Andel 2002 Awards

Katerina Winterova, photo: CTK

On Thursday, the country's pop, rock, dance, folk and jazz musicians flocked to Prague's T-Mobile Arena for the Andel or Angel Awards 2002. Hosted by entertainers Eva Holubova, Milan Steindler and Petr Ctvrtnicek, it was an evening full of fun, music, but also surprises as unlike the recipients of the Cesky Slavik awards - another Czech equivalent to the Grammies - the winners of the Angel 2002 were breaths of fresh air to the Czech music scene.

On Thursday, the country's pop, rock, dance, folk and jazz musicians flocked to Prague's T-Mobile Arena for the Andel or Angel Awards 2002. Hosted by entertainers Eva Holubova, Milan Steindler and Petr Ctvrtnicek, it was an evening full of fun, music, but also surprises as unlike the recipients of the Cesky Slavik awards - another Czech equivalent to the Grammies - the winners of the Angel 2002 were breaths of fresh air to the Czech music scene.

In the best singer category, Daniel Barta beat singers Petr Muk, and Support Lesbiens' Krystof Michal.

The stars of the evening were undoubtedly the Czech band Support Lesbiens, which not only is the best group of the year but also won the Andel 2002 in the best pop album category with its latest production Tune Da Radio. Support Lesbiens was formed in 1992 and immediately gained fame, having no similar band in the country to compete with. A year after it came to being, it made it to the semi-finals in the Marlboro Rock-In and also enjoyed a few minutes of international fame in MTV's 120 Minutes programme.

Katerina Winterova,  photo: CTK
But moving on to another band that left the awards smiling - the dance group Ecstacy of St. Theresa. Despite running against the internationally famous Helena Vondrackova and the soothing Iva Bittova, Ecstacy of St.Theresa's lead singer Katerina Winterova was given the Angel for best female singer. Her band's latest album "Slowthinking" won the album of the year award in the dance category.

...another band that did not leave empty-handed was the Tata Boys. Its latest production "Biorytmy" won Best Rock Album and the video to the song "Attention aux Hommes" won Best Music Video.

But many would say the highlight of the evening was the Discovery of the Year. Black Milk, three attractive young women with angelic voices, have already attracted quite a bit of attention and plan to make it far with their song Modrej Dym or Blue smoke.

And for more information on the Andel Awards and the winners of the remaining categories, visit the Czech Popular Music Academy's official website at www.aph.cz.