DG307, one of the most significant acts in Czech counterculture history, are performing this Saturday evening at St Giles Church, Camberwell, London, as part of JazzLive at the Crypt.

Co-founded in 1973 by Plastic People Of The Universe stalwart Mejla Hlavsa and dissident poet Pavel Zajíček, the six-piece outfit are renowned for an uncompromising repertoire that encompasses tight alternative-rock song structures, jazz-influenced improvisation and dissonant, expansive soundscapes as backdrops for Zajíček’s intense, evocative vocal declamations.

The London performance will feature the band’s late 1970´s classics alongside more recent work and will also include excerpts from their setting of T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, originally composed and recorded in Camberwell.

Zajíček will be returning to his old stomping ground in south London where he spent much of the 1980s after a period of imprisonment by the authorities in communist Czechoslovakia.

While Zajíček himself became an active participant in Camberwell’s local music scene during this period before returning to his homeland in 1989 to resurrect the band, this will be DG307′s first ever gig in London – as part of the Made In Prague 2014 festival.

Aidan Andrew Dun and Lucie Rejchrtová will be making special guest appearances with the band.

To experience DG307′s arresting performance style, and in particular Pavel Zajíček’s unique onstage presence, you can check out an online video of the band’s 35-minute tour de force “Životy? Nebo bludné kruhy?” (“Lives? Or vicious circles?”) on their Bandzone page here.

The Czech Centre London is a coorganiser of this event and tickets can be bought here.

ARTISTS:    DG307 – Pavel Zajíček, legend of Czech underground culture + Aidan Andrew Dun + Lucie Rejchrtová

VENUE:    JazzLive at the Crypt, St Giles Church, Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8RB

DATE:    Saturday 22 November 2014