THE CZECH REPUBLIC From Folklore to Hard Rock JIRf CERNY olk music is the primary and most television (no other original source for contemporary pop­ existed), and from ular music in the Czech Republic. the stages of large Czech folk music is rich in melodies-rhyth­ halls flooded audi- mic dance elements play a lesser role, except ences, especially in in the hilly eastern regions adjoining the bor­ the 1950s. Of course, der with Slovakia-and we hear them as the these were only "ide­ inspiration for or as direct quotations in clas­ ologically correct" sical compositions by Bedhch Smetana, songs. Texts with reli­ Antonin Dvorak (Slavonic Dances) and Leos gious themes did not Janacek (Lachian Dances). They form an even pass the censor; at Photo courtesy Hradistan larger part of the traditional Czech brass band Christmas, for in- repertoire. When rock-and-roll finally came to stance, no carols on the birth of Christ were The Hradisfan the former Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, "gui­ broadcast. The Communist ideologues were Dulcimer Band tar groups" (they were not permitted to call trying to create a joyful picture of the life of combines tradition themselves rock-and-roll groups, and their the Czech people and their future, captured and innovation - public performances were restricted) created perfectly in the title of a feature film of the performing southern arrangements with a few bars of melody from time, full of Moravian folk songs: Tomorrow Moravian folk music folk songs as a theme over a rock rhythm There'll be Dancing Everywhere. and improvising with foundation. Vocal groups, such as the late In this way the majority of young people jazz, classical, and 1960s group Buccaneers from Ostrava, did soon were put off by Czech folk music. They urban folk musicians. likewise. It must be said, though, that the pub­ were simply saturated with it. When the Founded 44 years ago lic response toward these experiments was American folk singer Pete Seeger came to in the ancient town of lukewarm. Prague in 1963 to give a concert, he was sur­ Uherske Hradiste [in From the beginning of the Communist prised by two things: how many young musi­ the lowland wine regime in 1948, folk music became a sort of cal groups knew American folk songs, and how region], the band state music, propagated everywhere. It was completely uninterested these groups were in combines historical supposed to serve as a barrier against what their own Czech folklore. (Whereas the values and customs was called Western quasi-culture, in which Communist ideology condemned American with contemporary category the Communist cultural ideologues rock-and-roll, it favored American folk songs, influences. included practically all American modern especially when they could - as in the case of music (except, perhaps, for the older jazz of Negro spirituals - offer "proof' of the social Louis Armstrong), clothing, hairstyles, and injustices in American society.) This attitude foods. However ridiculous it may seem today, toward folk music very slowly began to for at least 20 years even Coca-Cola was con­ change, in part because of Seeger's influence. demned in former Czechoslovakia as a symbol The performance of Czech folk songs by of American imperialism. In its authentic ver­ acoustic rock groups who called themselves sion, but more frequently interpreted by styl­ folk or guitar groups was livelier than the state ized and complexly choreographed state ensemble fare, less tradition bound and static. ensembles, folk songs over the radio, on state In the early 1970s rock-and-roll and folk CZECH REPUBLIC songs truly began to relative freedom1 the combination of various mix1 due mainly to national and supranational elements was the inspiration of interesting. Prague itself1 the chief city of two British folk-rock Bohemia1 had been marked for eight centuries groups1 Fairport Con­ by the intermingling of three influences: vention and Steeleye Czech1 German1 and Jewish. Even though this Span. The great popu­ mix was not as apparent in the folk sphere as1 larity of the British for instance1 in literature (Franz Kafka wrote group Jethro Tull here)1 it was also reflected in the music of then brought the some Czech folk singers (Vladimir Merta1 11 harder/1 more elec­ Vlastimil Tfes:iuik) or groups (Mispacha). tric form of folk-rock A kind of typically Bohemian lack of to the Czech Lands. primitive nationalism and an opposite inclina­ Under the folkloric tion toward the supranational values of truth1 Photo by Zdenek Uherek conception of their intelligence/ and professionalism/ along with a 1 Contemporary melodies and Ian Anderson S flute came the sense of humor1 took many folk and rock folklore in the Czech rumble of the bass-guitar1 the percussion musicians onto the balconies during the Republic includes instruments/ and the electric guitar. The 11 Velvet Revolution11 in November 1989. Along stylized revivals of Czech groups Marsyas1 AG Flek1 Etc1 and oth­ with Czech songs1 the hymns of the revolution older traditions often ers1 most of which not only still exist but con­ included American songs with Czech texts1 1 11 1 learned in a formal tinue to evolve and improve1 founded a rela­ Seeger S We Shall Overcome/ and the gospel setting, as well as tively broad stream of Czech folk-rock in song "Little More Faith in Jesus/1in which the grassroots which the Czech elements gradually out­ group Spiritual Quintet led three-quarters of a expressions passed weighed the once-prevalent Anglo-Saxon ones. million demonstrators. It is certainly no coin­ on through family and Economics also played a part in the grow­ cidence that the organizers of the festival of village life. Although ing popularity of diverse forms of folk music: folk and rock music in Lipnice in 1988 provid­ villagers in the the most modern electric guitars1 amplifiers1 ed the dissident and later president1 Vaclav Moravian region wear and keyboard instruments were so expensive Havel- also an enthusiastic supporter of rock their traditional folk for the musicians1 most of them semi-ama­ music and folk singers -his first opportunity dress only on special teurs1 that they preferred music suited to sim­ to appear before the public (to the gnashing of occasions, members pler instruments. One of the reasons that the state security forces1 teeth). of the Radhosf Supraphon and Panton1 the two state record The most successful Czech musician ensemble always companies at that time1 only rarely issued abroad1 the Prague composer1 arranger1 and perform in costume. records of this music was its relatively poor virtuoso synthesizer player Jan Hammer1 now technical quality compared to the official pop a U.S. citizen1 intervened in a marginal but music. On the other hand1 the remove from very interesting way in the fusion of popular the centers of the record industry/ radio1 and and national folk music. After leaving the jazz­ television helped the whole range of folk and rock group Mahavishnu Orchestral Hammer folk-rock music to preserve a certain pristine and the American violinist Jerry Goodman quality. People who liked this type of music recorded the album Like Children (1974); it could usually only hear it live1 in clubs and at included the composition "Country and larger outdoor concerts. It was further dissem­ Eastern MusiC/1 where Hammer uses melodic inated through amateur tape-recordings. Any themes from Moravian Slovakia1 the eastern­ television performances that might have most region of the Czech Republic1 in the spir­ occurred would have presented this music it of Leos Janacek. Hammer moved from this only in its most highly groomed1 least folkloric phase toward the large-format televi­ provocative textual and musical form. sion serials of the "Miami Vice" type. For visitors from the West who sought out However1 20 years later the composer and this underground music scene because of its pianist Emil Viklicky linked jazz to folk songs THE CZECH REPU in a different and more penetrating manner in Czech Lands. Members of groups like the the album Rain is Falling Down (Pr8i dest, Czech Heart (Geske srdce) have played on his 1994), where his combo plays together with records. The appeal of Celtic rock stems not traditional Moravian folk musicians - band only from the strongly melodious Irish, leader and singer Jifi Pavlica, and harpsichord Scottish, Welsh, and Breton songs, but also player and singer Zuzana Lapcikova. perhaps from a certain historical and romanti­ This same Jifi Pavlica, who mostly per­ cized kinship Czechs feel with the Celtic tribes forms traditional folk music from the which had settled in Bohemia in ancient Moravian region of Dolnacko with his own times. Outstanding among these 11 Czech Celts" band HradiSfan, also participated in the is the violinist and composer Jan Hruby (his JIRi CERNY album Vlasta Redl AG Flek + Jifi Pavlica third album is The Burning Rose, 1994) of the has written four books on Czech popular HradiSfan (1994). About half the album con­ group Kukulin. With his eccentric virtuosity music and has worked sists of folk songs from Moravia. Rather than and melodic imagination - again with strong as a radio and TV using the most popular melodies, the album Moravian elements - he goes beyond all anchor. In November features many songs that are not generally Stivell or other Celtic sources. 1989, during the known, unusual in their melody and harmo­ 11 Czech Celts" appear from time to time in "Velvet Revolution," he ny, and thus especially exciting to the aver­ various parts of the Czech Republic, but they served as the press editor for President age listener. Some of the arrangements simul­ probably originated in Prague, where the Vaclav Havers taneously approach hard rock, through Redl's paths of talented musicians often lead and campaign.