5 minute read
WE ARE DOMI / PRAGUE
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INTRODUCTION
Hi there, it’s Benjamin, Casper and Dominika, or as our band is called: We Are Domi. We currently live in Prague and are also representing the Czech Republic in Eurovision 2022. Our music has always been difficult to put under one genre, but having been through our phases with drum and bass, Scandi pop, electronica and heartfelt ballads, we have finally come to terms with labelling our music as electro-pop. The three of us met when we were studying in the UK, or more specifically Leeds, when Dominika needed musicians for her vocal recital. She was into Aurora and Norwegian pop at that point, so when she laid her eyes on a couple of Norwegians in the year below her, she didn’t have to think twice about who to ask to create the music she wanted. As we were all into Norwegian pop as well, it was an easy decision to give this a try. We all vibed straight away, both emotionally and musically, and decided to continue being a band after the vocal recital. Since then, we have released seven singles, lived together during lockdown, and played a lot of fun gigs together. When we lived together during lockdown in Leeds, the world was at a standstill. We saw this as an opportunity to do what we had not-so-seriously discussed many times, move to Dominika’s homeplace, one of our favourite cities - where we also had most of our listeners at the time - Prague.
WITH WE ARE DOMI
PUBS/BARS
As pilsner/lager was invented in Czechia, it is only natural that we begin by talking about the pubs and drinking culture here, in the land with the highest beer consumption in the world. Moving from Leeds to Prague, we are also moving from one place where people generally like to drink, to another. However,
the drinking culture here does stand out quite a bit from how we experienced it in England. Having a (super cheap) casual beer is incorporated in everyday life for Czech people. We think the Czechs have no equals when it comes to the quality of the beer, compared to how cheap it is. It is hard to narrow down our favourite places to drink, as there are so many beautiful and historic pubs in this city. Our favourite place to have a drink in the summer would have to be at Letna Beer Garden, where you have a view over the river Vltava and the whole city. After having a few drinks there, you can continue with a five-minute walk to one of the city’s hotspots, known as “Stalin” (there used to be a 16-metre tall statue of Josef Stalin there), where there are daily outdoor gigs during the summer. If you want to have an indoor beer and some traditional Czech food, we’d recommend checking out one of the many Lokál’s around the city. Prague also offers many clubs, but as we are not big clubbers, we can’t really recommend any. Honorary mention: Strahov Monastery Brewery, founded in 1142, has been a beer brewery for over 600 years.
FOOD
The food in Prague is amazing, and as the city is a famous tourist attraction, it offers a very multicultural menu, and most places are vegan and vegetarian friendly. For traditional Czech food, we’d recommend U Veverky or Lokál. Vietnamese people are the third-largest minority in the Czech Republic, after Slovaks and Ukrainians, so there are a ton of Vietnamese restaurants here, if you enjoy Vietnamese food. Our top cheap places to eat would be: Cafe Louvre by Narodni Trida is a beautiful restaurant that offers great lunch menus. Mon House in Letenské náměstí, which serves Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian food, and if you want to order a pizza, get Johnny’s Pizza Bar. It doesn’t look the best from the outside, but the pizza is amazing.
HOLLYWOOD FILMS
A lot of Hollywood films come to Prague to shoot their films. Partially because of the beautiful scenery, but also because, much like with the beer, the Czechs can provide the highest quality equipment and crew, much cheaper than many other places. We bumped into good old Adam Sandler playing basketball last summer.
OUTDOOR CINEMAS
Outdoor cinemas and car cinemas are a big thing here. The latter I haven't seen since I saw the Grease movie, but it seems more common here. The non-car outdoor cinemas come in various cool locations, whether it is on a rooftop, in a beer garden or
VENUES
The Czech Republic moved into a lockdown just after we moved here, we haven’t gotten to experience this fully yet, and as we are in the middle of Eurovision preparations now, we don’t have time to play or attend gigs. There are, however, some beautiful venues in this city. One of our favourites is Jazz Dock, which is - much as the name suggests - a venue on the water. Go there if you want to enjoy a jazz gig, or a drink in the daytime when the sun doesn’t allow you to do anything else but have a refreshing cocktail by the river. Other than this, Prague offers many free park gigs, where you can see amazing acts. Last year, we walked through a park, and suddenly Portico Quartet was standing on the stage.
