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Lake Malawi will represent Czech Republic in Tel Aviv

28 January 2019 at 17:00 CET
Lake Malawi Česká Televize
The votes have been counted and the winner of the Czech national selection is... Lake Malawi! They will take to the stage in Israel and represent their country with the song 'Friend Of A Friend'.

Lake Malawi is an indie-pop band founded in 2013 by Albert Černý (pictured). The name of the band is inspired by a Bon Iver song. Since the very beginning, Lake Malawi always aimed to make it outside of their home country Czech Republic and as a consequence performs in English. 

The band consists of Albert Černý (lead vocal, guitar), Jeroným Šubrt (bass and keys), Antonín Hrabal (drums) and Pavel Palát (drums). 

The acts that reached the final of the Czech national selection were:

The outcome of the Czech national selection has been decided by both public voting through the official Eurovision app as well as by an international jury.

Lake Malawi came second in the public vote, behind Jakub Ondra, and joint first in the jury vote with fellow contestant Barbora Mochowa. These results combined put Lake Malawi on top of the leaderboard, winning the honour to represent Czech Republic at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

About Albert Černý

When lead performer Albert was fifteen, playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 with his cousin, a song came by that would change his life forever. When he heard The Scientist by Coldplay, he knew exactly what he wanted to do: Stand on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury festival and sing!

Within 24 hours of his first bedroom demos going online, Albert received a phone call from the manager of Bandzone.cz. "I couldn’t believe it. I was fifteen years old, walking home from school and one of the most influential people in the Czech music industry was asking whether he could produce my debut album," Albert said. That first album, recorded with his newly formed band Charlie Straight, would go on to win three Andel awards, the Czech equivalent of the Grammies.

Being obsessed with keeping Moleskine diaries and keeping notes, Albert took his green suitcase that traveled with him and scribbled HOLIDAYS FOREVER across it. But something was missing... A Bon Iver song got him through a personal crisis and at the same time marked a new direction for him. It marked the end of the Charlie Straight band and in late 2013, he decided to call his new band Lake Malawi, breathing new life into the Pyramid Stage dream that remained.

Let's get social!

You can follow Lake Malawai on the following social media platforms:

Later today (Monday), the Semi-Final Allocation Draw will determine in which of the two Semi-Finals Czech Republic will appear.

Last year, Czech Republic's Mikolas Josef finished sixth in the Grand Final with Lie To Me.

What do you think of Lake Malawai? Let us know in the comments!