A Doghouse for Cool Cats & Music Lovers: A Post-lockdown Collaboration

One of those places you wish you would’ve had known of before, Klub Buda has been carving its own niche in the Kraków music scene! Tucked away on ul. Czapskich 2 (just around the corner of ul. Jabłonowskich or ul. Piłsudskiego depending which street you’re coming out from Planty), this music venue has been operating since autumn 2018.

The history of the place, however, goes back to the early ’70s as it was the seat of the Kabaret Pod Budą, a bohemian collective of young students from the University of Agriculture in Kraków who counted in its ranks artists such as Andrzej Sikorowski and Bohdan Smoleń.

In October 2018, under the University’s administration, the running of the bar was taken over the Kraków School of Brewing and started operations as a craft beer pub with a selected offer of Polish microbreweries and their own house ales. Soon, however, its clientele dictated a new direction. With one of the best music stages in the Old Town, they rapidly adjusted to the demand of live music and started hosting both, local and touring bands. The Dry White Bones performance, on April 1, 2019, was the first of many music events including concerts, jam sessions and open mics.

With less than a year of keeping up a programme of events and live music, Klub Buda as every other venue in town had to close its doors. One of the last concerts took place in February and saw a vivid crowd dance to the ethno-funk beat of The Badji Band. A difficult time for the entertainment industry at large, the lockdown also proved to be a catalyser for new formulas and projects, mainly the live streaming of music events.

As soon as general health restrictions eased and the University allowed operations during the weekend, Klub Buda made a comeback with a series of five live and online concerts organised in collaboration with Kraków Music. Over the course of five weekends, Klub Buda saw a modest and steady inflow of loyal and new clients, which helped them gather momentum to continue with their music programme: Thursday jam sessions, Friday concerts and Saturdays karaoke nights.

With small audiences hungry for night outings and live music, and bands with an avid appetite for stage time, each concert turned out to be more of an intimate gathering amongst musicians and friends. Even the setup of the videography team besides the stage created an aura or backstage exclusivity. In times of social distancing, proximity is more of a mood achieved through a setting: Persian rugs, sound gear and cables, warm lights and cool music all enveloped by the woodwork of the venue.