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Current AffairsDocumentaries, discussions bring to life recent history for Czech students
An unusual history project is running in Czech schools throughout November,
organised by the NGO People in Need. For the next few weeks, around 700
secondary schools across the country will be showing documentary films
about the nation’s communist past, as well as inviting former political
prisoners to come and talk to children about their experiences of being
persecuted by the state. More
One on OneJoe Karafiát – guitarist and songwriter with Plastic People of the Universe
Joe Karafiát is a songwriter and guitarist with the legendary Czech
underground rock band the Plastic People of the Universe. Karafiát, who has
also played with groups like Garage and his own Joe Carnation Band, had
first met the Plastic People’s Vratislav Brabenec in the 1980s when the
two were living in exile in Canada, but didn’t become a member himself
until 1997. When I met Joe Karafiát (53) in Prague last week, we first
discussed his beginnings as a musician.
More
Current AffairsStories for children by Plastic People’s Vratislav Brabenec appear in English
Vratislav Brabenec is a member of the band The Plastic People of the
Universe, a thorn in the side of Czechoslovakia’s communist regime. But
Mr Brabenec is also the author of a book of stories for children, called
The Centre of the World is Everywhere, which is now also available in an
English translation.
More
ArtsPlastic People return with first new LP in nearly 10 years
The Plastic People of the Universe are back with a new album entitled Maska
za maskou [The Mask behind the Mask], their first release in nearly a
decade, and the first written since the death of their previous lead
songwriter Milan “Mejla” Hlavsa. The group are absolute legends of the
Czech rock underground, and it was their imprisonment by the communist
authorities which famously sparked the Charter 77 protest movement. But
while they may now feature in modern history books, the Plastic People
always insisted they just wanted to be allowed to play their music – and
since 1989 have been more or less a regular gigging band.
More
One on OneJan Macháček - music and journalism, before the revolution and after
Journalist and musician Jan Macháček has lived an interesting and varied
life both before and after the Velvet Revolution. In the 1980s he came to
be known as a guitarist from the underground bands Plastic People of the
Universe and Garáž. After the revolution he began writing for the
independent weekly newspaper Respekt, his work earned him a great deal of
recognition, and he is regarded today as one of the Czech Republic’s
leading economic and political commentators. As Central Europe marked 20
years since the fall of the Iron Curtain, I met with Jan Macháček – on
his way back from Berlin and off to Poland for the commemorations – and
asked him to recall what his life was like before the great turn of events.
More
ArtsRare Plastic People footage unearthed for series of collector’s DVDs
The Plastic People of the Universe are known around the world for their
refusal to comply with the Czechoslovak communist authorities throughout
the 1970s and 1980s - and their particular brand of Czech psychedelic rock
as well. In recent years, former band member Ivan Bierhanzl and filmmaker
Keith Jones have embarked upon an ambitious project to sort through the
hours and hours of historic footage of the group to make a series of DVDs
dedicated to the ‘Plastici’, but not, necessarily, as you know them.
More
From the Archives“Hooligans and swindlers”: the communist regime and the Plastic People
In the 1970s the communist authorities tolerated popular music as long as
it was insipid, colourless and unoriginal – everything that the Czech
psychedelic rock band The Plastic People of the Universe most definitely
was not. Their music was inspired by Frank Zappa and The Velvet
Underground, their lyrics anarchic, their behaviour unconventional and
their hair long. In 1976 four members of the band were sentenced to prison
terms for what was described as “organised disturbance of the peace”,
and in December of the same year Czechoslovak Radio broadcast a documentary
that painted the band in the darkest possible colours and included extracts
from their music, recorded secretly at their concerts.
More
Czechs in HistoryVáclav Havel in underground poetry exhibit opens in Prague
Václav Havel is known as the first president of the Czech Republic, an
anti-communist dissident, and a playwright. A new exhibition, which opened
in Prague on Tuesday, presents Mr Havel in yet another role – as
inspiration for poets from the unofficial Czech culture of the 1970s and
‘80s. Entitled “We had the Underground, Now we Have F-All”, the
exhibition features texts by underground Czech poets about Václav Havel.
More
MailboxMailbox
Today in Mailbox: The Velorex expedition spotted in Arizona, another
reaction to a proposed new Czech national anthem, Radio Prague reports on
the anniversary of the Munich Agreement, ICE, The Plastic People of the
Universe in Ohio. Listeners quoted: Laura Nagle, Christine
Takaguchi-Coates, Jerry Lenamon, Gerd Asche, Jonathan Kempster, Frank
Miata, Charles Konecny.
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