Response to the lies about the Pohoda festival

There is a rumour on the Internet saying that Michal Kaščák, the director of Pohoda, stated in Rádio_FM: “Nation, Christianity, and similarly oriented bands have no place at the Pohoda festival. If Iʼm to be honest, they should not even exist and play.” This statement is nonsense. Religious orientation and national beliefs of performers do not play a role for us, we are a free festival. There are Christians, Jews, Muslims, members of other religions, and non-believers playing at the festival. We have performing artists from 30 countries, which means they are of many nationalities, and the biggest number of them are local bands. Pohoda was opened with Antonín Dvořákʼs Biblical Songs and concluded with an ecumenical worship service; we had perform perhaps the most popular Slovak gospel band, Heartbeat, and several church choirs; there were several Christian non-profit organisations in the NGO passage. Pohoda hosted the concerts of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra, and several ensembles of traditional music. Finally, we wish to state that the organiser of the Pohoda festival does pay all the applicable taxes and fees.

18. July 2018