About Kytario 🎸

Kytario is an interactive songbook platform for guitar and non-guitar music evenings. What started as a community of amateur musicians in Brno has grown into a platform serving over 10,000 songs and 1,000 users across multiple cities in Czechia and beyond.

The Origins: KytarovkaBrno 🌱

KytarovkaBrno was a community-driven acoustic music project based in Brno, Czechia. Amateur musicians, singers, and music lovers gathered regularly to play songs together from a shared songbook. Whether you brought a guitar, a ukulele, a djembe, or just your voice - everyone was welcome. The events became known for their warm atmosphere, modern song selection, and the simple joy of playing music together. 🎉

The First Notes 🎵

The story began in late 2018 with two guys - Robin Zounar and Ondřej Valach - and their love of music. They started practicing together with a goal to improve their guitar and singing skills. After a year, in August 2019, they played for the first time in front of other people - their friends - at a camp, next to a bonfire. They could only play from a selection of 35 songs, but the vibe was perfect, and everyone enjoyed that moment. Until that time, there was no plan, but these moments sparked an idea... 🤔

In January 2020, the first public event took place. Around 15 people gathered in Rock'n'roll Heaven, a small bar in Brno, to play music together. The concept was straightforward - bring your instrument (or just your voice), grab a songbook, play and sing along. These events continued throughout the following months, despite being heavily limited by the Covid-19 restrictions.

The First Team

In July 2020, they met up with Eliška Ševelová and Petra Durcová - an accordionist and ukulelist, who were organizing similar acoustic events in Zlín, Czechia. They were looking for someone who sings and plays a guitar, and Robin with Ondřej needed someone who could play melodies to make the music sound richer. This ultimate connection spawned the first team, a rigid body of sound that could serve a large group of people. 🎉 Few other people joined the crew, establishing a stable "core" team of the project.

In August 2020, as the popularity grew, the project was named KytarovkaBrno. The songbook grew to 135 songs, enough to entertain from evening to early morning hours. That month's events drew approximately 150 people - a 10x growth in just eight months! 🚀 The community had found something special.

The Concept 💡

KytarovkaBrno was built on a few core principles:

• Inclusivity - All acoustic instruments and skill levels are welcome. Whether you're a seasoned guitarist or someone who just wants to sing along, you belong. 🤗
• Discovery - Events were held in various interesting places around Brno. The idea was to discover nice spots around town and give people memorable experiences playing music in these locations. 🗺️
• Modern music - From Red Hot Chili Peppers and Linkin Park to Czech favorites like Divokej Bill, Kabát, Lucie, and Záviš. ABBA classics sat comfortably alongside rock anthems. 🎤
• Charity (since 2022) - 100% of revenue went to charities across Czechia. ❤️ Over the course of KytarovkaBrno's existence, this amounted to a beautiful 13,000 EUR. 🎉
• Memories - To help remember each event, Petra started designing unique stickers. These were in the shape of a hexagon, allowing them to be tiled. Over time, nice motifs started appearing on everyone's guitars 🌞.

The Venues 📍

Park Lužánky became the most famous venue, hosting the largest events. But the philosophy was never about finding one perfect spot - it was about exploring Brno and sharing music in unexpected places.

Other notable venues included Café Práh, Expediční klubovna, Brno reservoir ("Prýgl"), Pivovar Harry, Artbar, Brno-Medlánky airport, as well as other cities: Prague, Ostrava, Jindřichův Hradec, and many more.

The Team 👥

KytarovkaBrno had a dynamic team (called "core") that attracted people with various talents - musicians, photographers, singers, (bad 😛) comedians, and many more. On average, the core consisted of around 15 people, and the friendships built during the music performances extended far beyond.

The Spin-offs 🗺️

KytarovkaBrno's unique concept spread organically beyond Brno. People from other cities experienced the magic and wanted to bring it home. Each community grew naturally, replicating the concept while adding their own local flavor. The projects are (ordered by the date of foundation):

• KytarovkaOstrava ⚒️, attracting hundreds of people in the third-largest city in Czechia.
• KytarovkaZlín ✌️, with its unique, boutique vibe.
• KytarovkaJaroměřice 👪, filled with a family-like atmosphere.
• KytarovkaPoruba 🪘, closely following KytarovkaBrno's "full acoustic" approach.
• KytarovkaTřinec 💪, the youngest, fastest-growing project.

The End and New Beginnings (2024) 🔄

After 4 years of existence, over 60 music evenings, and 1 successful tour, in July 2024, KytarovkaBrno officially ended. The project was at its peak, but the immense time and effort needed to run it led the team to take an everlasting break.

But the communities didn't disappear - they evolved. Three projects emerged to continue the legacy:

Early.cz (formerly Early Jammík) 🎊

Early.cz had been running events in parallel with KytarovkaBrno for a brief period of time. The concept was similar but more organic and less structured. When KytarovkaBrno ended, people were redirected to this welcoming community. Today Early.cz focuses not only on guitars, but also on various other types of events, bringing children's games and fun to adult audiences.

KytarovkaŠtatl 🍻

Created in August 2024, KytarovkaŠtatl is the closest continuation of KytarovkaBrno. The name "Štatl" (local slang for the city of Brno) signals this direct lineage. The project includes many original KytarovkaBrno members, and cooperates with Expediční klubovna - the center point of Brno's acoustic music culture.

Cosmic Kytarovka 🪐

Created in July 2024 by Honza "Tříba", former lead guitarist of KytarovkaBrno. From the very beginning, Cosmic Kytarovka has focused on the quality of music, offering a more refined musical experience.

The Evolution of the Songbook 📖

The songbook started as a necessity in 2018 - the chords and lyrics in public websites are often incorrect, missing or misaligned. This led Robin & Ondřej to start writing and maintaining their own song versions, which were initially done with MS Word.

Each song was an individual document, and a Python script was created to make an easy printable PDF version. This songbook was then printed and given to people. The idea was simple - give people lyrics, so they can sing along 🙂. The PDF was also hosted on Dropbox, with a QR code available for those who preferred the digital version or showed up too late to claim their own physical copy 😅. Simple, yet effective.

Each song had its own number, and before the song started, it was necessary to tell everyone to go to the respective page. This created a signature moment at the events, where people were shouting the number as hard as they could 😀.

In 2022, the songbook went fully digital under the domain kytarovkabrno.cz. The main motivation was to reduce the maintenance burden, allow easier editing and addition of new songs, and remove the need for people to find each song before playing. Also, the printed songbooks became heavy.

The digital platform brought key innovations:

• LIVE Mode 🔴- Participants see the currently selected song on their devices, synchronized by a moderator. No more shouting page numbers!
• Transposition ↕️ - Songs can be transposed to any key, and this transposition is transmitted live.
• PDF Generation 📃- Songbooks can still be downloaded as PDFs for offline use. No more Python scripts.
• Maintenance ⚙️- Easy to add or modify songs, even right before the event.

For a brief period, the platform became multi-tenant, as it served each of the spin-offs under their own domain. The content under each domain was unique, offering spin-offs an easy portal to help them grow. This approach became tough to maintain, though.

The Transition To Kytario.com 🌍

When KytarovkaBrno ended in July 2024, the platform needed a new identity that could serve all the communities that had grown from it, and potentially any other community. Kytario.com was born.

Key changes with the transition:

• Neutral branding - A platform for all music communities, not just KytarovkaBrno and its spin-offs.
• International notation support - Users can switch between German notation (B and H, used in Central Europe) and English notation (Bb and B, used in most of the world) 🎼
• Multi-language interface - Supporting Czech, English, Polish, Swedish, and a local Czech dialect from the Brno area ("brněnský hantec") 🌐
• Multiple songbook support - Each community maintains its own songbook while sharing the same platform.

The Future 🔮

Kytario's mission going forward:

• Connect communities - Making it easier for all music groups to find each other and share resources 🤝.
• Stay free - Kytario will remain free of charge, keeping the spirit of accessibility that defined KytarovkaBrno. The community gave us great memories and experience, now we give back ❤️.

The platform that started as Word documents and a Python script now serves thousands of musicians across multiple countries. But the core idea remains unchanged: bring people together through music. 🎸