Pohoda will be opened and closed by artists from Ukraine. Band DakhaBrakha will play before Nick Cave on Thursday, and soloists of the Music and Drama Ensemble of Taras Ševčenko from Bratislava will take care of Sunday’s Welcoming the Sun. The ensemble, which preserves the cultural traditions of the Ukrainian minority in Slovakia, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Together with professional musicians, they recently started the formation “Počujš, brat môj”; they released a CD of Ukrainian folk songs arranged by Ľubica Čekovská under this name and their performance at the Trenčín Airport will build on it. → read more

Our friends from Ukraine will take care also of part of the programme in the Family Park. Dance school students from Kiev and Kharkiv will perform various ballet variations in the first half of the programme. Musical accompaniment will be provided by accompanisť Viera Yarify and flutist Danylo Shtanov. → read more

Saturday night’s party at the NAY Dance House, after the concert of Polemic and Medial Banana, will be hosted by the duo Simple Sample & Pokyman (Ghetto Youths Sound) until Welcoming the Sun. In a varied set, they will mix reggae, dancehall, afro-beats, and moombahton, all flavoured with their own remixes, mashups, and dubplates. → read more

Today, the many unique projects and premieres at Pohoda 2022 grow by CELLOSEUM. The ensemble consisting of eight top cellists will perform works from Mirek Krajči’s eponymous recording in the concert premiere. The album was released on ejj-art and all its parts were recorded by Eugen Prochác (featuring Ján Slávik as a guest in one track). The “live” formation consists of eight outstanding Slovak artists who are concert artists, members of leading chamber ensembles, symphony orchestras, teachers, and organisers of music events. → read more

“One of the best but not so much known yet ug rappers in Slovakia. From Košice. And his entire CLUB 17 crew are all strict contemporary rappers who don’t speak BS. Young boys, all in their twenties.” Denis Bango described this way the Oskar and Club 17 project. The young rapper Oskar is the creator of the term East Coast in the Slovak music scene. In 2020, he released his debut Nonsense, which transforms his view of everyday reality into his poetry (as commented on by Hudba.sk) He is currently working on the project “East Coast pt. II”, with which plans to change the view of the Czecho-Slovak audience on rap culture in eastern Slovakia. At Pohoda, he, Rikko, and Ower will present their new project, as well as new stuff and tracks that the audience is already familiar with. → read more

“A buddy from Prešov, hard-worker, released an album at the end of the year, which made him more noticed. Another rapping punk.”, says the Garáž curator of another name of his choice. Dušan Vlk will bring LO-FI and trap influenced by a pinch of punk atmosphere to the Garáž stage. In December came out his debut ASTHMABOY and it was introduced to public at the Kulturák club in Bratislava. The Generácia rapu portal described the album: “Duški likes Kulturák, Kulturák likes Duški and you could feel that. Most of the songs on his Asthmaboy album are as if they were created for these premises, so it’s no wonder that everything worked out exactly as it should.”  → read more

“Youngsters from Trnava. All are from 15 to 20 years old. They are excited, they mean it deadly serious, and they do it well. The enthusiasm and all this will cause so much on the Slovak scene also in future.” This is how band Hyperpunk was presented to us by Denis Bango, who picked them for Saturday’s line-up in Garáž. → read more

“Conceptual humorous metalcore, where the guys created their alternative universe. They quickly became very popular on the scene, with strong anti-fascist references. Priama čepeľ are a sort of a project in a project. Sometimes they give a concert as three projects in one together with TATROFKA 20025000, which are all actually the same people :D...” said about bands Brizolit and Priama čepeľ our Denis Bango, who picked them together with Ahoj! and Berlin Menson for the Friday night line-up in Garáž. → read more

“Impeccable perfect pumped up the best Slovak punk with female vocals. People not originally coming from Trnava but rooted in Trnava. They do things around Kubík.” says about the band Ahoj the Garáž curator Denis Bango. We know what he’s talking about, as Ahoj! have already played at Pohoda—last year, at its “on the Ground” version. We are glad to see them coming again. → read more

“Such a new wave stuff, very good, you need to hear it :D” wrote Denis Bango, the curator of the Garáže stage at Pohoda, aka the leader of the Trnava band The Wilderness and the KVLT CREW project, about the band Berlin Manson. The Garáž stage will reopen its tin gates every day after the programme on the main stage is over, to show where quality new music is being born. We start this year’s Denis’s selection with the post-synth punk duo Berlin Manson, which sings / raps about Depeche Mode, spaceships and soundcloud trends, while drowning in waves of melancholic synthesizers. They balance on the verge of the analog and the digital, ironically commenting on what is happening on the scene, but at the same time they are a fresh part of it in the form of an unexpected system error. Berlin Manson are an example of a complete genre, production, and attitude freedom, without trying to fit somewhere 100 percent. → read more