Singer, cellist and songwriter Dorota Barova releases a new album entitled Pisen pro Mi (Song for Mi). Following the success of her two previous albums, Iluzja (Illusion, 2018), which received the prestigious Czech Music Academy Award for Jazz Album of the Year, and Dotyk (Touch, 2021), which was nominated for the same award, Barova brings an album featuring eight new songs, all of which have been composed by herself and recorded together with Barova's long-term collaborators, guitarist Miroslav Chyska and bass player Milos Klapste, who are joined by Jan Krejca on Baroque lute as a guest. Pisen pro Mi is characterized by the same original style, sound and intimate tender atmosphere as the previous recordings, the major difference, however, is that here, Barova sings in Czech. Coming from a bilingual family from the Czecho-Polish borderland, Polish seemed a natural choice for her on the previous two albums, regardless of whether writing her own lyrics or setting to music poems by Polish authors. This time round, she decided to work with texts of her close friend, Czech artist, musician and poet Michaela Vejnarova, who passed in 2023: "As soon as I got hold of her notebooks full of sketches and texts, I knew I wanted to record an album that'd include not only her poems as lyrics, but reproductions of her paintings as well. I chose seven poems which reflect her inner world of dreams, her kindness and witty cunningness. The album's title comes from an eponymous song, which is my tribute to Mi and the only song on the album that I sing in Polish," says Dorota Barova. Besides her solo career, Barova has participated in many other projects. She is a regular member of Aneta Langerova's band and the Czech-and-Slovak jazz formation Vertigo, with who she has received several Czech Music Academy Awards. With Jan Valik she forms the Polomy duo and is also member of the Tellemarkk trio, together with Pavel Hrubý and Tomas Reindl. With Andrea Konstankiewicz, she formed the cello duo Tara Fuki (between 2000 and 2022) and she previously performed in the rock project Tugriki, founded by members of Korben Dallas. Thanks not only to her rich experience in pop, rock, jazz and experimental music, but also her unmistakable velvety voice and original approach to composition and arrangement, Dorota Barova has been one of the most remarkable presences on the Czech alternative-pop scene.
