Famous Romani vocalist Věra Bílá returns to the Czech music scene with Jan Bendig and Milan Kroka
Romani musicians Jan Bendig and Milan Kroka have reached out to the legendary singer Věra Bílá and are planning her return to live performance together. The trio are heading to the recording studio to put together a song composed by Kroka and to film a video.
“I have admired Věra Bílá since I was a child. For me, she is a great legend who has achieved a great deal and done a lot of work for Romani music,” Bendig said on 2 February.
“For that reason, it is my great honor to be part of her return to where she belongs…. onstage,” the younger singer said. “Yesterday we rehearsed our songs together and Věra was in excellent form, she was ready, she sang beautifully and she also threw some funny shouts in there as well.”
“She was simply the Věra Bílá whom we all remember well,” Bendig said. While the reaction to the news from fans reportedly moved Bendig to tears, he will not be revealing what song they are planning to record.
“I won’t be telling you yet which song we will be recording. All I will say is that it will sound like a classic musical creation of Věra’s, whom we all love so much and thanks to whom Romani music has made such a beautiful name for itself in the world,” Bendig said.
Bílá’s attempt at a musical comeback was recently followed by both public broadcaster Czech Television and through a documentary film by directors Roman Šantúr and David Vondráček, “Věra Bílá’s Final Hope” (Poslední naděje Věry Bílé) describing the dramatic events in two years of her life. The distinctive vocalist, who has performed sold-out shows at L’Olympia in Paris and has sung for U.S. President Bill Clinton at the White House, is now living in a residential hotel in Rokycany, Czech Republic.
