Taliesyn

The Prague-based TALIESYN, named for the semi-mythical Welsh bard and patron of wizards, got together in the late 90’s with the aim of taking up the best of the anglophone folk scene of the 60’s and 70’s -- namely the legendary British outfit Pentangle. Gradually, TALIESYN steered in the direction of an idiosyncratic folk-rock fusion.
The band draws heavily on the songwriting talents of the lead singer Jan Bicovsky, the echoes of Central European folklore in the songs by Vojtech Jindra and the arrangements by the bandleader Robert Fischmann. In 2000 and 2001, the demo disks titled “Taliesyn” and “Four Flavours” came out. The line-up then underwent some changes, including the adoption of a drum kit, as opposed to the persussion set used in the previous years, which ultimately led to a more vigorous sound, fusing elements of folk, Celtic music, Czech and Moravian folklore, jazz and rock. The instrumentation remains largely “traditional”, with staple instruments such as acoustic guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, flute and violin, later complemented by the electric colours of the Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes. The current line-up includes Adam Pospisil on the violin, Filip Benesovsky on the bass, and Michal Dolezal and Radim Chrobok behind the keyboards and the drums, respectively.
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"If one listened to certain parts of Jizní Amnésie without hearing the entire album, it would be easy to assume that Taliesyn was from somewhere in Ireland or Scotland. This folk-rock band is very Celtic-influenced, and lead singer Jan Bicovský has no problem singing in perfect English. However, Bicovský also has no problem singing in perfect Czech, which would be unusual for a singer who grew up in Dublin, Glasgow, Belfast, or Edinburgh. But then, Taliesyn isn't from any of those cities; Taliesyn is from Prague, the largest city in the Czech Republic — and this is not a traditional Celtic CD. Rather, Jizní Amnésie is a bilingual folk-rock album that gets a great deal of inspiration from Celtic music (both the Irish and Scottish varieties) but has other influences as well. Many of the songs have jazz-influenced passages, and a few of them incorporate Middle Eastern elements. Instruments associated with Celtic music are used on this 2006 recording (including flutes, whistles, and the Celtic harp), but so are some instruments that are hardly traditional Celtic instruments. For example, Bicovský plays the bouzouki — an instrument that is closely identified with Greek music — on "Birds of the Hills," "Leaden Bible," "Wail-a-Way," and a few other tracks. And even though the bouzouki is an instrument that brings to mind the Never on Sunday soundtrack rather than albums by Tommy Makem or the Clancy Brothers, Bicovský's use of the Greek instrument doesn't make Jizní Amnésie sound any less Celtic-influenced. Jizní Amnésie is definitely risk-taking, but thankfully, this 45-minute disc never comes across as forced or unnatural; everything sounds totally organic. And Taliesyn deserves applause for providing an excellent album that manages to sound experimental and quite rootsy at the same time." (Alex Henderson, Allmusic, 2008)
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