what music did your parents/grandparents listen to?

Discussion in 'Movies, Music & Media' started by gypzy, May 7, 2006.

  1. gypzy

    gypzy Well-Known Member

    Ahoj,

    I read on www.tamizdat.org that underground music from the communist era is being archived. So I was wondering about what type of music people listened to in the 40's/50's/60's? Was it anything like American or British music of the time? Did they record Czech versions of swing or doo-wop? Were people allowed to listen to Elvis or the Beatles? Who were the groups that were well known back then?

    Ahoj,
    gypzy
     
  2. magan

    magan Well-Known Member

    In early 1960 musical theatre SEMAFOR came to life. With Jiri Suchy writing words and Jiri Slitr writing music. They created huge hits all Czechs were singing along. They were very cute songs and totally fresh comparing to other pop at that time. Very talented singers were being discovered by Semafor when they were very young and became very big stars of popular Czech music singing their songs/playing in their theatre. Eva Pilarova, Waldemar Matuska (Oh ta laska nebeska = Oh that heavenly love"....and other singers from SEMAFOR were heard all the time on radio and people LOVED them. Jiri Suchy and Jiri Sliter were singing their own songs too. It was very popular to go to theatre (divadlo Semafor). I know that Czechs who were young then still can sing their songs and still love them very much. Children are still singing some of the songs created in Semafor and they became almost "folklore songs" ...like "Slunicko, slunicko popojdi malicko... = Ladybug, ladybug move on a bit" or "Vcera nedele byla = Yesterday was Sunday and he kissed me... "

    Media were not playing Western music at that time, however some who wrote Czech pop did manage to "sneak in" few tunes. I have to say that Czech original pop music was good at that time even without the influence from West. Looking back (and listening), when I can see lots of clean poetic wonder in it.
     
  3. fabik317

    fabik317 Well-Known Member

    from what i have been told I know that the beatles' music was tolerated to a great extent but less so their visual image (western hairstyles etc.), it was easily possible to listen to ABBA, BeeGees - not that it was "supported" officially but at least it wasn't frowned upon too much. Folk and country artist like Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan were tolerated even more - partly because those genres were hugely popular after 1968 and partly because many of those songs were protestsongs that spoke against the bad aspects of the capitalist system (unemployment, homelessness, alcoholism, racism...). "The House of the Rising Sun" was one of the very few western songs officially supported by the communist authorities because of this.
    Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was officially released in Czechoslovakia in some kind of a special eastern bloc edition with the album title translated into czech, Led Zep, Purple & Sabbath records were effectively banned but they were smuggled in from East Gemany and some from Hungary and circulated among the people in significant (for that time) numbers and Sex Pistols shows were once covered in the communist press to showcase the apalling decadence , lack of taste and downfall of moral standards in the West.

    I don't claim all of it is absolutely precisely correct but you get the idea
     
  4. magan

    magan Well-Known Member

    By "Western music" I meant music coming from West.


    Just like now, people were listening to different (available) music and I did not live in CR after 1968, so can speak only about "before".
     
  5. gypzy

    gypzy Well-Known Member

    Dejuju magan and Fabik 317,

    Specifically, (just made up English word or spelled one badly :lol: !), If a person likes Elvis, Buddy Holly, Drifters, Sam Cooke, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and others like them who are the Czech equivalants? Could I buy them on old LP records in the states at like some sort of antique store or online music store that specializes in specialty music?

    Na shledanou!
    gypzy
     
  6. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    Are you asking if you can buy Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc LP's in the states. Sure, go to any goodwill or Salvation Army. You are bound to find some of them. If you are asking if you can buy Czech equivalant LP's in the states, that I don't know. I would think you would have to check into antique stores in areas of TX or other areas of highly populated Czech decent. Perhaps you could create a forum asking if anyone has any old ones they want to sell.
     
  7. gypzy

    gypzy Well-Known Member

    This is a good idea. But I'm too shy too ask strangers to sell their records to me, sigh :( . Anyways it was probably harder for them or their grandparents to acquire them, than it was for my grandparents to acquire Elvis and other American records. So this would make them more emotionally valuable than financially valuable. Yet, they are probably more financially valuable than the American equivalants. I guess i will always wonder, "Who put the Czech bop in the bop shu bop"?

    Bye 4 Now,
    gypzy
     
  8. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    So gypzy, I'm still confused. Are you looking for American old LP's or are you looking for Czech equivalant to Elvis and Buddy Holly type records? When I said to create a forum, I meant if you are looking for Czech equivalent records. In other words, Czech people singing in Czech songs that are the same type as Elvis or Buddy Holly songs. If you are looking for American records, try Salvation Army Stores or Goodwill Store. They always have records.
     
  9. gypzy

    gypzy Well-Known Member

    Sorry,

    I should have been more clear. Czech equivalants to Elvis. Maybe I'll post in the "for sale and wanted" forum. I already looked to see if anyone was selling records in there. So I'll just ask.

    Bye 4 Now
     

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