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Indy & Wich |
Indy & Wich, Hradec Kralove 11.29.02
[2002-12-03]
In October this year, Indy & Wich embarked on a 10 date tour of the Czech Republic to promote their debut LP, ?My 3?. This tour, however, did not include their hometown Prague. In the context of a Europe which seems increasing obsessed with the Czech capital, and considering the city?s continuing dominance of the domestic music industry, this 6 week retreat into the provinces might look ill-advised. But the enthusiasm of domestic hip-hop fans ensured packed venues across the country, undoubtedly improving Indy & Wich?s nationwide record sales, and setting an important precedent for other groups.
Here in Hradec kralove, a city of 100,000 residents, Indy & Wich?s mini-tour comes to an end; but there don?t seem to be any fireworks to mark the occasion. The El Diablo club is essentially a basement with a bar and a wall painting of a laughing Buddha spinning records. Tonight, it is packed to the rafters with kids in baseball caps and baggy jeans. People are standing on the chairs and tables to get a view. In a town where the streets are otherwise sparsely occupied on a Friday night, it is quite a sight.
Indy & Wich arrive on stage, greeted by applause and shouts of recognition. They are, as they are constantly reminding us, not a duo, but a three piece, consisting of DJ Wich, and MCs Indy and La4. They are well known on the Czech Hip-Hop scene and are often cited among the most popular groups, but they have struggled to emerge from the shadow cast by their elder brothers on the Prague scene, and fellow members of the ?terorist?? posse, Peneri Styricka Homeboye (of whom DJ Wich is also a member). This is a shame, considering Indy & Wich contains one of the finest DJ/MC partnerships Central Europe has to offer.
Wich?s turntablism is impressive. There is a lot of embarrassing, amateurish scratching around in this region, probably due to the high-cost of turntables. Breaking and MCing can be picked up with little or no financial investment, which may be why both these skills have developed so quickly here, but accessing professional DJ equipment requires the kind of disposable income an average Czech wage does not provide for. Wich, however, has transcended this adversity and is notably ahead of the domestic competition. On record his skills are polished and professional, but live his dexterity and flair combine with the edge and crackle of classic old-skool turntablism. He has a complex and rhythmic style, and though his skills are apparent to anyone paying attention, thankfully we are spared excessive exhibitionism.
The main focus is on the two rappers, Indy and La4. Indy is an amazing MC. Like a young Sadat X, his rhymes are delivered quickly and his flow is melodic but unrelenting. The natural expression in his voice, combined with the syncopation of his native language, keeps his style interesting even to those who don?t understand Czech. La4 is also a competent performer, with a slightly less striking rapping style that complements Indy?s rhymes perfectly. They work well together on stage, hyping DJ Wich and getting the crowd involved.
Tonight?s is a short but enthusiastic performance to a very excitable audience. They only play tracks from this year?s debut album, and their tight act and professionalism is a result of years playing together on the scene. Their bouncy intro track, complete with bong sound effects, gets things going nicely. Most of their tracks are based, in true NYC fashion, on very repetitive loops, which allows the MCs to showcase their skills. It is also a sign that most of their flows are borne of freestyles, rather then traditional lyric writing. There is an eclectic mix of backing tracks; ?Tema? rides on elevator jazz loops, ?Noc je _? is carried on a herbaliser style groove and the night?s highlight is an uplifting, string laden version of the title tack from their album, ?My 3?. After barely 40 minutes, Indy & Wich leave the stage, without any encore. The crowd may be disappointed, but the experienced act are clearly aware that playing for too short a time is far preferable to playing for too long.
So Indy & Wich?s visit to the Czech Republic comes to a successful conclusion. Hopefully, this kind of tour will prove beneficial for them, so others may follow their example. Dependency on Prague in the music business increasingly drains money and talent from the rest of the country, and the whole scene would benefit from a little redistribution of success. If the pattern of artistic centralization were to continue unmitigated, there is a danger that the Czech Republic would become nothing more than a dispersed suburb of Prague, with no cultural message except that which the capital provides. Hip-Hop may have to be the trail-blazing genre in this respect. Despite most of the actual labels and groups being based in Prague at the moment, Czech Hip-Hop has maintained a curiously dispersed fan base, which may offer the music a less Prague-centric future. In Hip-Hop "?every City is one family", as Indy declares onstage tonight. The more acts from Prague, like Indy & Wich, are willing to travel, the more young people from other towns will start picking up the mic and putting out records of their own. This would diversify the music and ideas communicated, as well as allowing the financial rewards of the industry to be more evenly shared.
Stuart Campbell
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