Digging through December with Tasya
Tasya, one of the brightest stars of Prague’s night skies, digs through our programme in December 2022 and shines light on some of the upcoming events. Her enthusiasm is so bright and contagious that it might actually warm you up in these cold dark days.
2022 has been dark and heavy and it continues to be so, that’s why my craving of the exact opposite is as strong as ever. No need for extreme, pushed, sweaty, sped-up darkness. Bright is fine when there’s nothing to hide. Taking it slow, carefully paying attention and being purely excited. Feeling warm, flickering analogue light dance on the faces of the people I love, zooming in into the peculiar materials reflect and shape the spaces that get more and more cozy to be in. And then, there’s the music!
Having spent nearly every day of November making Neone with the Lunchmeat Family, I would think that absolutely nothing can motivate me to leave the flat after this. And for a party? With blinking lights and loud music? Uf. Not sure. And then Ankali released their programme…
Ok, I’m switching to fruits and natural juices only, yoga in the morning and lighthearted dancing during the weekends. The mental travelling to the depths of my inner Dekmantelf [yes, Dekmantelf] starts now, provided by Ankali.
10–12–2022
Glory Affairs x Ankali Live
Glory Affairs can teach you that things can be done differently and more importantly, fun is an essential part of it. Their method is close to me as it resembles the one of an artistic practice and the pure playful spirit of being in the studio and just experimenting with things that you have – and the line-ups and evenings have more of a “let’s just play around with the elements we have” vibe.
For the next installment they are bringing in Lolina, who previously released as Inga Copeland or Hype Williams, her vocals feature on The Bug’s “Rise Up”, and she also collaborated with Dean Blunt. What I find the most exciting about Lolina is her Bandcamp that’s full of curious production ideas – feels like visiting the studio of a painter and seeing the process, but it’s all music – there you can find a more electronic-scene friendly, bassy EP “Lolita” or “Who is experimental music?”.
Her most recent EP, “Face the Music”, is more of a search and establishment of the relationship between fusion jazz, spoken word and obscure sound design. “Live in Geneva” hints that Lolina’s lives are not what they seem – and honestly, that’s a good thing.
The evening then is all about the family and connection – there are live performances by Mor Wen and her brother Xynnh, as well as Seleem’s live premiere – a sound-designy, atmospheric, hugging teaser can be found on Bandcamp. As for the dj sets, we can expect Seleem’s brother and an exciting producer, Omar El Sadek, known under his moniker Qow, to join lizwiz, whose selection is all types of curious and glittery. I’m excited to see Liz show up behind the decks more and more often! All impeccable selectors whose taste I’d never doubt, Glory Affairs invite for yet another exciting ride.
16–12–2022
No Borders + San Trancisco
Right after Glory Affairs’ Saturday, there comes a hattrick of my all-time favorite series – the ones I go to regardless of the headliner (though those are also the series that brought some of my fave acts).
Before Planeta Za, No Borders was the lighthouse of Ankali’s series for me, this December they invite Ankali’s Phuong-Dan with Philipp Otterbach. Often times I think that sets such as theirs were the sonic blueprint for Planeta’s design. It’s a perfect sound-space match – long trips over the audio spaces, bubbly and slower, ocassionally (heart) breaky. Time doesn’t exist. BPM is irrelevant. Genre? Who is she?
Meanwhile, Eva Porating together with Møreti take over the Living Room. Both being the human definition of a safe space and instant comfort creators with their presence, I often wish that those two would create a spaceless, timeless, sound cabin that everyone can enter anytime they want at any point of their life to find the comfort they need. How much happier we’d be as humans.
Eva Porating and Pepi Møreti, with their approach and characters, taught me that nothing is more valuable than knowing what you’re up to – and going for it, creating and developing your style over years, regardless of whatever’s trendy hot or not. Keeping their heads and hearts open, they also have the empathy for the people on the dancefloor and are very mindful of them. This mixed with a one in a kind taste? A must visit!
That creates a perfect bridge to my next favorite. The one I drag my friends to when introducing them to Ankali, the one that’s just on the other side! The yellow door brings us to the San Trancisco at the Ankali! All in one night! How did we deserve this?
With nothing but a Mate in my hands, I have been tripping on Mike.H sets countless times and in my honest opinion he’s just simply one of the best and most tasteful selectors in Czech Republic. Similarly to Eva and Møreti, a top-class DJ, one of the loveliest, purest human beings, with an exquisite taste and a flair for what’s up. One of my favorite memories of his set is how he was working the whole night at Till The Last we did with Lunchmeat and then right before his set he just changed his t-shirt to a fresh one and jumped in to play a set that blew everyone’s minds.
His San Trancisco colleague, Trance Kafka, is a skilled and experienced dj, a local sweetheart and a graduate with the diploma in the fast, heart melting and uplifting trance music. The emoji that says it all: 🫠 [melting face emoji]
Together, they are bringing a stellar selector Paquita Gordon who’s been on my “to watch” list for quite some time. She has a very careful ear and a good feeling for how to add depth and color to a mix that feels like a hug from an old friend. Her selection blooms with broad palettes of sounds and spans across words that are supposed to navigate one in the long-forgotten and mostly emotionally irrelevant genre world. What stands out the most is the strong surreal sunny atmosphere of a bright shiny day – I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen to all of us once we hear it in the room on the great sound system, being there all together.
Warm up for this celebration of sound is in the hands of Ana Mi – one of the most interesting new names on the scene that takes no rush in choosing her tracks and sensing the atmosphere beyond all, both of those are great qualities for any DJ. Careful and caring selector, I’m curious to hear her take on San Trancisco and excited for what she’s gonna bring to the booth.
Might sound as an unpopular opinion, but if you don’t love disco, do you even have a heart? A genre that’s absolutely perfect for spending time with the people you love, all blissfully smiling, like the world is not falling apart? Sounds that bring in the sunset regardless of the fact we’re in the middle of Winter in the Eastern Europe and it’s been nothing but 50 shades of grey outside and all physical states of water falling from the sky.
The Church of Disco celebrates 5 years, being one of the first of the Ankali’s series. I’ve been to lots of them and have nothing but the most vibrant, happiest, shiny memories. Of sweating all the kombucha out to NCOL’s sets while occasionally screeching to a hit that she’s about to throw in (seconds before the room goes completely nuts), of Katarína (the mastermind behind the party) handing out the bubbles and me running to the floor to blow them at the dancers. Of this specific moment past 2am when someone suddenly looks around and realizes the party goes on for quite some time and we still don’t have the glitter on. (How dare we do such blasphemy in the Church of Disco??)
And all the lip-syncs to the hits paired with the moves one’s too shy to pull out on a night darker than that one? Stunning! Disco Církev has been an unspoken place of freedom and fun, a welcoming place for all, a true safe space. Katarína did a great job of preserving the best of it and getting through the hardships of COVID and the fluctuations of the scene, and the best way to show her props is to show up. Get your best shirts and moves and head over to Ankali. Happy Birthday, Disco Církev, I feel love!
Check the full programme for December here.
Artwork for December 2022 was made in collaboration with Jan Hereš.
