Once in a while, you come across these absolutely fabulous video clips, this is one of them. The video clip is Ondrej Havelka and His Melody Makers playing "Beat me, daddy eight to the bar".
Ondřej Havelka and His Melody Makers is a band from the Czech Republic who like to play early jazz music. Besides being a musician and band leader, Ondřej Havelka is also an actor and director and you can tell that by the good cinematic quality of the video clip: the angles, the cutting and the acting.
The clip has such energy and humour that it's impossible not to be infatuated by it. Don't we all dream about being swept away to another time and place, where you can dance and enjoy yourself as much as you like and not having to care about a boring job?
Ondřej Havelka is multi-talented and is a good tap dancer, at least those half breaks looks really really good. To find out more about him, read this interview with Ondřej Havelka by Radio Prague.
In the video you can hear and see the vocal group The Swings.
A big thank you goes to band leader and trumpet player Peter Lind who told me about this clip after his concert on Saturday.
What do you think of this video clip with Ondrej Havelka and His Melody Makers playing "Beat me, daddy eight to the bar"? Do you find it as fantastic as I do? Tell me.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Ondrej Havelka - Beat me, daddy eight to the bar
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13 comments:
Don't miss the Me to tady nebavi video as well.
Absolutely delightful. Wonderful mix of talents. Astounding work.
Thanks for leaving a comment, Frankx. I really appreciate that.
Ttruly fantastic. I was in Prague early this year, and after a jazz concert in Agharta, I compulsively bought dozens of jazz CDs, being Ondrej Havelka included. I had not the slightest idea of this guy, buit the sleeve persuaded me. It was a fantastic surprise to find such a retro swing music.
I have a post on him on my blog. Although in Spanish, I trust you can still find some interesting material.
Thank you for commenting, DD. I'll keep an eye on your blog
I'm from Slovakia, now living in Canada.I was fortunate to see Onrej and his OPSO in Bratislava as a student about 23 years ago and it was like a time tunel into the 1930 or so. Thanks to Youtube I saw him today again and it wasn't just nostalgic return, but as well oportunity to appretiate his enormous talent as a singer, actor and dancer. I only wish, that they could make their way to Toronto. I enjoy every video clip I can find.
Best regards, Jozef.
My name is Michael, I'm from Germany and a great fan of the Original Prague Syncopated Orchestra whose successor is Ondrej Havelka & his melody makers!
I'm really faszinated from this song, interpreted by Ondrej!
Another good tip in terms of dance and swing music is Johnny Crawford and his dance orchestra. Hard to find the disc, but it will be reissued at the end of august in America.
Cheers
Michael
Ano ano ano! Ondrej & jeho Melody Makers are the greatest. I accidentally came across him/them because I wanted to hear 'Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar' on Youtube... I noticed the very Czech name and had to try it out. WOW, was I pleasantly surprised! Check out his other videos under OPSO(Originální Pražský Synkopický Orchestr) -- 'Charlie My Boy' was VERY authentic to the twenties!
Moin, Moin from Texas!
If you like Ondrej's music and the Golden entertainment of the 1920s, you might like Brendan McNally's dark comic novel "Germania" (Simon & Schuster, 2009), about the Flying Magical Loerber Brothers, four somewhat magical, Jewish vaudeville entertainers and onetime child stars who were the toast of Berlin before WWII and who reunite during the surreal, three-week "Flensburg Reich" of Admiral Doenitz, Hitler's very unlucky successor.
OPSO was founded in 1974 in PRAGUE ,Czechoslovakia,by- Pavel Klikar-Band leader.At first small band than in 1978 a Bigband.
One doesn't think of Eastern Europeans as "Hip". Until now that is. I'm blown away by your video! The good ole US of A would certainly welcome a resurrection of swing. Although an argument could be made that this particular style is "Boogie".
Dear Les Thank You. Yours sincerelly .....
Somebody sent me a link to this YouTube video as a Father's Day greeting. Searching for more information about this great performer led me to your blog, which I'll subscribe to. Looking forward to more great dance music.
Thanks!
Writing this comment while listening to the Melody Maker's cover of Rhapsody in Blue.
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