Czechmatediary

Recent poll showed that the two Czech songs which have become the greatest hits also abroad are polka dance “Skoda Lasky” by Jaromir Vejvoda and “Lady Carneval” written by Karel Svoboda. These two hits are followed by other folk songs such as Jetelicek, Cikanka and Slavnic polka, as well as Svoboda’s other hits such as “Kdepak ty ptacku hnizdo mas”, “Stin Katedral”, “Hej baby hey” and “Cau lasko”. Vejvoda’s polka Skoda lasky had become so famous - especially among sailors - that it received its own name: the Beer Barrel Polka. Can you guess how much did its creator get payed back in 1930’s?? He received only 150Kc!! That is not very much for the fact that it later became the everyday wake-up song to the Discovery cosmonaut crew!!!

To listen to the Beer Barrel Polka melody, go to http://www.discoverynet.com/~ajsnead/allsongs_1/barrel.html

For Czech lyrics go to http://www.kovandasczechband.org/songsutf8/41_Skoda_lasky.shtml

CZ: Nejcasteji slysene pisnicky v zahranici jsou pry polka Skoda Lasky od Jaromira Vejvody a Svobodova Lady Carneval. Hned pod nimi se radi dalsi hity ceske dechovky (Jetelicek, Cikanka a Slavovnicka polka) a Svobodovy hitovky jako je Kdepak ty ptacku hnizdo mas, Stin katedral, Hej baby hey a Cau lasko. V Americe se modranska polka Skoda lasky stala tak slavnou a to zejmena mezi namorniky, ze je znama pod jmenem Beer Barrel Polka (Pivni hymna). Hadejte, kolik za ni Vejvoda ve 30. letech dostal zaplaceno?? pouchych 150 Kc!! A to se stala tak slavnou, ze se pry jeji nahravkou budili kosmonauti v raketoplanu Discovery!!!

Source: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/magazin/hudba/index_view.php?id=256962

Famous Czech actor, screenwriter and comedian Bolek Polivka, which is known from the movies “Divided We Fall” (Musime si pomahat;2000), “Something like happiness” (Stesti; 2005), Pelisky (1999), Balada pro banditu (Ballad for a bandit;1983) and others, is getting ready to create the world’s biggest Raznici (grilled meat-and-vegetable skewers). The competition is going to be held at his farm in Olsany and is supposed to be connected also with the race of historical bicycles. Since the raznici recipes vary from a country to a country (Balkans for instance add tomatoes to raznici), each international piece of raznici will be divided by a little flag particular to the specific country. The event is scheduled for the end of July.The goal is to beat the current 10m-long raznici record and to be included into the Guinness Book of world records. Thanks to Polivka’s peculiar competitive events, the farm has become a very known place. In the past it was hosting contests such as “catching the flies”, “catching the shadows” or literally “throwing the gun into the hay” ( “hazeni flinty do zita” is a Czech expression and it means “to give up”. (more…)

In 1920s 2/3 of Czech Americans lived in the big cities. The first three decades of the 20th century are also known as the Golden Age of the Czech American culture where an average American recognized and respected the Czech-American economy, culture, as well as the public and civic achievements. This time is also characterized by diminishing number of Czech-speaking Americans, the Czech quarters were disappearing as they were moving into the suburbs. This assimilation led to reduced number of Americans claiming Czech descent to only 200,000 in 1930! The next wave of immigration was brought by the fear of Nazism, WWII and Communism. But the influx of Czech immigrants was still far smaller than what happened in 1850’s-1920’s period (the Big Immigration Wave). What is also interesting is that the earlier immigrants of the big wave were mostly blue-collar workers and peasants, where as those who arrived after 1933 were well educated and most of them already knew some English. These Czechs also assimilated much faster than the earlier immigrants. To prevent this constant assimilation, the Society for Arts and Sciences (SVU; Spolecnost pro vedu a umeni) was created in 1958 to connect these members of Czech intelligence in the US. (more…)

Thanks to the popularity of my last post on the sudden death of Jan Benes I decided to do some more research on him and found this great interview from 2004. I translated it into English but the Czech version is also attached:

Diky popularite meho postu o nahle smrti Jana Benese jsem se rozhodla, ze se po jeho minulosti trochu vice poohlednu a nasla jsem s nim velmi zajimave interview z roku 2004. Rozhovor jsem prelozila do anglictiny, ale original v cestine je tu take prilozeny:

Interview with Jan Benes

Did you leave straight to the United States?
No, first I went to France. After about year and half I finally started having some good luck. Mr. Voskovec once said that the last luck he had in his life was when he got his American visa - I basically feel the same way. The last good luck I had in my life was when I got the permission to legally move to America.

Did you leave with your whole family?
No, I left only with my wife. Unfortunately, they (the communist government) kept our children because we escaped too late. In 1968 one could leave with the whole family; but I thought that since the free press was still going on, then we would still be all right. That’s why I ended up leaving in the middle of the night on October 9th, 1969. This was the last day when one could use your old traveling documents; everyone received brand new ones the next day. Thanks to my friend at the border patrol (I served in the army with him), I caught the open borders literarily 10 minutes before midnight.

That must have been a very dramatic experience…
Yes, it was very dramatic. My wife and I both believed that once we were both out of the country then they would let the kids go as well. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

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Finally! Our time has come! / Nas cas nadesel!

SVU (Society of Arts and Sciences; Spolecnost pro Vedy a Umeni) is planning to create an encyclopedia of famous personalities with a Czech descent. To qualify you:

• must have done something important in your life
• had to be born either in Czech or in America but have a Czech descent
• had to be born after the colonization of America

If you think you qualify send your resume/biography to: svu1@comcast.net

Good Luck! / Hodne stesti!

http://krajane.radio.cz/cs/article_detail/983

BOSTON: June ? (still undecided) - the Czech and Slovak association is having “Jarni Diskoteka” (daning and beer hour). http://www.czskboston.com/social1.htm

NORTH MIAMI: June 3rd (http://acscc.org/index.html#club); the American Czech-Slovak Club is having two actions:

• David Koller is performing at the American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club.
• International Children’s Day

CHICAGO: June 5th - Czech and Slovak Cultural Center in Minnesota is having a Czech Day (Daley Plaza, Chicago). You can enjoy some Czech cuisine, folk music, souvenirs as well as the Robert Balzar Jazz trio. http://home.cs-center.org/index.php

NEW YORK: June 10th - Czech Center in New York is having traditional “Ptacky Dinner” which is a very yummy rolled beef with all kinds of stuff in it. http://www.czechcentres.cz/newyork/novinky.asp

Tabor, SOUTH DAKOTA: June 14.-16th - “Czech Days”. http://www.taborczechdays.com/

St. Paul, MINNESOTA: June 18th-22nd - “Czech and Slovak Culture Days”; Sokol Hall (CSPS), St. Paul, 385 Michigan St.

YUKON, OK: And if you feel like enjoying some dancin’, the Czech Hall teaches you how to “polka” and that’s on every Saturday night. http://www.czechhall.com/

President Bush spent all together 21 hours in Prague. During his visit not only did he and his wife Laura have time to check out the Royal Gardens at the Prague Castle and feast on “Husa s knedlikem a zelim” ( Goose with dumplings and sourkraut), - which he loved by the way, but they also got the chance to listen to the pro-American, pro-radar song which was composed by known country singer Jan Vycital and recorded by a former singer, now the current minister of Defense, Vlasta Parkanova. According to the polls 2/3 of Czechs think the whole idea to be unprofessional as well as embarrassing toward the American president; but as Parkanova herself says:” The fact that someone likes my idea and someone doesn’t, fits the whole idea that we live in a free country”. Meant as a parody on an old communistic comerade song, this song celebrates the”flag of stars and stripes” as well as the possible placement of the radar anti-missile facility in the Czech Republic. Parkanova also added that “she would like for the Czechs not to forget what an important role USA had in the history of the Czech Republic….without America we may not even be a free country right now.”

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Czech writer Jan Benes commited suicide this weekend. The cause of this action is not known but his unstable behavior was shown in the public about two years ago when after a conflict with a driver he pulled out a stun gun on him, threatening to “shoot his brains out” (http://www.spoleksalamoun.com/view.php?cisloclanku=2005110401).

Benes started his writing career in the early 60’s, but because of its anti-communist context the government forbid to publish his writings. In 1966 Benes was sued for treason and was to serve 5 years in prison for it. He was let go after 2 years and that’s because of the amnesty of president Antonin Novotny. After that he did not waste time and emigrated to the USA, where he started off his “new life” as a factory worker. It didn’t take long however (2 years later) and Benes was teaching at the University of Harvard (what a smart guy!). (more…)

Do you remember Trabant cars?? The “Trabant people” had a an important get-together the day before yesterday. About 150 of them met in Breclavsko from where (as a crowd was watching) they proceeded to drive in a colony to the towns of Lednice and Mikulkov. Many Trabants had actually an improved design such as stronger engines, modernized interiors (leather seat covers or inbuilt CD players), or were even re-built into cabriolets. This meeting wasn’t supposed to be just a “show-off” session for the Trabant owners; they also got the chance to buy spare parts for their four-wheeled babies, which are no longer available on a general market.

For me Trabant was without a doubt one of the main symbols of communism; the characteristic smell and sound one got to experience when one of those cardboard beasts drove by is just unforgettable….The Trabant manufacturing was initiated in 1958 by a company from East Germany (VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Swickau) and ended in 1991. (more…)

      Zdenek and Jan Sverak, legendary Czech directors and producers,  are showing this year their new movie called Vratne Lahve(Return Bottles). It’s supposed to be the end of the “Sverak Trilogy” , which started with a great movie The Elementary School(Obecna Skola, 1991), showing Zdenek’s early childhood memories. This was followed by the Oscar-winning “Kolya (Kolja, 1996), bringing us to Zdenek Sverak’s adulthood. “Vratne Lahve” closes up the movie trilogy where Zdenek works on making his peace with getting old. What is the movie about? The hero is Josef Tkaloun (Zdenek Sverak), former grade school teacher who, although retired, doesn’t feel like he fits into the stereotype of a “retired old guy”; he is not yet ready to be sitting around on the park benches all day or, even worse, fight at home with his quarrelling and sarcastic wife. That’s why he decides to get a job at a local supermarket store - at the Bottle recycling department. This small and at first meaningless place becomes a micro-world of human destinies, where old Tkaloun acts as an  observer.

Czech version follows…

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