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From the ArchivesSeeking asylum in communist Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia played an active part in the Soviet Union’s propaganda war
with the United States during the 1950s, a time of edginess and paranoia on
both sides. There was no shortage of people trying to flee across the Iron
Curtain to the West, but every now and then the flight would be in the
other direction, and someone from the West would actively seek asylum in
the Communist Bloc. For the communist regimes this was a propaganda
opportunity not to be missed. More
From the ArchivesSeeking asylum in communist Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia played an active part in the Soviet Union’s propaganda war
with the United States during the 1950s, a time of edginess and paranoia on
both sides. There was no shortage of people trying to flee across the Iron
Curtain to the West, but every now and then the flight would be in the
other direction, and someone from the West would actively seek asylum in
the Communist Bloc. For the communist regimes this was a propaganda
opportunity not to be missed.
More
ArtsYoung Czech jazz guitarist David Dorůžka releases new album
Guitarist David Dorůžka, one of the country’s most promising jazz
musicians, has recently released his second album called Silently Dawning.
Born in 1980, he started regularly performing at just 14, and later
studied
at Berklee College of Music in Boston. David Dorůžka wrote all the songs
on the new LP. But where does the title Silent Dawning come from? More
Current AffairsFeud between folk singers Nohavica and Hutka deepens
Robbie Williams vs. Liam Gallagher, Britney Spears vs. Christina Aguilera;
high-profile fall-outs are pretty common in the world of pop music. But
perhaps less so on the folk music scene. But the bust-up between Czech folk
singers Jaromir Nohavica and Jaroslav Hutka has just become even bigger.
Last week, Mr Hutka, who lived for ten years in exile in the Netherlands,
having been forced out of communist Czechoslovakia in 1978, laid into
fellow singer-songwriter Jaromir Nohavica for his collaboration with the
secret police at the end of the 1980s. Over the weekend, Mr Nohavica hit
back, saying that he was forced into it, and that his secret police file
had been doctored. Rosie Johnston has more:
More
Czechs in HistoryKarel Kryl: folk singer-songwriter whose work embodied the Czechoslovak struggle for political freedom
Karel Kryl, singer, songwriter and poet, was the most prominent Czech folk
musician of the last fifty years. His well-known songs are to this day sung
in pubs and around campfires, even by those of the younger generation of
Czechs who grew up after his death. Born in Kromeriz in 1944, he began
writing and performing after graduating from secondary school, and was
later expelled from army service for performing songs deemed to be
anti-socialist. He was exiled from Czechoslovakia in 1970, but continued to
write, produce and perform until his return to the country in 1989 amidst
the sudden political changes of the Velvet Revolution. His songs came to
represent the national sufferings of a generation, and its desire for
political freedom.
More
SpecialThe strange tale of the Prague English Grammar School
Today the English College in Prague is one of several private secondary
schools where pupils are taught in the English language. In this day and
age, this is nothing unusual, but what is less well-known is that schools
like the English College are building on a Prague tradition that goes way
back to 1927. That was when Prague's pioneering state-run English Grammar
School was set up - at the time known universally by the acronym PEGS. It
was on the instigation of the Education Ministry, with the strong support
of the then minister and later Prime Minister, Milan Hodza. In various
forms and against all the odds, the school survived both the German
occupation and the communist take-over in 1948 - until it was finally
closed down in 1953.
More
ArtsJazz guitarist David Doruzka launches new CD "Hidden Paths"
Our guest in today's Arts is young Czech jazz guitarist David Doruzka. Born
in 1980, David started performing regularly at the age of fourteen. Ten
years ago he received the "Best Talent of the Year" award from
the Czech Jazz Society and in the following years he performed with
leading musicians on the Czech jazz scene. In 1999 David Doruzka went to
Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. Last June he recorded his
first CD, called "Hidden Paths" in the United States. It was
officially released here in the Czech Republic on Tuesday. When David
Doruzka came into our studio, I first asked him whether he'd always wanted
to be a musician.
More
WitnessLubomir Doruzka: a concert for Haile Selassie
Lubomir Doruzka is a living legend of Czech jazz. He has been involved in
music since the Second World War, when, as a teenager, he worked on an
illegal jazz magazine. Because he speaks fluent English he has often
accompanied musical ensembles, both jazz and classical, on tours abroad.
Here he remembers an extraordinary concert in Addis Ababa during a tour of
Africa in 1957, when the Janacek Quartet was invited to play for the
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.
More
Current Affairs"Rakija 'n' Roll" - a taste of the Balkans in Prague
This week visitors to Prague's Svanda Theatre are being treated to a feast
of Balkan music, with the launch of a new CD by the band Gothart. In the
northern climes of the Czech Republic this is not a traditional sound -
associated more with sand and sea and summer holidays on the Adriatic
where Czech tourists flock in their hundreds of thousands every summer.
But what's unusual about this recording is that all the musicians are
Czech. David Vaughan asked world music expert Petr Doruzka for his
impressions of the new CD, and started with its rather eccentric title
"Rakija 'n' Roll".
More
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