Caravana Banda

At first you feel the energy of the band, then you hear melodies from a very old world: coming from gypsy stories, Balkan music, Polish swirls and Flamenco rhythms. Then the energy increases and blends with the songs, full of powerful lyrics and melodies that this Polish-Czech band writes, plays, creates, and composes. The band’s songs are both instrumentally brilliant, catchy, and originally arranged.

Caravana Banda draw from their roots by recreating some of the polish melodies, as well as from the Czech Moravia region. They also include traditional melodies from Romania, Albania, Macedonia, and Serbia. You will not miss the Spanish accent since the first band’s language is ESPAÑOL. The band juggles styles, rhythms, melodies, and languages. It is a real musical spectacle for all the senses. And then there is Magda Navarrete’s voice and dance. On the one hand she sings velvet boleros, on the other piercing flamenco notes, she can display many different voices.

The band was founded by Tomás Prusa – one of the vocalists of the cult Czech band Vltava- and Magda Navarrete – a renowned singer and flamenco dancer in Poland and South America. For years the band has been conquering audiences in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Finland and Spain.

An orchestra full of exotic instruments, talented and eccentric musicians:

At first you feel the energy of the band, then you hear melodies from a very old world: coming from gypsy stories, Balkan music, Polish Kurpie swirls and flamenco rhythms. Then the energy swirls and blends with the songs, full of poignant lyrics and melodies, that this Polish-Czech band writes, plays, creates, and composes. The band’s songs are both instrumentally brilliant, catchy, and originally arranged.

Caravana Banda draws from their roots by recreating some of the polish Kurpie melodies, but also from the Czech Moravia region. They also include traditional melodies from Romania, Albania, Serbia, Spain, Portugal. The band juggles styles, rhythms, melodies, and languages. It is a real musical spectacle for all the senses. And then there is Magda Navarrete’s voice and dance. On the one hand she sings velvet boleros, on the other piercing flamenco notes, she displays many different voices, remaining faithful to her passion for world music, which she presents in her performances with all her temperament and energy.

Caravana Banda has already played at many international festivals and has been part of interesting events in Poland and abroad. In 2018 they released the album “Mezihra”, on which the original ideas of Tomas Prusa and Magda Navarrete and traditional melodies from different parts of Europe are beautifully combined. You can permanently see and hear them on the stage of the Syrena Theatre in Warsaw where they put on their “caravana” show.

This is an international project combining the sounds of the Balkans, flamenco and Eastern European folk music — although this doesn’t really describe the diversity of sounds that you’ll hear on the album of this Polish-Czech band! Their incredible energy, musical artistry, ten languages, a dozen different cultural inspirations, and traditional as well as original melodies fuse together in this unique-sounding album, “Mezihra”.

In Czech, “Mezihra” means “interlude”, which is the middle portion of a musical piece. This Eastern-sounding word fascinated the musicians of Caravana Banda in rehearsals, during which they used their own form of “Esperanto”, as the band communicates in four languages: Polish, Spanish, Czech, and English. “Additionally, that term can mean ‘mezi gra’, as in, ‘playing in the middle’, which is what we do — we play in Central Europe and bring together sounds from the East and West” — says vocalist Magda Navarrete.

The band members say that they play music from many corners of the continent: from energetic Balkan and Spanish rhythms, the band is also “taking” from their own Eastern European roots: songs from the Kurpie and Moravia regions of Poland and the Czech Republic. Most of the album consists of original compositions, which is rare for Balkan bands. This album is also the fruit of over three years of performances together — most of these songs have passed the “audience test”, with flying colors. And the band’s chemistry is not only clear on stage, but also during their trips together, in their ability to sleep anywhere, eat chips when lacking real food, and spend ten-hour traffic jams together. They want listeners to experience their passion, musicality, and wild adventures through this album, and be drawn into their nomadic stories.