Take Note - Songwriter Sessions hosted by Marie Kanske / Jakub Racek

Take Note – The Songwriter Sessions is a monthly concert series at the Blue Note Dresden and offers singer-songwriters a stage for their own songs, new ideas and intimate live moments. Between folk, indie, Americana and acoustic songwriting, evenings with changing artists, personal stories and a direct atmosphere are created.

The sessions are moderated by Marie-Sophie Kanske (Sea of Love) and are aimed at experienced musicians as well as new voices from the scene. Entrance is free, donations go entirely to the performing artists:innen.

Musicians: Women who want to perform themselves can contact Marie with a short biography, 1-2 photos and links to audio/video material.

Jakub Racek

Jakub Racek is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Prague, Czech Republic. Already at the age of 16 he played his first concerts and has been active as a musician ever since. Inspired by bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice, he developed his own style early on, in which traditional sounds meet modern approaches and virtuosic improvisations.

He is co-founder of the band Monogram, with whom he toured for 20 years and released four albums. Many of the songs come from his pen. Racek has won several awards – including five times as “Guitarist of the Year” by the Czech Bluegrass Association and as “Best European Bluegrass Guitarist” by the American SPGMA.

In addition to bluegrass, he also devoted himself to jazz, blues, rockabilly, country, folk and Irish music and plays electric guitar in addition to the acoustic guitar. With his current project Professional Deformation he won the competition of the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in 2019 and was named the best European bluegrass band.

Today, Racek is on the road both with his band and solo. His solo program “One Man Band” combines vocals, guitar and loop station – he creates a complete band arrangement live directly on stage.

At the concert in the Blue Note he presents two sides of his music: In the first set he shows himself pure and acoustic with his own songs, in the second he unfolds the whole range of his one-man band sound.