Circus Ponorka

O Circus Ponorka

The guitarist and composer Honza Ponocný has been in a number of bands; his most noted presence being Circus Praha, a quartet he founded with Brad Stratton, who lived in Prague at the time. Ponocný would later become a support musician and composer for various pop-music celebrities although he would feel most compelled to run a private project. That “private project” is Circus Ponorka, a one-man-band the name of which amalgamates the name of his former band and the nickname he is known by to the world of music.

Circus Ponorka is a project that is most probably unique on the global scale. Honza combines the guitar, two microphones and loops recorded in real time on the stage, creating the sound of an entire band. His “dance on the guitar pedals” is more than a pleasure to watch. Other solo performers, however, typically engage in building alternative or psychedelic structures, Ponocný’s priority remains to compose melodic songs many of which have the potential of a hit single. The visitors of music clubs and festivals as well as the viewers of the film Perfect Days by Alice Nellis can prove the above because Honza Ponocný composed and recorded many parts of the film’s score.