User:Azgalus/Michal Habrda

Michal Habrda (*29th December 1968, České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia) is a music composer, multi-instrumentalist, musician, film-maker, cameraman, producer and a founder of a private radio station Evropa 2 České Budějovice.

Childhood and youth
Michal Habrda was born on 29th December 1968 in České Budějovice to the family of František Habrda, who was one of the last artistic metal smiths. His mother Eliška, née Holubová, worked as a chief economist of the South Bohemian branch of the Czech Red Cross. He has two siblings – an older brother Ivan and a younger sister Eliška. The strongest encouragement for his artistic tendencies came, aside from his parents, from his grandmother Eliška Holubová and his uncle Ivan Holub, who was a stage actor..

He first became more interested in music at the age of 13 thanks to the gypsy band Bratři, then led by a singer and bass guitarist Josef Peter, who gave him individual lessons on bass guitar. His formative experience, however, did not come solely from big beat, as he also became interested in film music and classical music.

In 1981 he bought his first bass guitar (Jolana Typhoon) and entered the Otakar Jeremiáš music school (subject double bass/bass guitar) where he studied under Josef Štochl and successfully graduated after 5 years.

ATD (1983–1992)
In 1983, he founded, together with his schoolmates, his first band, ATD. He wrote both his own scores and lyrics and acted also as the band‘s producer and organizer. The first big success was an invitation to the Czechoslovak Radio, where the band recorded two select songs. The recording took place on 15th April 1985 under the direction of Ivan Pokorný (Minnesengři). The first song recorded was Jediný sen, with both score and lyrics by Milan. The song was broadcast on the Mladá Vlna program and then for several years on the Czechoslovak Radio.

ATD made various public appearances, performed in festivals, and continued recording their own pieces for the Czechoslovak Radio. The band was active until the spring of 1987, when it went on hiatus.

In 1987, Michal Habrda started his compulsory military service, where he continued playing music in several army bands and sang in an army choir, with which he successfully performed at the nationwide army artistic competition ASUT. After finishing military service, he sang in a mixed army choir Mládí, with which he also participated in international singing competitions.

Leonardo (1992–1998)
The ATD was dissolved in 1992, but still in the same year Michal Habrda formed a new band, Leonardo. He also created and composed its repertoire. Its first official album, Procitám, came out on 1st November 1993. The song Odpusť, also accompanied by a music video, successfully appeared several times among top songs on radio record charts. The music video was also successful, featured on all nationwide TV channels and was the first to receive the wild card in the ESO program on TV Nova. Leonardo then went on a concert tour and continued performing. For the whole time of the band’s existence, Michal acted as its producer and organizer. Despite all its successes, Leonardo ceased activity in 1998.

Kyberon
In 1999, Michal became a co-founder of a cult-controversial group, from which emerged the band Kyberon. Its album came out in May 2001 under the title 2-0-0-1, released by the international publisher BMG. This album was accompanied by music videos Atomový peci and Odhodil tělo.

Kristian (virtuoso violinist)
Kristian Vacek was born on 17th October 1980 in the Czechoslovakia. Since the age of 3, he lived in Finland, where he studied at the Toivo Kuula Institut in Vaasa. In 2000, he returned to the Czech Republic. In 2001, Kristian Vacek began a collaboration with Michal Habrda, who composes, arranges and produces pieces for him. Kristian is the first Czech-Finnish violinist to combine virtuoso violin playing with modern acoustic and electronic instruments. His first recording was Habrda’s modern arrangement of Scherzo Tarantelle by  H. Wieniawski, released in May of 2002 by the international publisher BMG/Czech Republic. In September 2009, he released his first album Symbiosis, in 2014 his second, called Esence.

Studio work
Throughout his whole career, Michal Habrda has worked as a recording studio engineer and a producer. His studio is used for recording by many bands and music formations of different genres. He has an interest not only in composing and arranging music, but also in technical sound processing.

Since 1992, he has maintained a studio collaboration with the musician Pavel Anděl Pokorný (Minnesengři). Together they reworked and arranged several albums, some of them published by e.g. Universal Music. But Michal did not stop at composing and arranging songs and music. He also began composing instrumental music for documentaries, films and commercials.

In 1994, he became a managing director of a private independent radio station. In 1996, he obtained his own licence and founded a radio station Evropa 2 České Budějovice on the frequency 90,5 FM. As a radio director, he has been providing media support for several concerts of world-renowned artists (U2, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins etc.). Evropa 2 České Budějovice has under his leadership also served as media partner and organizer of many charity events. Michal Habrda continues to organize other events to this day.

While he was working at Evropa 2 České Budějovice, he also began to set up his first recording studio. He has gradually developed his own multimedia studios, which have since produced hundreds of recordings including music videos, commercials and documentaries. In these studios, he has been providing directorial, production, arranging and technical services including audio mixing and mastering. He has also an interest in film image and its processing. As a cameraman, he completed many video projects, documentaries and music videos.

NuArt Media
In 2012, together with his older son Daniel, he founded a multimedia production company NuArt Media, s.r.o., which includes their independent music production company NuArt Music, whose online music distribution has been provided since 6th March 2020 by the Swiss company iMusician Digital AG. NuArt Media, s.r.o. represents the pinnacle of many years of interest in, and experience with, multimedia, combining film and music studios and providing production, organizational and technical services to musicians, music formations and filmmakers.

Albums

 * 1992 90s demo tape
 * 2007 The View (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 * 2008 Sixteen Stopovers (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 * 2015 The Right One (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 * 2015 Tavern (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 * 2017 Expectation (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 * 2017 The Cube (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 * 2018 From Hell to Hell (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Cooperation

 * 1993 Leonardo – Odpusť (singl)
 * 1993 Leonardo – Procitám (album)
 * 1993 Jakub Jan Ryba – Česká mše Vánoční (album)
 * 1993 PF 1994 Rádia 21 (album)
 * 1995 Leonardo – Sbírka z Kufru (album)
 * 1995 Dobrou noc (album)
 * 1996 Leonardo – Sbírka snů (album)
 * 1997 Ještě jednou šťastné a veselé (album)
 * 1998 Ex Leonardo – Ke hvězdám (album)
 * 2000 Skoks – Po proudu (album)
 * 2001 Jižní sprcha (album)
 * 2001 Kyberon – 2-0-0-1 (album)
 * 2002 Kristian – Tarantule (singl)
 * 2002 Pějme píseň dokola (album)
 * 2002 Mechanical orange – Call orange (album)
 * 2004 Blamage – Vzpoura otroků (album)
 * 2005 Yana – Planeta srdce (album)
 * 2007 Sichrhajs – Show! buzzyness radio (album)
 * 2009 Kristian – Symbiosis (album)
 * 2012 Kristian – Essence (album)
 * 2013 Gabreta – Síla v nás (album)
 * 2014 Gabreta – Motor (singl)
 * 2014 Pampalini Funky Jam – Wonder (singl)
 * 2015 Trio Ridente – Antonín Dvořák – Moravské dvojzpěvy (album)
 * 2018 Dědek Band – The Blues (album)
 * 2019 Honza Kirk Běhunek – ... for workshop (album)