Show
World Cultures: Czech Musical Heritage
About this show
Introduction
In this episode of Future Radio's World Cultures, Dominik explores a cross-section of Czech music and culture. He discusses the origins of the Polka, the grim nature of Leoš Janáček's opera 'Jenůfa', and the influence of Russian bards like Vladimir Vysotsky. The recording also examines the Czech 'tramping' movement and the nautical origins of the greeting 'ahoy'.
Dominik fills in for Kathy on Future Radio's World Cultures show, dedicating the episode to Czech music because he is Czech. He provides a cross-section of Czech musical genres, discussing the grim nature of Leoš Janáček's opera 'Jenůfa' and the popularity of pop star Karel Gott. Dominik explores cultural influences, noting that the greeting 'ahoy' derives from English nautical terms and explaining how the 'tramping' movement associates the word with freedom. The segment covers the impact of Russian bards like Vladimir Vysotsky and the anti-war themes in Karel Kryl's music. Dominik also mentions his birth under the Yeshched Mountain and notes his upcoming hosting duties for Community Chest on Friday.
Topics
- Czech musical influences and genres
- Czech protest songs and the communist era
- The Czech tramping movement and campfire songs
- Russian bard influence on Czech singer-songwriters
Participants
- Dominik
Names are taken from the archive as written and may include spelling variants.
Listen · this show’s clips
Selected extracted clipsSelected clip
World Cultures · Show Opening
World Cultures · Spoken extract
World Cultures080308_180001
Choose a clip and press play.
Passages from the broadcast
Text from the recording. These passages are not linked to a playable clip.
Which is really from the the English ship ahoy, and when you're hailing a ship, and and now when you want to say hi to a Czech or bye, it's like aloha. You say ahoy. That's that's just what you say. So, so that so that was quite important, quite an important influence on on Czech culture, and then.
Doesn't have a good connotation to you, but for Czechs, somehow it acquired a good connotation of this: of freedom, going around, being a you know, being a tramp, living under the skies, and just kind of seeing the world, kind of.
And I, I, I am Czech, so I don't really have any other option than to play Czech music. Next one is by song by Zuzana Navarová, and it's we're getting now sort of into people who are.
Like, play because that's I was born there. I was born under the Yeshched Mountain, so here is what she has to say about what it's like to be near the Yeshched Mountain under the mountain.
Selected music
World Cultures: Czech Musical Heritage
-
Why it was chosen To hear what a Moravian song would look like without any pretensions
-
Why it was chosen To take a jazzy interpretation of folklore
-
Why it was chosen To look at the musical strands that make Czech culture part of the musical world, starting with classical opera
-
Why it was chosen Example of jazz influence on Czech composers like Jaroslav Ježek in the 1920s and 30s
-
Why it was chosen To showcase the impact of the duo Suhin and Schlatter on Czech culture and protest music during the communist thaw
-
Why it was chosen To illustrate how Czechs were influenced by the romance of far lands
-
Why it was chosen Dominik finds the song hilarious as a pun on Karel Gott's name
-
Why it was chosen To underscore how American country music influence has been represented on the Czech music scene
-
Why it was chosen A parody of the fascination with westerns
-
Why it was chosen A song almost guaranteed to be heard at a campfire or at a lot of Czech parties
-
Why it was chosen One of the presenter's favorite Russian bards of all time
-
Why it was chosen A singer poet that lots of Czech singers and songwriters styled themselves after
-
Why it was chosen An anti-war song reflecting opposition to the 1968 Russian/Warsaw Pact invasion
-
Why it was chosen Dominik is Czech and filling in for Kathy, so he is playing Czech music
-
Why it was chosen To explore influences from Latin and African music on Czech world music
-
Why it was chosen Dominik was born under the Yeshched Mountain, which the song is about
-
Why it was chosen Closing the circle by going back to the Moravian influences in Czech music
-
Why it was chosen To finish the show how it started