Do you love Czech fairy tale classics? Is your favorite an elegant Eliška from The Watermill Princess? Does Saxana’s lexicon of spells appeal to you? Or are you looking for happiness with Markétka from The Helluva Good Luck?
Watching fairy tales is a nice way to relax. But how about unwinding with the tunes from your faves and listening to the lyric tenor? Then listen to David Deyle, a Czech singer, and his Kúzelné melódie (Magic Melodies).
David Deyl mainly creates his original songs, but recently, he surprised the music scene with a project that brings a digest from traditional Czech fairy tales. After three years of intensive work, he could say that fairytale hits have Magic Melodies.
When you look back at the CD production, what was the most decisive reason for making it?
“I love fairy tales. I have sung since I was a baby and have known almost all the songs from almost all Czech fairy tales by heart. The older I got, the more I dreamed of someday making my fairytale album with a big live orchestra. And this happened at the end of 2023 when the album Magic Melodies was released.”
The live orchestra was the Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Radio. David performed duets with Monika Absolonová or Markéta Konvičková. As he mentioned in one of the interviews, some songs had to be directly recreated because the notes were unavailable anywhere. Some of the songs got his touch and became authentic.
How did you perceive this opportunity as a singer?
“We had to choose the keynote of each song correctly. We kept the original keynote as long as it was a tenor song. But, for example, in the song from the movie Helluva Good Luck by Daniel Hůlka and Iveta Bartošová, we had to do extra modulation and adjust the keynote. Dan is a baritone, and it would be too low for me. As for arrangements and orchestration, we dealt with them sensitively so as not to spoil them and preserve all the tones. Everything was created humbly.”
David’s own lyrics and music are profound. However, after romantic musical confessions, he sometimes likes to add a bit of temperament. He has already tried singing in Spanish several times, and the hit Ahora has a large fandom not only because of their appearance in the video.
What is film music for you as an artist? Does it inspire you?
“I love film music. Therefore, there will be a “brother” of Magic Melodies, namely the Disney album this year. It will feature the most beautiful songs from the Disney world. Tarzan, Hercules, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and other greatest hits.”
From a musical point of view, how are these songs similar and different from those from Magic Melodies?
“They are different in that they will be in the original version, i.e., English, and then the orchestration is more spectacular, epic, as we are used to in Disney productions. The orchestral sound and sophisticated arrangements connect them with Magic Melodies. Michal Worek is a world-renowned orchestrator, and this album proves it again. We have half a year of intense work ahead of us. The album must be released in the fall. Originally, it was to be released as a double album. But it would not be possible if we wanted to preserve the quality. On the previous album, I personally spent 650 hours in eight studios.”
And not only that, in the case of Magic Melodies, it is 280 pages of scores, 2,156 written bars, and 107,297 notes, which are now preserved in the archives of Czech Radio, also thanks to the fact that one little boy once sang songs from Czech fairy tales and today he made professional collaborations.
Text: Eva Vašková, photo: Viktor Odehnal, Lenka Kafková, Oliver Tichý
