History - Petnik

The history of the band

year 1999

August - band leader Honza chose us. He knew some, others applied through advertisement
31st Aug. - together we founded a vocal group, which is named Petnik in October. In the founding arrangement were: Honza Hucin - band leader and 2nd tenor, Manca Srsnova - alto, Dan Pikalek - bass, Lenka Krausova (from October 1999 exchanged by Lenka Horakova) - soprano, Honzik Lukavec - 1st tenor
November - First concert in Prague in the Lhotecky church; had a guest group "Kvokal"
First foreign concert at the festival of Sacral Art in Kosice, Slovakia

year 2000

Spring - we travel around different rounds and "xmi-finals", tramp competitions and festivals; we have a live broadcast on radio Country
Summer - we sing at the festivals of Kolinsky ostrov, Zahrada and finally in Pilsen
Autumn - 1st anniversary, we start off on harder songs. We gain contacts and supporters in and around Ostrava. We record 6 songs for the radio "Proglas" in Brno, 2 of which are later included on the sampler CD of the "Radio Proglas songs 2000"

year 2001

Spring - Our first performance in the Pilsen club "Hi-Fi". We have a live concert in radio Proglas.
June - at the tramp competition in Usti nad Labem we got to the semi-finals (and gained the silver medal with the referees in Prague just before)
July - We participate in the festival "Zahrada v Namesti na Hane", where, according to MF Dnes, we "won the hearts of the audience"; we are very pleased to earn the prestigious prize Krtecek (a mole), for the 3rd place in the audience elections of the best band
August - Finally, we perform at the festival "Prazdniny" in Telc and
September - the 1st tenor Honza Lukavec leaves to study in Germany, we have to substitute him: the2nd 1st tenor is now Tomas Hruby, a renowned script supervisor of the magazine "Folk & Country". His first performance is at the festival in "Toulcuv dvur" in Prague
November - We made it to the semi-finals of the Pilsen "Lokalka" competition in the Hi-Fi club.
December - We have our autumn performances again in Ostrava (dtto. the "Festvocal" festival), ending with a very successful concert in the "Balbin" poetic pub in Prague

year 2002

February - we are guests to "Zalman & spol." in broadcast of "Brnkani na dusi" in the Malostranska beseda in Prague
Spring - attending the tramp competitions, got the 2nd in Prague again! and got to the semi-finals in Usti nad Labem. We are invited to the "Folk Rose" and the "Garden" festival. Another successful performance at the "Kolinsky ostrov" festival
7th&8th May 2002 - We record 9 songs in the Good Day Records studio, thus the demo "Petnik - Demo 2002"
June - We sing in the finals of tramp competitions and also at the beautiful festival in Stribrna.
Summer - We have 5 performances at all at "Garden" festival and 3 unexpected ones at the "Folk Rose" in Jindrichuv Hradec. We need a 1st tenor again and also a 1 year substitute for the soprano Lenka, who is leaving to study abroad.
September - the "singer picks" for the tenor and soprano places are over, we chose our new, young and beautiful tenor singer - Jakub, undoubtedly the youngest-ever member of the band; the soprano part was a little harder to fill, but, in the last moment, we discovered Misa, our new soprano, who has a lot of experience in choir singing from the "Nasi Pevci" and also a lot of stories from her business trips abroad and from the Czech parliament to tell the rest of us, when we're not singing
17th September - we said goodbye to Tomas and Lenka through the concert in Cercany cinema and we started the biggest yet vocal reconstruction of the band
8th November - apart from Honza's birthday, we had a series of concerts in the new band composition, in the Bystricke Banjo festival, we even weren't last in the audience band ranking
December - we face some snow on the Nova Bystrice square and we also have some notes flying off into a fountain, we have a fourth time of singing at a Prague Bethlehem exhibition

year 2003

winter - the sound is slowly settling; so are we (in a car) and are touring the Czech lands; we have a record time tire change (thanks to Jakub). Dan is preparing for his wedding (and is successful at it too) and we have the pleasure of singing the Truverska mse there
spring - at the qualification for Zahrada we first get the impression we're in tune and are beginning to feel the music in the same way; this is proved by a very successful concert in the Zahrada club in Prague and on other occasions as well, thus inspiring great optimism in our hearts as we look forward to the summer
July - the two festivals Zahrada and Porta are in the same week again; unfortunately our time set for the Porta semifinals is totally unacceptable and so we give up on it; however Zahrada goes that much better, we thank Misa for her part in the band while substituting Lenka
August - not even a swift tire change saved us this time, we don't manage to get to Nova Bystrice on time and we are very glad we can at least sing at the festival in Telc; Lenka is with us full-time now, she's learning new songs and Jakub is, at the same time, learning the old ones, which Lenka knows; and all of us learn the newest ones; we're planning to record a CD, which should be out sometime next year
November&December - we get more self-confident after a series of successful concerts, record our songs and make a choice for our first CD

year 2004

January to March – we negotiate and arrange all regarding our new CD recording; but, before the CD is born, Karolina Hucinova and Sara Pikalkova come into this world, which means that there are four band babies suddenly, including those born in the families of former band members – Daniel Hruby (December 2003) and Marketa Petrickova (February 2004); we discover that Manca is with the fifth baby, to be born in September
March and April – we reach the semi-final of Trampska Porta in Usti nad Labem (for the third time in our history), we decide to skip the qualification for Zahrada festival
April and May – we occupy the Good Day Records studio and, under the command of Jirka Masek, we put one note after another into a virtual recording strap; our CD is given the name V botach snu (In Shoes Of Dreams), and we really enjoy it
Summer – our very first cd is on the market, and it’s off to the summer festivals for us; I needn’t mention the cd is not getting left behind, nor is our new microphone; in Telc we’re singing in the chateaux courtyard this year; Manca’s belly is growing by the day, and thus more and more songs are taken over by Veronika Sussmannova, who agreed to stand-in until Manca is fit and ready again; the autumn Spiritual Fest is wholly Veronika’s affair
Autumn – Petnik has grown by one new small member – Manca’s Simon (he demanded to practice along with us, in order to be in his mom’s reach, for the time being, we hope :) some unforgettable experiences this autumn, like the concert at the Klatovy Theater; Veronika is getting on, though we’d never trade Manca in for her
December – Manca proves wanting to get back to us as soon as possible – sings a few carols with us at a traditional Christmas Exhibition in Prague; we discover a good opportunity to earn singing carols in Prague hotels

year 2005

January to March – the drive to freshen our repertoire up a bit unfortunately results in the sad fact that (due to illnesses and other such excuses) we won’t be capable of actually performing any of the about a dozen new songs while Veronika’s still with us; at the Balbinova Poeticka Hospudka it’s already one song sung by the six of us – Manca is slowly beginning to regain her former position
Spring – a concern in Jaromer; a formal good-bye to Veronika really, whom we thank very much for soldiering with us and standing-in for Manca; we place first in the Prague Finals of the Trampska Porta competition (this is already Manca singing)
April and May – there are two unpleasantries coming up at this time – Jakub’s absence from the Zahrada Festival, and Lenka’s threat to leave for Uganda for six months at the end of the summer; the stand-in for Lenka – Martina Spurna – we finally refuse, because as it turns out, Lenka isn’t going anywhere after all; the stand-in for Jakub, who in fact is absent, when he says he will, got taken care of by Jirka Havelka, a member of the Exfanta; all one had to do to see this result of events was going to work nicely, was to see Lenka and Jirka together at the Zahrada
Autumn – two festivals at Brno and a band camp at Strnadovsky mlyn (an old rebuilt mill) with our partners and children; we discuss the future look of the band, the repertoire and an eventual recording of our second album
December – a storm of advent and Christmas concerts of various kinds closed with our already second performance in the history of the band at the Jalta Hotel, which at the same time is a stormy farewell to Dan, who is leaving the band for family reasons

year 2006

February – after a brief picking time we have Jirka Havelka back with us, this time not as a substitute tenor singer, but as the permanent bass; the planned recording is moved ad acta, we spend more time on practicing our new songs with our new singer
Spring – after a three-month break our first performance in front of an audience; there are new songs appearing and new ideas; further talk is given to the thought of a second album: if, how and where and what songs to pick
Summer – Honza's monopoly as the sole composer of our group is broken by Jirka, who creates a very nice acapella version of Konvička; the work on our second CD is put aside by Manča's second pregnancy
Autumn – as part of a master thesis of one of Jirka's schoolmates of the Electrotechnical Faculty ČVUT, we are invited to record three songs and one video clip

year 2007

January – instead of a „proper” CD we record seven songs at the theatre Divadlo za plotem, where our friend Pavel Rada works; even though we recorded the whole thing at once and without editing, and although influenza is ripe in this season, the results are outstanding
March – at Balbínova poeticka hospudka, at one of the most successful concerts in the history of the band, Veronica substitutes for Manča, and although she doesn't know yet, she will be singing with us for more or less all of our remaining concerts
Spring – Lenka and Jirka announce to leave at the end of the summer season; the concert list is reduced to only a few items; even so we still have a chance to sing at Zahrada in the main program
August – the performance at the Letní škola slovanských studií marks the beginning of a period of searching for new singers