Zápisky potulného lidopisce z ciziny – Plocek Jiří (2025)

This Czech-language book is the third volume of Jiří Plocek’s “ethnographic” journalism. Musician, radio and magazine editor, and writer Jiří Plocek, known from Poutníci and Teagrass, previously published collections of columns, stories, observations and poems focused mainly on home. This volume presents notes from journeys abroad between 1992 and 2012. The first and most extensive chapter is a diary from Italy, followed by reports from Spain in 2003, Cyprus in 2008, Banat in 2009, Taiwan in 2011 and Albania in 2012. Although the journeys were initially connected mainly with music, the “wandering ethnographer” ultimately sought to capture a deeper insight into the spirit and culture of each country he visited. The book contains an introduction, an Italian diary describing his first major journey in 1992, an account of traveling from Bohemia to the ends of the world for music in Spain, impressions of Cyprus, a reflection on the disappearing world of Banat, observations on traditional music and a cult tea house on the “beautiful island” of Taiwan, and an account of his journey to Albania.