Monika Načeva - Udržuj svou ledničku plnou (Keep Your Fridge Full)

 Another represantation of the colourful post-socialist musical scene of the 1990's, this song is arguably one of the best punk offerings Czech music has to give. In her debut album Možnosti tu jsou (There Are Options, 1994), Monika Načeva combines Jáchym Topol's harsh, yet intimate poetry with straightforward punk energy and a cheeky black and white videoclip inspired by Patti Smith.

Jáchym Topol (brother of the late Filip Topol from Psí vojáci, which I covered on this blog) was not allowed to publish officially until 1989, but his poems were spread in samizdat. Udržuj svou ledničku plnou (Keep Your Fridge Full) is part of his first collection of poetry, Miluju tě k zbláznění (I Love You Madly, 1990, samizdat 1988). Since then, he has published a number of novels that were translated into several languages, and two of them were adapted to films.

Monika Načeva is a Czech actress and singer who often works with notable poets and musicians. Her work is astonishingly diverse, ranging from punk and rock to chanson or trip-hop. This is definitely not the last time you see her on this blog, because I find her one of the most interesting Czech musicians, and I highly recommend you go and find more of her work.

Karel Gott - Lady Carneval

It is impossible to write about Czech music and not have an article about this amazing singer, so let me rectify this right now. Karel Gott's star rose to fame in the 1960's, and he continues to enjoy immense popularity to this day. He has won the national competition Zlatý slavík (Golden Nightingale, after 1969 Český slavík) an unbelievable number of 41 times (last time for 2016 - in 2017, at the age of 77!).

Ever since a young age, Gott was interested in art - he applied for studies of graphic arts, but he was not accepted and started studying to become an electrician. During this time he focused on music, and then went to the conservatory, where he studied both popular style and opera singing. Classical training gave his voice resonance, great range, and the ability to sing considerably difficult passages with ease.

In 1968, Gott asked his friends, composer Karel Svoboda and lyricist Jiří Štaidl, to write him a song that he could compete with at the Rio de Janeiro festival. They bought a liter of Myslivec, and suddenly Štaidl said the two words: Lady Carneval. Svoboda sat down at the piano, and within ten minutes, they had a song. And not just any song! It became one of Gott's signature songs, and was translated into 36 different languages.

Buty - František (Francis)

For the first post-1989 Czech music post on this site, I decided to go with the band Buty, which definitely is among my top favourites. A band from Ostrava (the name "buty" means "boty" - shoes, boots - in the Lachian dialect) that started a few years before the fall of the communist regime, it came to prominency around the mid 1990's. Their style "can be described as an eclectic mixture of rock, folk music, ethnic music, country music, jazz, reggae and other genres, with witty, dadaist lyrics." (Wikipedia) I personally very much enjoy their sense of humour - both in texts and in music - and refined instrumental approach, which combine in a diversive and pleasurable body of work.

The song František comes from their third album, Dřevo ("Wood", 1995) and is one of my favourite modern Czech songs. With its jokingly plain text and somewhat naïve storyline, this song is both funny and it breathes an air of nostalgia, as it shows how with a simple deed, you can leave the world a bit better place.