“Iconic.” “It’ll go down in our country’s cultural history.” “An inspiration.” This was how important names praised Stormzy’s appearance at this year’s Glastonbury. Five years ago, he was an unknown author of freestyle videos on Youtube, and today he smiles from the cover of Time magazine headlined as “Leaders of a New Generation”. His album was the first grime release to win the Brit Awards for best album last year and he also won the Singer of the Year category, leaving Ed Sheeran behind. In a half year from now, the first day of Pohoda 2020 will be closed by a fantastic rapper, activist, and voice of the new British generation, Stormzy. → read more

It’s not necessary to introduce Bazookas to Pohoda attenders or to attenders of concerts organized for homeless people in any special manner. They are friends, warm-hearted people, great musicians and entertainers. They will come to Trenčín again in 2020. In fact, they were actually the first confirmed act of the 24th Pohoda. We invited them when they were leaving the airport.  → read more

The next addition to the Pohoda 2020 lineup is a trio from Israel, Malox. This crazy high-energy charged band has been on the scene for a dozen years. On their avantgarde music trips, they fly between jazz, polka, klezmer and punk. The band featuring Eyal Talmudi (sax, clarinet, pipes), Roy Chen (drums) and Assaf Talmudi (keys) managed to make many clubs and festivals all around the world dance. The media also describe Caribbean rhythms, Balkan or cinematographic motifs in their music but, most of all, they mention the energy that makes people move their feet. Our colleague, Tereza, who discovered this gem in Tel Aviv, agrees. She confirmed that all the festival delegates who went to see them were leaving soaked in sweat. We are expecting a similar effect when Malox will be playing at Trenčín Airport. → read more

Chai are four classmates from Nagoya, Japan, who could be described as: “Make pink, girlband and kawai great again.” Kawaii means “friendly” in Japanese and this quartet is trying to redefine the term with their overexposed means of expression and shows. Pink is the name of their debut, which, according to Pitchfork, is a reprieve at times when we are in short supply moments of pure joy. They add: “A mix of ambition, sincerity, and palpable excitement seems to manifest in everything they do: their genre-defying recordings, their thrilling performances, and their graciousness in person.”  → read more

Pohoda 2020 will also have space rock for the new generation — it will be provided by five “wired men from the sonic spaceship” called Shht. This delicate crazy lineup from Ghent is based, as they present it, on synthetic bass lines delivered by a noise-band, delivered by a noise-band with chemical minds and a singer hanging from the roof mentally and physically. When they played in Birmingham last month before the Belgian stars De Staat, Louder Than War noted that playing after such an eccentric yet craftedly perfect performance set up one hell of a challenge for the headliners to follow. → read more

Excellent American folk-rock songwriter Kevin Morby has been added to the line-up for Pohoda 2020. Pitchfork's review of his album Singing Saw compares him to artists like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Five fantastic albums over the past six years have turned him into one of the most crucial songwriters of the decade at the age of thirty. The trend was confirmed by the latest studio album, Oh My God, which The Telegraph described as a spiritual album for a secular age that tries to distil a sense of the divine from the very act of making music. → read more

Pohoda 2020 will also feature PoiL, the French avant-garde trio of brilliant musicians. They are known for their ultra-speed diversified compositions and frenetic live performances, and the fact that it truly is an eccentric treat is confirmed by their latest album, Sus. In their review of the album, Everything is Noise uses the following saying: "Beauty lies in the surprise offered by an unpredictable order."  → read more

Pohoda 2020 will also feature the rising star of experimental hip-hop JPEGMAFIA. A trained journalist and former soldier served in Iraq, Kuwait, North Africa and Japan, but was most influenced by Baltimore, where he worked briefly. After moving there, 25-year-old African-American Freddie Gray died there as a result of injuries caused during a brutal arrest. JPEG responded to the events with the mixtape Darkskin Manson, followed by his debut Black Ben Carson (2016). → read more

"The Libertines are, above all, about great music; the world would be much poorer without Carl Bârat and Pete Doherty. "They were the band that put raw, unpolished rebellion back into British rock'n'roll and swept up an entire generation in their wake,” wrote The Guardian, and was right." „These are the words about another great performer of Pohoda 2020, written by their fan (and Slovak publicist) Samo Marec. You can read his whole text below in this article.“  → read more

Pohoda 2020 will also feature the "voice of the Arab Spring" – Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi. Emel rose to fame for the protest song called "Kelmti Horra" (My Word is Free), which became the anthem of the Tunisian revolution and, in fact, of the whole Arab Spring as well. She also performed the song during the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, earning a standing ovation from the moved audience. Her work borderlines experimental, electronic, North African, Arabic and film music and it is characterized by highly emotional expression with many dynamic changes and ornamental singing with a wide range. In addition to fantastic music, her three albums Kelmti Horra, Ensen and Everywhere We Looked Was Burning, also carry strong messages, fears and visions of this extremely talented multi-instrumentalist, singer and poet.   → read more