, Jiří
Stivín, Vlasta Redl or Daniel Salontay from the avant-gard duet
Longital in Bratislava. In this respect, the new album sounds
different. Homolová had no external co-musicians in the studio but
recorded her songs as a member of a firmly established band with whom
she regularly plays concerts. The band bears the name Z.H.Trio and
apart from the singer is comprised of the guitar player Miloš
Železňák, famous for projects in various genres (rock, blues,
jazz) and the violist Samo Smetana, a long-standing fellow musician
of Homolová´s who took over the role of a producer on this new
album. If her previous album I Won´t Let Your Soul Pass Away was
considered the best in her career, this new release is breathing down
its neck. ..
Autor:Ondřej Bezr, idnes.cz CZ
Zuzana Homolová plays and sings without prejudice
…On her album: Nothing Like the Joy, Zuzana Homolová sings briskly
and with a detached yet observing eye. Her latest project with Samo
Smetana and the guitarist Miloš Železňák is one of her most
resounding. If we compare her previous albums side by side , apart
from the list of prestigious Czech and Slovak musicians collaborating
in her projects, we can also see a proof of her changing approach to
the folk song ….
…. The Z.H. Trio is an open, dynamic unit, which does not refuse to
accept any influences and imposes no restrictions at all. Samo
Smetana who is a folklorist in body and soul does not deny that
Slovak folk songs can be rendered in a modern etno style. Likewise,
Miloš Železňák, the multi-genre quitarist, feels comfortable and
has no preconceptions to move fluidly across the boundaries of jazz,
rock, Ruthenian folklore and blues….
Autor: Miloš Janoušek SME ,
2013
Joy with risks. Zuzana Homolová killed the folk languor.
…Joy from the title of the album of Zuzana Homolová is rather
down-to-earth. Not even the greatest Czech bard of gluttony Bohumil
Hrabal would have described the vice more poetically and pertinently
than her. The impatient old woman with a bowl of gnocchi dumping onto
the bed communicates through humour of an image rather than by
relying on words from an archaic East Slovakian dialect. The
album Nothing Like the Joy is an adorable view on the cunning,
sensual and also soulful world of the folk poetry, sternly hidden
behind the mask of folk poetry…
Autor: Petr Vizina (CZ) 2013
Medzi dvomi prázdnotami Slnko Records, 2014
Between the Two Voids Slnko Records, 2014 / Homolová – Železňák /
… the
collection comprises ten songs, not recorded before, which are
arranged
in a new dress. The whole album time-lapsed album, the fact that is
also highlighted by the archival photograph by Ľuba Lauffová on the
cover. The guitars of Miloš Železňák, who is an exclusive
arranger of the recorded album, serve as the musical base, while the
wind instruments ( Michal Balla) provide the background. Delicate
electronic effects designed by Tobiáš Potočný (Urbsound)
complement the unique sound of the album.
..
7.
12. 2014 Autor: Oliver
Rehák
Between the Two Voids / Homolová – Železňák /
…The
album
“Between the Two Voids” is
thoroughly
intimate, Zuzana´s singing, exposed as if to its very essence, is
accompanied by only subtle tones – once
of
the accordion,
the other time of the flute or percussions. Zuzana does not fear to
expose her voice in its naked truth, quite the opposite;
she
indulges
in experiments showing her voice
´s potential;
with no hesitation,
she puts a short syllable into a long tone and the other way round.
Or, when the
tone fades
away, she persists singing, whether in
a whisper,
the flow
of words, or a poem with no rhymes. She does not need to show off
her
technique of singing
but rather concentrates on evoking
the
proper atmosphere.
With no reservations,
it can be
said
that the way Zuzana sings, reflects she
can
master her voice as
a full-blown
and
unique
musical instrument…
26.12.2014
Autor: Marek Danko
Keď vojačik narukoval Slnko Records, 2018/
When the soldier was drafted /Z. H. Trio, Slnko Records, 2018/
…The
theme of Zuzana Homolova´s timeless folk tales on her new album When
the soldier was drafted,
recently released with her band Z. H. Trio, goes back to the wars
from different periods, including the first “great” war.
The songs rendered from different perspectives of young boys, girls
and their parents are rough, sad but also ironic and romantic.
Draftees´s and recruiters´s songs take turns with the laments of
mothers and lassies in woeful ballads. War stories are illustrated
from different perspectives, and this relates to both music and
lyrics. Despite a rather gloomy theme of war, the whole album is
intimate, emotional, not just dramatic, as might be expected.
The
songs were selected by the leading vocalist Zuzana Homolová and
arranged by the album producer and multi-instrumentalist Miloš
Železňák (guitar, violoncello, jaw harp, buzuki, singing, etc.).
Samo Smetana, the third member of the Trio, not only shows how he
can professionally master his violin and viola, but this time he
lends his voice to some exclusively man´s parts. Ján Oriško, the
drummer and percussionist, is another excellent musician who mastered
the audio of the album. Lukáš Lacko plays the pipes and bagpipes
and Iva Bittová, the popular Czech vocalist, enhances the whole
album with her forceful voice.
..
Autor:
Oliver
Rehak, Dennik N, 2019
Attractive Sources of Songs
…In
the latest recording of fifteen songs on the CD When a Soldier Was
Drafted, the stories revolve around blood, love, sweat and
miscellaneous smells of the war, including its consequences. Poetic
and curious images, as if emerging from the musical and verbal
heritage of our ancestors, striking metaphors, discrete ambiguities
or occasional freakish excursions into the realm of dialects, create
a pleasurable mosaic displaying instrumental and compositional
originality. Offbeat harmonies with jazz-like strains of guitars,
almost a psychedelic sound of violin along with various exotic
instruments create a delicate mix of “old and new” music
for our ear and our brain cells. ..
