About Us

To the Very Roots

The tradition of folk songs from the American South of the first half of the twentieth century, performed by two original personalities of the Czech blues scene. The phenomenal blues duo PTASZEK & BUŽMA, that is, singer and virtuoso on the diatonic harmonica Matěj Ptaszek and singer and guitarist (especially a resonator guitar player) Lubomír "Bužma" Khýr. The two protagonists complement each other superbly. The vocals perfectly match the guitar and harmonica. The guitarist is more folk‑narrative, as is his guitar; the harmonica player then wails like authentic Black musicians with lungs ravaged by cotton and mouths blackened by tobacco. The harmonica playing itself is saturated with an endless range of expression, from moaning and crying to anger and defiance. The blues of this duo is not in the least a pose, not a game of playing at the blues where, in the end, only tiresome clichés come to the fore. Their blues is infused with warm, genuine humanity, further enhanced by the fact that Ptaszek & Bužma are also a pair of friends who share a similar life philosophy.