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Mnaga a Zdorp
/the band from Valmez/

Founded in Valasske Mezirici, the history of the band Mnaga a Zdorp goes back to 1987. Thanks to the November changes in 1989, Mnaga was able to release their first album "Made in Valmez". The album release was followed by the tour round the Czech Republic. In 1991 Mnaga also toured several British clubs and appeared in John Peel's program on BBC radio.

The Band was nominated for the Czech Gramy twice in 1992 /in categories Album of the Year and the Talent of the Year/ and as a first Czech interpret signed a contract with an international recording company BMG. The album "Furt rovne"/Still straight on/ was the bestseller with about 50.000 copies sold and singles from this album occupied the highest positions in the TV charts.

The following year brought the Melodie award /Melodie is one of the Czech best musical magazines/ for the Album of the Year and The Best Band of the Year 1993 and also another nomination for Czech Gramy. The band signed a new contract with the leading recording company - Monitor/EMI and released their third album "Radost az na kost", minialbum "Valmez Rock City" , collection of their all videos "Videotapes" and a book on a history of the band "Z nejhorsiho jsme uvnitr."

During 1994 the lead singer Petr Fiala worked together with a Moravian folk singer Karel Plihal on his solo project " Necum a tleskej". The band followed on touring and the total number of the gigs reached 500. In 1995 Mnaga a Zdorp asked the famous Czech American producer Ivan Kral to produce their fourth album "Ryzi zlato". The album was out in the autumn 1995 and was very well accepted both by their fans and the musical critics and occupied the Top Ten of best-selling Czech albums for several weeks. The video to "Nejlip jim bylo" succeeded in the Czech TV chart ESO and also appeared in MTV´s program devoted to the Czech Rock Scene. In autumn Mnaga a Zdorp also started their so far biggest tour that consisted of 50 concerts in the Czech Republic and 10 in Slovakia.

In 1996 the members of Mnaga were chosen by a playwright Petr Zelenka to act in a film about an artificially created rock band - "Mnaga-Happy End". Produced by the Czech television and Monitor/EMI the movie was released at the same time as the soundtrack M_ága - Happy End. The film won several awards at the film festivals in Cottbus, Plzen and Ceske Budejovice. The release of the soundtrack was followed by another mega tour - Happy End Tour 96.

At the beginning of 1997 Mnaga continued the successful Happy End tour and apart from app. 30 concerts in the Czech clubs played 10 concerts in Slovakia and 2 in Germany /Berlin, Potsdam/.

The 'Bajkonur' album released in September was among the best selling Czech records for couple of weeks and was also followed by a successful tour. During the tour Mnaga faced first personal changes after a long time. Guitarist Radek Koutnz left to play with his own band Raus. Jaromir Mikel who is with the band until today substituted him. The drummer Karel Mikus was taken to hospital in the middle of the tour so the band had to find a new drummer immediately. The ex Street drummer Pavel Fadrny seemed to be the right person. Although he was originally hired only to finish the tour, he became a member of Mnaga.

In 1998 Mnaga went on touring Czech republic and Slovakia. The band started working on new songs for album 'Chces me? Chci te!' that was recorded in December and released in March 1999. Again it hit the highest positions in the charts and was followed by a successful tour that lasted until summer 2000. In 1999 Petr Fiala released a book of Mnaga´s lyrics a poems ' Vyhledove'.

In August 2000 Mnaga recorded their ninth album 'Nic slozityho'. Mnaga also released a reedition of their first ever album 'Made in Valmez' . With 11 added bonuses and a DVD track it became a hot tip for most Mnaga´s fans. In the same year the original album was awarded a prestige prize 'The album of the 9th Decade'. 43 musical reporters and publicists chose the album as the best Czech album of the last 10 years. Mnaga continued touring until summer 2001 when they started preparing for their Best of album. Apart from the remastered old stuff the album also includes cover versions of the songs of popular Czech folk singers. It was released in October 2001 and was followed by the Best of tour that continues up to now. Part of the tour was carried out in the USA where Mnaga played three concerts in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.

In spring 2002 the drummer Pavel Fadrny seriously injured his shoulder in an accident and could not carry on touring with the band at least for several months. So two years after the last line up changes the band had to find a new drummer, as the tour was already booked and the dates could not be cancelled. The band asked Pavel Koudelka (Dunaj, Boo, Led Zeppelin Revival) to join them for the rest of the tour. Pavel became a regular member in the summer 2002. In June 2002 also the band’s original saxophonist Lukas Filip left – apart from Petr Fiala he was the last founding member. The new saxophonist became Roman Volny.

In Janury 2003 Mnaga started preparing stuff for a new album. The band is in the studio right now, nine new songs are nearly finished and Mnaga is working on a few more. The first single has been released in June and the whole album will be out at the beginning of October.

More info on Mnaga´s history and present can be found on www.mnaga.cz

MNAGA A ZDORPLINE UP

Petr Fiala - lead vocals, accoustic guitar
Petr Nekuza - bass guitar
Martin Knor - guitar
Jaromir Mikel - guitar
Roman Volny - sax, keyboards
Pavel Fadrny - drums

Singles :
1990 - Rock Debut /Panton/
1994 - Valmez Rock City /Monitor EMI/

LPs :
1990 - Made in Valmez /N.A.R./
1992 - Furt rovne /BMG Ariola/
1993 - Radost az na kost /Monitor/EMI/
1994 - Necum a tleskej! - Petr Fiala´s solo project/Monitor/EMI/
1995 - Ryzi zlato /Monitor/EMI/
1996 - Happyend - soundrack /Monitor/EMI/
1997 - Bajkonur /Monitor/EMI/
1999 – Chces me? Chci te!
2000 - Made in Valmez /reedition + DVD track, Monitor EMI/
2000 - Nic slozityho /Monitor EMI/
2001 – Jen pro vlastni potrebu – Best of /Monitor EMI/

Books - videos:
1993 - Z nejhorsiho jsme uvnitr - autobiographical book /Hajek/
1999 - "Mnaga a Zdorp - Vyhledove" – book of the lyrics, /MATA/
1994 - Mnaga a Zdorp Videotapes - videos /Monitor/EMI
1996 - Mnaga Happyend - film /Bontonfilm/

NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS:
1992 - Melodie award nomination in cathegory The Album of the Year
1993 - Czech Gramy nomination for The Band of the Year
1993 - Melodie award in cathegory The Band of the Year
1993 - Melodie award in cathegory The Album of the Year - Furt Rovne
1995 - Czech Gramy nomination for The Band of the Year
1995 - Czech Gramy award in cathegory Producer of the Year - Ivan Kral for Ryzi
zlato
1996 - the film "Mnaga - Happy End" was awarded the first prize at the film festival in
Cottbus
1996 - first prize for "Mnaga - Happy End" at the film festival in Plzen
Regular awards by Czech musical magazines Roc & Po, big Beng, Roc Report.
2000 – prestige award ' The album of the Ninth Decade'