Buty is a Czech

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 music group, originally from Ostrava

Ostrava

Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...

, formed in 1986 by Richard Kroczek and Radek Pastrňák.
The founding members were soon joined by Vít Kučaj, Ivan Myslikovjan and Luděk Piásečný. The name of the group means „shoes“ in a local dialect.

The musical style of the band can be described as an eclectic mixture of rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, ethnic music, country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and other genres, with witty, dadaist lyrics. The group became popular in Czech republic in the beginning of 1990s, and peaked in the late 1990s, when the concerts were visited by thousands of spectators, and Buty was one of the most popular bands in the country. Buty recorded music for Jízda, a 1994 road-movie by Jan Svěrák

Jan Sverák

Jan Svěrák is a Czech film director. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák. He studied documentary filmmaking at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...

, which also features the band leader Radek Pastrňák as one of the main characters – the PPoommaalluu album is partially a soundtrack for the movie. After the gypsy style Normale album, which is often said to be misunderstood by the media and the public, the group underwent a crisis, and now the concerts are arranged on a smaller scale.

Current members

• Radek Pastrňák – lead guitar, vocals
• Richard Kroczek – drums
• Petr Vavřík – bass guitar
• Milan Nytra – keyboard
• Milan Straka – wind instruments
• Alan Švejk Hudeček – vocals
• Marek Moroň – vocals

Releases

• 1992 – Pískej si, pískej
• 1994 – Ppoommaalluu
• 1995 – Dřevo
• 1997 – Rastakayakwanna
• 1999 – Kapradí
• 2001 – Normale
• 2006 – Votom

External links

• Homepage (in czech)
• A fan page (in czech)
• Radio broadcast (in english)
• Last.fm profile (in english)