Loading details…
Artist
Michael Kocáb
12+ albums
KocabrockalternativeCzechunder 2000 listeners
about
Michael Kocáb (*1954) The Czech composer, instrumentalist and singer Michael Kocáb has been an important figure in modern Czech music since the end of the 1970s. He studied at the Prague conservatory (studying organ with Jiří Ropek and composition with Ilja Hurník). He was already artistically active during his studies with Prague big band Milana Svobody and Jiří Stivín. He subsequently founded his own group, Pražský výběr, which helped determine the evolutionary line of Czech rock in the 1980s. After a jazz-rock period, he got to know guitarist Michal Pavlíček ,and together they steered the band toward modern waters. The band recorded the album Straka v hrsti (A Magpie in the Hand) in 1982, but the record was forbidden to be released (it came out six years later). After resuming activities, the group then enjoyed their most celebrated years, selling out sports halls and recording new records. A joint recording with Michal Pavlíček followed (the album Cerne svetlo, or Black Light), as did a solo record (Povídali, že mu hráli, or They Said They Played For Him) and film (Pražákům, těm je tu hej! or The Praguers Have It Good!). Michael Kocáb’s transformation from musician to politician began in the summer of 1989 at the Děčínská kotva music festival, when he said that “Every nation has the government it deserves” in a live television broadcast. Afterward, he founded the Most (Bridge) initiative with lyricist Michal Horáček, and was involved in direct negotiations
