Roman Hampacher

Roman Hampacher is a musician, priest and dreamer, whose roots extend far beyond the borders of folk. He has been active on the scene for more than 25 years and has gone through many different groups until finally - at least temporarily - he anchored in the waters of indie folk.
Since 2018, he has been releasing his recordings with iron regularity, including the latest Stromen (2023), a conceptual recording about the landscape and the journey from the city.
Roman's music is based on an acoustic guitar, with which he uses a lot of different "heyblets" including a looper, and so, even though he is mostly alone on stage, he can create an impressive atmosphere and draw his listeners into the colorful colors of his worlds. And the second integral component are the texts of the poet Mirka Hedbávná from Třebíč.
His music moves on the border of folk, alternative and jazz, while as he himself says:
"Borders interest me only to the extent of what lies behind them. That's where the real music begins."
Stromen is a board that was actually created in Poděbrady while walking with the dog along the Elbe. With headphones on, I either listened to demos with snippets of future songs or talked to Mirka on the phone and we discussed the lyrics. In the same places, I then recorded birds singing, water gurgling and other sounds, which finally completed the atmosphere of the album.
That record was created for two reasons.
I wanted to get closer to the landscape to which I had moved rather suddenly. A landscape that seemed to me sad, sleeping and abandoned in such a strange way. I longed to wake the trees and make the river speak.
The other reason was the desire to make a concept record where one song would blend into another and tell one story.