Legendary rock group - Psi Vojaci - celebrates 25th anniversary

The legendary Czech underground band Psi Vojaci - Dog Soldiers in English - played a special concert in Prague on Tuesday to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

Legendary rock group - Psi Vojaci - celebrates 25th anniversary

Psi Vojaci, photo: CTK

The concert at Prague's Akropolis was packed with people singing along to their favourite songs. A second edition of the band's book, Narod Psi Vojaku was launched at the show, and was "christened" by Vratislav Brabenec, the saxophone player of an older Czech underground band, the Plastic People of the Universe.

Vratislav: "When I first heard the band Psi Vojaci it was like seeing a tiger jump on the stage of the Czech underground."

Psi Vojaci may be celebrating their 25th anniversary but the band's leader Filip Topol is only in his late thirties.

Vratislav: "Filip Topol was almost fourteen when he first performed at Hradecek, Havel's cottage in the countryside. We were playing Passion Play there with the band Plastic People. The former president asked us if it would be possible for his friend's son's band to play.

"That was the first time that we saw them, it was very significant, it was the new wave of the Czech underground."

It's been a long time since the band played at Vaclav Havel's cottage, but they still attract a young audience.

Psi Vojaci, photo: www.palacakropolis.cz

Young woman: "I listen to this group because it is part of the history, I am really interested in this past, in the dissidents. This was the first step to discovering this past that is mine too, but then it is also because I like their music, there's no better reason for listening to their music."

Both younger and older fans agree that Psi Vojaci still have a lot to offer.

Vratislav: "They continue to have a similar energy, a similar poetry as before. It was a really strong and really wild message that they brought and that they still convey."

Young woman: "I think that now they are still a great group, even though they are from the other period before the revolution but I think it is one of the most living cultures in the Czech Republic."