Katarzia´s Choice: Johanela + Nika + Lash & Grey

Johanela, Nika and Lash & Gray will perform during an evening called Katarzia's Choice in Prague's La Fabrica on November 13 from 19:30 as part of the Prague Sounds 2024 festival >.

A special Slovak artist curates an evening of music and design with the best female voices of the current young music scene under 27 let.

Prague Sounds presents a new concept in its program. The selected artist will contribute to the dramaturgy with his curatorial selection of young talents from the Czech and Slovak music scene. For this year's edition, the artist, singer and musician Katarzia will act as curator.

Katarzia has recorded six studio albums, composed music for a play by the Slovak National Theatre, a new circus performance by the Cirk La Putyka R.I.E. – Rest in Euphoria, the TV series Background of events by Jan Hřebejk or the feature-length documentary My new face. She has collaborated with a whole range of musicians - David Koller, Martin Valihora, Jonatán Pastirčák, Aid Kid, Oliver Torre, Petr Ostrouchov or Vladimir 518 and others.

The young singer-songwriter Johanela has been writing her original songs since she was fifteen. She started on the streets of Prague as a busker and quickly worked her way up to the Prague festival scene. She made her festival debut as part of the former accompanying program Struna dětem, alongside Andrew. Before the release of her first album, she traveled to New York for an experience, where she collaborated with composer, organist and Grammy Award winner Ondřej Pivec. Her 2021 debut studio album The Bloom reflects on the beginnings and endings of life's stages, with lyrics about love, womanhood and youthful uncertainty. The album was produced by Tom Lobb, known for working with the band Korben Dallas and Katarzia. She will also present new songs at the Katarzia's Choice event at La Fabrice.

Nika, a singer-songwriter, released her enchanting debut Flesh & Soul in the spring of 2022. A graduate of the Janáček Conservatory in the field of composition, in her work she particularly processes genres such as jazz, pop, folk and alternative. Her lyrics deal with personal relationships, the artificiality of the world around us, the false appearance of perfection, the themes of manipulation, pretense and physical and psychological violence. Nika has been playing the piano since the age of four, she started writing her first compositions at the age of six, she was influenced by rock, jazz syntheses and classical music. The accompanying band consists of drummer Jonáš Bjolek, pianist Pavel Duda and bassist Nicolas Gatto. In 2023, she became the winner of the Jazzfruit competition in the Junior category.

The couple Lash & Gray met while studying in Prague at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory. In the short period of their existence, they have already managed to perform on world-famous stages such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Empoli Jazz Festival in Italy, Porgy & Bess in Vienna or Euro Jazz< /em> festival in Mexico City. The music of the Bratislava duo creates an intimate and warm universe reminiscent of Norah Jones, Etta James or Billie Holiday. With jazz and soul influences, but timeless charm. For the album Sleepin' With The Lights On (2020) they won the best debut at the Radio_Head Awards and the best Slovak album at the Anděl Awards. In 2022, the singer Kristína Mihalová was the only European to reach the finals of the TOP 5 singers from around the world of the most prestigious jazz singing competition Sarah Vaughan Jazz Vocal in New Jersey. At the event in La Fabrice, he will perform accompanied by the band, respected musicians Martin Valihora (drums) and Robert Balzar (double bass). benefiting the bigger and established artists, it is extremely important to pave the way for fresh talent. I appreciate the concept that the Prague Sounds team came up with, because it creates space for the transfer of know-how and friendly cooperation between different generations of female artists. This is exceptional.” – Aneta Martínková, Radio Wave