The album Nemoderný chalan (the Old-fashioned boy), which was produced by Laco Lučenič and recorded by Meky Žbirka with their band Limit in 1984, seemed like a miracle. The music, arrangements, lyrics, Miro’s singing, cover, graphics, video clips... Everything worked out perfectly, the hitherto popular pop singer started to appeal also to other people outside the mainstream. The record showed the importance of production in music; in this respect it was a ground-breaking work in the history of the Slovak pop music. This daring act was followed by two other albums—Chlapec z ulice and Zlomky poznania. Songs from these albums will open Pohoda 2022 at a special concert, which will be a celebration of Miro Žbirka’s work.  → read more

Also the jazz-soul duo Lash & Gray will perfrom at Pohoda 2022. This Slovak duo got together at the conservatory in Prague. They are among the largest Slovak talents with a great export potential, which is proved by the fact that they are represented by the renowned Austrian agency Bella Concerts. The agency likens Kristína Mihaľová’s velvety singing to Billie Holiday and Jakub Šedivý’s guitar performances to another legend, Wes Montgomery. Oliver Rehák described them aptly: they are in their twenties and make beautiful and musically well-honed songs. → read more

In the early 70s, Joseph Saddle was living in the South Bronx where he studied to become an electrotechnician as his mother insisted. His father was a passionate vinyl collector and on the other hand insisted, that his son wouldn't touch his records without his consent. Joseph obeyed his mother, but not his father. This is the beginning of the story about the legend of the currently dominant musical genre - hip-hop. His career under the name Grandmaster Flash started at neighbours' parties in the Bronx. While other DJs just played their favourite tracks, he on the other hand used to creatively manipulate them. This way he produced a unique performance and de-facto new music. He is considered to be father of the Quick Mix Theory, Clock Theory and DJ techniques such as back-spin, double-back, back-door or punch phrasing and also an artist who strongly improved scratching. This way he laid the foundation of DJ-ing as we know it today. Later, various MCs joined his beats, which led to the foundation of the band Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. They became famous mostly by live performances, but also by hits such as "The Message", which indicated the socially engaged future of hip-hop music, or “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” which is a perfect demonstration of Flash' DJ virtuosity. → read more

Another name of Pohoda 2022 is a viral hip-hop sensation, born in Bronx, formed by the Atlanta underground scene—rapper 645AR. At the turn of 2019 and 2020, he rocketed with tracks such as Bible And A K, 4 Da Trap, and Yoga, and soon he started collaborations with such names as FKA twigs, Lil Tracy, and Tyga. → read more

“Mom, I probably won’t return home” shouts Denis Bango, the producer behind KVLT CREW, in a new single addressing to the war in Ukraine. Four of its members, Fvck_Kvlt, Edúv Syn, Paris, and Žakhéles, will also perform at Pohoda 2022.     → read more

After a strong concert at last year’s Pohoda on the Ground festival, rapper and producer Boy Wonder will perform for the first time at our full festival version. At the beginning of March, he gradually released single “Batman”, a currently very resonating song “Celkom horúce leto”, and song “Človek z planéty Zem”, all from his new album Jeseň 2015: Človek z planéty Zem. He kept the fans waiting for the album ten long years, but last Friday he repaid them for their patience with a 23-track load, which he described as follows: “This is no comeback. Everything is as it should be and exactly in its place. It is about me, it is pretty personal and I have decided to share it with you. My private space odyssey.” → read more

Gleb performed at Pohoda 2019, Pohoda in the Air, Pohoda on the Ground, and at the opening of a joint project of the EHMK and Pohoda—Garáž in the Trenčín skatepark, and we are glad that he will grow this series at Pohoda 2022 as well. He is currently working on a new album to be released in early summer. You will be among the first to be able to listen to songs from it at the beginning of July at our festival.    → read more

Today we will announce several Slovak hip hop names that will appear in the Pohoda 2022 line up. Trenčín, the birthplace of the famous dreamer Stano Lobotka, will be paid a visit also by his admirer Porsche Boy. He has been active on the rap scene since 2019. Tracks such as “Stanko Lobotka” and “Blinky Blinky” have quickly received millions of views and hearings on streaming services. After the first EP Peniazky released last year, he is currently working on his debut album, in which he mixes rap with elements of other genres such as house, garage, or techno. You will see the result, expected by many, also live at Pohoda 2022. → read more

This week we will bring 7 new, hip hop names of Pohoda 2022. We start symbolically—from Ukraine, our neighbouring country invaded by Putin’s Russia, is coming Alyona Alyona. She currently works as a volunteer at a pharmacy in her hometown of Baryshevka, located just 30 kilometers east of Kyiv. Most of her team, including DJ Nikolay, lives in the capital of Ukraine. Former kindergarten teacher, Alyona Alyona gave a great concert already at Pohoda 2019 and we are honored to have her back. She is praised by journalists from The Independent, Vogue, The New York Times, and Forbes, who in 2020 included her in the prestigious list of the 30 most influential European artists under 30. She won the award for emerging stars Anchor Awards at Reeperbahn 2019 and the Music Moves Europe Talent Award as well as the Public Choice Award at last year’s Eurosonic. She has hundreds of thousands of followers and her videos have tens of millions of views. She has recently changed the preview image of her most viewed songs on YouTube to a picture with a single message: “While you are watching this video, people are dying in Ukraine due to Russian attacks. Stop it!”. → read more

Now, every penny truly counts on the Ukrainian scene, every euro on the account of Ukrainian musicians will help deal with the consequences of the war waged by the Putin regime. I have always been against music quota on radios. However, positive discrimination makes sense if it is to help those who really need it. The reasons may vary, one of them being social exclusion. The Slovak scene is in a shape that does not require any similar support mechanisms. We do not suffer somewhere on the margins, there are no obstacles for which we would need an active administrative intervention from the state that would bind private companies to its fulfilment. I am familiar with the points of people who defend quota. Yet I do not consider any of them relevant and such that would improve our music scene. I marvel at the hurt attitude of our musicians complaining about too much foreign music in the media. → read more