Dan Bárta

Dan Barta is one of the most talented Czech vocalists, the owner of a very distinctive voice, an artist who incorporates rock, musicals, funk, blues and jazz into his music style. With the release of his 2 solo albums "Illustratosphere" and "Entropicture" Barta embraces the jazz world and starts an intimate new journey. Originally an X-ray lab technician, then 36-year old Dan Barta began singing in Alice, a rock band from Plzen. They released three albums in the first half of the 1990's and became a sensation of the growing post Velvet Revolution Czechoslovak rock scene. Barta kept on searching further and several months later he joined the Czech version of Jesus Christ Superstar which has become the most successful musical on stage in the Czech Republic. Barta played and sang the roles of both Jesus and Judas in numerous performances. Another musical success - the role of Che in Evita followed. Dan Barta has been also singing in a soul - funky project Sexy Dancers (Czech Grammy Award for the best newcomers in 1998) and in a funky band called J. A. R. that has become a top live act in the Czech Republic. In their twelve years of existence J. A. R. have created not only the wild "funky party music" sound, gained thousands of devoted fans and released five successful albums, but the distinctive voice of their singer in particular, his contribution and charisma elevated the band to the top of Czech pop. Dan Barta was awarded 7 Czech Grammy Awards for THE BEST MALE VOCALIST in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Rock, pop, funky and finally....jazz. The album "Illustratosphere" was awarded the Czech Music Award in THE BEST ALBUM category and the homonymous band was named THE BEST BAND of 2000. Additionally the video for the song won THE BEST VIDEO category. It took over three years to complete the second album "Entropicture". All the songs were composed by the band and Dan again wrote the lyrics. "Entropicture" is a musically less intimate and complicated work than the previous album. "Entropicture" was awarded the Czech Music Award of 2003 in THE BEST RECORDING category. Dan Barta won another Czech Music Award for THE BEST SONG of 2004 which he co-wrote with his mates from J. A. R. for the most popular Czech movie of 2004 - Snowboard". Currently he has been working on new material with J.A.R. and getting ready for recording the third album with Illustratosphere. The retrospective double-album RETROPICTURE LIVE was released on the 24. November 2005.