An incredible 51 years will pass this year since the recording of the album Zelená pošta, which combines the compositional genius of keyboardist Marián Varga, the singing skills of Pavol Hammel, the genius guitar of Radim Hladík and the production skill of bassist Fedor Freš. Listeners will have a unique opportunity to hear the album live on May 21 at the Archa theater in Prague. The best players of the next Slovak musical generation will replace Pavol Hammel’s colleagues, who have passed away today. Fero Griglák (guitar), Martin Valihora (drums), Fedor Frešo jr. (bass), Vladislav “Slnko” Šarišský and Peter Preložník (keyboards) will perform with him from 8 p.m.
Zelená pošta consists of ten songs, among them, for example, Smutná ránna električka, Páví ples, Slnečnice or Z datelín. In Archa, fans will be able to listen to the entire album. The concert program will be complemented by other compositions such as the hits Zvoňte zvonky, Labutie piesne, Pieňe z kolovratku, as well as the Collegium Musicum Mikrokosmos composition.
The legendary album Zelená pošta is often referred to as one of the best albums of Slovak rock. It is the joint work of Pavol Hammel and Marián Varga. “In 1972, I composed and rehearsed the fourth album of the group Prúda, ‘Slahahačková princezna’. Marián Varga had great success with the Collegium Musicum group during this period, but despite our busy schedules, we found room for further collaboration after a three-year hiatus. Collegium Musicum was an instrumental group and they didn’t have a singer, and I missed Marián’s songs, which to a large extent defined the work of the Prúdy group on the record ‘Zvoňte zvonky’,” recalls Pavol Hammel about the creation of the album.
In the autumn of last year, Zelená pošta was performed in concert in Slovakia a total of eight times. All the halls were hopelessly sold out. During the recording of the Zelená pošta album in 1972, several important names of the Czech and Slovak music scene met – bassist and producer of the album Fedor Frešo, lyricists Boris Filan and Kamil Peteraj, Dušan Hájek on drums and guitarist Radim Hladík. “We met with Marián Varga in the experimental studio of the Slovak Radio in Bratislava and with the generous production help of Fedor Freš, we gradually recorded this project of ours. We didn’t know it then, but we believed that we were doing something that, even after 51 years, would have a great response not only from critics, but especially from fans of the original Czechoslovak beat,” adds Pavol Hammel.
