David Hrbeck has just uploaded to You Tube footage of Allen in 1993 (November 12, 1993) reading in Olomouc in the Czech Republic at a high school gymnasium (in Hrbeck’s home town, and where Hrbeck was, at that time, teaching). “This is a real treasure”, he, accurately, declares. “The classroom was full of students, and it was a big success, (an) amazing event.”
The recording is broken down into four sections. The first has Allen giving a rendition of his version of (William) Blake’s “The Tyger” (accompanying himself on the harmonium). The second, features a reading of “Sunflower Sutra” (a Czech version is read first by actor, Mikuláš Pánek). The third segment (again begun by a reading by Mikuláš Pánek) features two short sections from “Kaddish”, and the fourth, and final, section features (fittingly) “Kral Majales” and “The Return of Kral Majales” (again with Czech renditions by Mikuláš Pánek).>
