Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Memphis on the Vlatva: Prague's country music blues
Tue Aug 23,10:13 AM ET
PRAGUE (AFP) - They pick guitars and banjos, wear Stetson hats and sing plaintively about hard men with soft hearts. But these music-lovin' cowpokes are a long, long way from Texa
They are, in fact, in Prague, the unlikely capital of country music in Europe since the time of Buffalo Bill.
But there's trouble on the homestead, say Prague's country music devotees. The Czech Republic's passion for Old West tunes flourished through world wars, a global depression and forty years of oppressive communist rule. But today the singing Czech cowboy may be a dying breed.
The roots of the Czech fascination with country music -- which still has patrons stamping the floor in the "hospoda" saloons across the country -- go way back to the first decades of the 20th century, according to Jaroslav Cvancara, front man and banjoist of the group Taxmeni.
"In 1906 the Czechs were already applauding the famous circus of the Wild West hero William Frederick Cody, better known as "Buffalo Bill", with 500 cowboys, 800 horses and real Indians," Cvancara said.
Seduced by the silent era films of Tom Mix, hair-raising stories of savage red skins, and the music that went with them, several generations of young Czechs have taken to "tramping".
A blend of trekking and camping -- as might have been done in the Wild West -- tramping became an act of rebellion against establishment values and dictators.
"For the young kids, whether they be working class or intellectual, the forest offers a good chance to take revenge on the rigid bureaucracy. Even today, there is a law forbidding young boys and girls camping together without a marriage license," said Cvancara.
"Under the Nazi occupation, many 'tramps' were members of the resistance," he added.
Not surprisingly, Communist leaders after 1948 were very wary of people who dressed like American cowboys and sang odes to freedom and life in the (Old) West. A number of them spent time in communist prisons.
"Towards the end of the 1950s, I started to listen in secret to the programmes on the radio broadcast for US soldiers in Germany. That's how I came to learn the five-string banjo," recalled Marko Cermak, the first Czech to explore the intricacies of country music's emblematic instrument.
"The first time I made a banjo, I used a photo of an American singer Pete Seeger," said Cermak, a former member of the cult group "Greenhorns" whose hits are known by heart by millions of Czechs.
In the shops of communist Czechoslovakia, banjos were not to be found.
A loosening of government control in the 1960's brought on a boom in country and rock music, but the nation experienced another political freeze with the occupation by Soviet troops in 1968.
"The English names of the groups were banned and those who wanted to play in public were obliged to go before an examining board," said Jan Vycital, front man and guitarist for the "Greenhorns", renamed in Czech "Zelenaci".
Since the fall of communism 15 years ago, country music lovers no longer risk a spell behind bars, but Vycital is pessimistic about the future of the genre.
"Country has had it, especially when you see the young people who take every chance to protest against everything American. In my day we would have punched them in the face," fumed the musician, who adapted to Czech hundreds of American and Australian country songs.
"Country's peak is already behind us. The philosophy of this music is basically conservative, upholding traditional values of family and country. And there hasn't yet been a serious conservative political party here," Cvancara said.
But Cermak thinks that not all is lost, at least not yet. "One day, maybe some of them will get sick of the Internet, DVD's and all that goes with the modern world, and again seek refuge in this little romantic world," he said. ¶ 8/24/2005 04:48:00 AM
Tue Aug 23,10:13 AM ET
PRAGUE (AFP) - They pick guitars and banjos, wear Stetson hats and sing plaintively about hard men with soft hearts. But these music-lovin' cowpokes are a long, long way from Texa
They are, in fact, in Prague, the unlikely capital of country music in Europe since the time of Buffalo Bill.
But there's trouble on the homestead, say Prague's country music devotees. The Czech Republic's passion for Old West tunes flourished through world wars, a global depression and forty years of oppressive communist rule. But today the singing Czech cowboy may be a dying breed.
The roots of the Czech fascination with country music -- which still has patrons stamping the floor in the "hospoda" saloons across the country -- go way back to the first decades of the 20th century, according to Jaroslav Cvancara, front man and banjoist of the group Taxmeni.
"In 1906 the Czechs were already applauding the famous circus of the Wild West hero William Frederick Cody, better known as "Buffalo Bill", with 500 cowboys, 800 horses and real Indians," Cvancara said.
Seduced by the silent era films of Tom Mix, hair-raising stories of savage red skins, and the music that went with them, several generations of young Czechs have taken to "tramping".
A blend of trekking and camping -- as might have been done in the Wild West -- tramping became an act of rebellion against establishment values and dictators.
"For the young kids, whether they be working class or intellectual, the forest offers a good chance to take revenge on the rigid bureaucracy. Even today, there is a law forbidding young boys and girls camping together without a marriage license," said Cvancara.
"Under the Nazi occupation, many 'tramps' were members of the resistance," he added.
Not surprisingly, Communist leaders after 1948 were very wary of people who dressed like American cowboys and sang odes to freedom and life in the (Old) West. A number of them spent time in communist prisons.
"Towards the end of the 1950s, I started to listen in secret to the programmes on the radio broadcast for US soldiers in Germany. That's how I came to learn the five-string banjo," recalled Marko Cermak, the first Czech to explore the intricacies of country music's emblematic instrument.
"The first time I made a banjo, I used a photo of an American singer Pete Seeger," said Cermak, a former member of the cult group "Greenhorns" whose hits are known by heart by millions of Czechs.
In the shops of communist Czechoslovakia, banjos were not to be found.
A loosening of government control in the 1960's brought on a boom in country and rock music, but the nation experienced another political freeze with the occupation by Soviet troops in 1968.
"The English names of the groups were banned and those who wanted to play in public were obliged to go before an examining board," said Jan Vycital, front man and guitarist for the "Greenhorns", renamed in Czech "Zelenaci".
Since the fall of communism 15 years ago, country music lovers no longer risk a spell behind bars, but Vycital is pessimistic about the future of the genre.
"Country has had it, especially when you see the young people who take every chance to protest against everything American. In my day we would have punched them in the face," fumed the musician, who adapted to Czech hundreds of American and Australian country songs.
"Country's peak is already behind us. The philosophy of this music is basically conservative, upholding traditional values of family and country. And there hasn't yet been a serious conservative political party here," Cvancara said.
But Cermak thinks that not all is lost, at least not yet. "One day, maybe some of them will get sick of the Internet, DVD's and all that goes with the modern world, and again seek refuge in this little romantic world," he said. ¶ 8/24/2005 04:48:00 AM
