katus

KATUS SINGS IN EVERY TONGUE FROM CZECH TO ENGLISH AND BY A STROKE OF INSPIRED GENIUS, SHE SINGS THROUGH HER FLUTE.
KATUS. SOLFEST 2007 "MERMAIDS CALL" SOLFEST 2007 "MAGGIO
WORLD FOLK MUSIC THAT DANCES AT YOU!
KATUS has just returned from a 25 date tour of NEW ZEALAND, and played gigs in San Francisco. Look in the BLOG to find out more- they are returning there in November 2008.. In 2007 KATUS played SOLFEST, , SAZAVA Festival , Glastonbury, where she was made the official mascot by the Joe Strummer Stage who are using her song "Hey Hey" as their anthem, and on their forth-coming DVD. She also played the Cambride Folk Club & many other festivals and venues around Britain, as well as touring Croatia, Bosnia and Czech Republic , where Katus performed in Europe's largest Monastry.
Singing and composing in English, Czech, French, Elfin, and also singing Bulgarian, Gaellic, Russian, her natural switch between languages is brilliant. In June, A French documentary crew filmed their entire tour in the Czech Republic..
In 2006 she toured with Seth Lakeman, and Lenka Dusilova (CZ), and Katus has toured the West Coast of Ireland and around Europe many times since she began playing, wooing audiences, leaving them hankering for more..
In only 7 years of playing and writing, arranging music, her itch for the road and expert cultivation of the magic of the off-beat gig, have seen her pop up at sessions with Nigel Kennedy , Kroke and Donovan in the Polish Tatry Mountains , playing concerts in remote Romanian orphanages and singing to a packed houses at the London Jazz Cafe and Glastonbury. A real Troubador, She has learned her craft on the road forging her own path amid rip -roaring tours of Ireland, France and Eastern Europe. Between 2002 and 2005 she worked with multi-instrumentalist Tony Wrafter, and since early 2006 has been working and touring as a duo with sound engineer and percussionist JB , creating a sound that can only accurately be described as Katus music.

We are having a small festival at LOMECEK, near Domazlice in Czech Rep on Saturday 27th September. These are the pictures of the site- beautiful , an old quarry, now a spring fed lake, with bar, permanent outdoor stage, camping,.. Do you wnat to come?
" I've been a traveller and artist all my life- my music is inspired by Czech ,French, Catalan and and Irish of my Grandparents and the many cultures i've lived in. I write my own music, my own style.I do not wish to mimic ,so if i sing a traditional song, i just happen to feel it strongly. Music is a spiritual language, and sometimes i sing sounds which communicate beyond language. My journey first took me to Prague where for money i used to busk on Karlov Most playing an old wooden piccolo. I then went to France where i worked on a goat farm for a year or so, still painting, then love took me to America, where i travelled all over, and Canada and Mexico, recording what i saw in small travell books and watercolours. My mother who is an art restorer and gilder, taught me to gild when i was a child, and so i often picked up work in this trade. It was in Canada that my musical fire was ignited - i learned to play some harp and so went on a mission to Mexico to find my own harp and learn about their medicine. When i returned to the UK i begun to study Chinese herbal medicine, and my creativity was channelled into that until i went to China to do my clinical hours in a hospital. An explosion of painting, writing,music and songwriting and a passion for guitar is what i learned most in China- And so when i returned i qualified and put all of my attention to music. Segovia and Paco de Lucia are my inspiration, and I began performing straight away and travelled all over Eastern Europe, especially Bulgaria where i learnt many traditional songs and travelled with a folk group. I travel with music, this is what inspires me, and live performance is also a journey- this is what makes me feel alive." katus
Performing at such venues and events as The International Gypsy Guitar Festival,The CAmbridge Folk Club,Broadstairs Folk Festival, Big Green Gathering,Smallworld,N16 Fringe,The Troubador, Sazava Festival,Roisin Dubv Galway, Xianti Balkan Music Festival. She has guested many radio shows ,She was interviewed by the BBC Worldservice in Prague. You can hear this interview if you click on the link by the FOLKDEVILS logo, where you can also buy the DVD/CDs..

"She can sing. She can play. She's gorgeous. She'll make it!" Nigel Kennedy "I can't beleive she sings through the flute..Truly amazing!"
" Better than red stripe! Tales of love, fate & passion, culminating in a range of A-capella songs that staple you to your seat." N16Fringe,London.
"Her commanding, soulful voice with the breadth of her guitar playing merge into a fresh sounding musical genre uniquely her own." The Troubador.
When asked how to describe Katus' music, Simon Friend,song-writer of UK band The Levellers,smiled, tilted his head,and said, "Her music is beautiful."
"A mobile, self-generating, acousto-electric, time -travelling, singing-flute playing songwriter!" Hot-Press.
email : [email protected]
"If you're lucky enough to see Katus perform live, the first thing that'll melt is your heart, closely followed by your preconceptions. There's a fragility and delicacy about her physical presence that belies the strength of her music and the often powerful edge to her lyrics. This is no 'coffee-table' folk music. Katus's music leaves you at times feeling challenged, amused, disturbed and moved, but above all entertained. Katus imposes her artistic will on her songs in a way that blows away all cobwebs of predictability. The guitar work is particularly notable in this respect - Katus seems to create new styles of playing for each song based on what the song needs, not what has gone before. The result is a stunning series of arrangements matching the creativity and inspiration of the songs as a whole. The CD "SMILE", is a collection of highly unique and creative songs with catchy tunes, memorable lyrics and inventive guitar playing, but it's also capable of entertaining at a much deeper level which will reward anyone giving the CD the attention it deserves." Mally, Mad for Music
Katus - Smile “The whistling wind of diversity and change. This record will one day be regarded as the most important folk release to caress the mainstream.” Allan Baille, favorite albums of 2007.