Andel for the best song of the year goes to ... Cechomor

On Thursday, the Czech Academy of Popular Music announced the winners of its annual Andel or angel awards for the best Czech musicians, bands and singers of 2001. The group of the year, song of the year and album of the year awards both went to the folk group Cechomor which combines traditional Czech and Moravian music with contemporary styles. By Vladimir Tax.

Cechomor, photo CTK

Czechomor, established more than 14 years ago, explore the wedding dances and folk songs of their native Czech Republic, combining violin, cello, electric and acoustic guitar with accordion and occasionally Czech bagpipes. They draw inspiration from folklore collections by a well-known Czech ethnographer Frantisek Susil whose works, dating back to the mid 19th century are still considered as the most important source of Moravian traditional music.

The members of the band are part time musicians, part time theatre actors. Cechomor have so far recorded 3 albums. The latest and most successful, called Promeny or Transformations was released internationally by Universal.

If you would like to learn more about the Andel awards, you can tune in to Radio Prague on Sunday for the Arts. And also Saturday's Magic Carpet with Petr Doruzka which is devoted to the best Czech band of the year, Cechomor and its phenomenal live album Promeny.