Czech bluegrass
Encyclopedia
Czech Bluegrass is a term that describes Czech
interpretations of the bluegrass
genre of music that emerged during the middle of the twentieth century in the southeastern United States
.
The music's history and performance in the Czech lands, however, make it more than simple example of mimesis
. The American genre and style have been absorbed and transformed in the Czech context to produce a spectrum of uniquely local phenomena. These musical compositions still bear enough relation to their inspiration to merit the "bluegrass" name--and are also quite compelling as musical art. Czech Bluegrass can be fruitfully considered with respect to ideas of transculturation
, appropriation
, traditionalism
, and "world" music
.
emerged as its main vector after 1918 in the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic
. Tramping in this sense is a Czech-specific blend of ideas taken from Scouting
, the German wandervogel
s, and Americanist romanticism. The music that accompanied the movement (tramp music) was a blend of Czech folklore, early jazz
and other "syncopated music
", such as barbershop
, harmony singing, and popular songs from the U.S., France, and elsewhere. Czech tramping enthusiasts quickly incorporated the sounds and "style" of Bluegrass when they first heard this music in the late 1940s.
radio programs from US military installations in Munich
, they were flooded with a wealth of American music that they were able to freely use for their own ends. Tramping's song repertory was soon augmented with tunes learned from the likes of Bill Monroe
, Johnny Cash
, Jimmie Rodgers
and others.
Instruments were often an obstacle, especially the still largely unknown banjo
. The few musicians who tried to get by on tenor banjo and guitar banjo had little to inform their attempts at emulating what they heard on the radio, until Pete Seeger
's 1964 Prague
concert. Banjoist Marko Čermak was able to build the first Czech five-string banjo from photographs taken at this event. Soon after he started presenting this new style and instrument in performances with the group Greenhorns (Zelenáči).
This first generation of players (which also includes Rangers
and Taxmeni) inspired many Czechs to take up distinctly bluegrass-like music, necessitating cottage industries and then actual businesses to support this community with written materials, recordings, and of course, instruments.
Czechs were in many ways isolated from sources of American bluegrass, but still were able to stay informed, though not without some difficulty. Paradoxically the 1968 Soviet invasion helped Bluegrass in the Czech lands. It scattered many Czechs into exile, whence they were able to send books, recordings, and other materials back home. The first (and now longest-running) Bluegrass festival in Europe began its history in 1972 in Kopidlno
, only seven years after Carlton Haney
introduced the concept with his Roanoke (VA) Bluegrass Festival of 1965.
starting spreading through the Czech bluegrass community in the 1970s-80s, interest was sparked in the progressive possibilities of this music. The band Poutníci
are a Brno
-based group that included in their repertory bluegrass standards translated into Czech, newly composed and more folk
-like songs, as well as classical instrumentals adapted for bluegrass instrumentation. They also sing almost entirely in the Czech language
, making their music more accessible to wider audiences in their own country.
This group continues to play today, with almost entirely new personnel. Lead singer and songwriter Robert Křesťan has become one of the most well-regarded Czech "folk
" singer-songwriters, and has continued his trajectory away from the core of bluegrass with his band Druhá Tráva
, who are best known in the U.S. for their collaboration with former Bluegrass Boy Peter Rowan.
Mandolinist/Fiddler Jiří Plocek left Poutníci
to found the band Teagrass and has created an exciting performance idiom that includes elements of more traditionalist bluegrass, jazz
, klezmer
, Moravian folk music, and other regional traditionalist genres.
Petr Kůs is another notable composer/bandleader known more for the poetics of his texts than for his solid mandolin
chops. Like Křesťan, he moved from emulative beginnings to a style that is less indebted to Bluegrass, though his band has always maintained the traditional bluegrass instrumental lineup and a lot of its musical affect.
was an expansion that attempted to fill the realm of possibilities Czechs enjoyed after being freed from the constrictions of state socialism
. Druhá Tráva
toured the U.S., and American artists were more able to perform in the newly forged (as of 1993) Czech Republic
and its counterpart, Slovakia
. This bubble didn't last, however. Druhá Tráva
and Poutníci
as well as some other hybridizing groups still perform successfully, but are not part of active musical development.
In the last decade enthusiasts in the Czech Republic--following trends in the U.S. community--have nurtured a strong interest in the traditionalist forms of the music. Groups like Reliéf
, Bluegrass Cwrkot, Petr Brandejs Band, The Bucket, Roll's Boys, Dessert, and many more fit into this category. They all perform aspects of bluegrass drawn from work by American musicians of the early days of the genre, including Bill Monroe
, Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy Martin
, and all the usual suspects.
Czech bluegrass bands of the more traditionalist variety tour to some degree in the U.S., but find it more practical to limit their travel to Europe, where they are known for their masterful instrumental and vocal performance.
Czech luthiers have built a reputation for their fine craftsmanship and quality instruments. Makers such as Jiři Lebeda, Ondra Holoubek, and Eduard Kristůfek produce guitars, mandolins, and dobros that are known and purchased worldwide. Most significantly, perhaps, are the metal parts produced by banjo-makers Jarda Průcha, Láďa Ptáček, and Pavel Krištůfek, which are used throughout the world, most notably by Gibson and other established U.S. makers.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
interpretations of the bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
genre of music that emerged during the middle of the twentieth century in the southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
.
The music's history and performance in the Czech lands, however, make it more than simple example of mimesis
Mimesis
Mimesis , from μιμεῖσθαι , "to imitate," from μῖμος , "imitator, actor") is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the...
. The American genre and style have been absorbed and transformed in the Czech context to produce a spectrum of uniquely local phenomena. These musical compositions still bear enough relation to their inspiration to merit the "bluegrass" name--and are also quite compelling as musical art. Czech Bluegrass can be fruitfully considered with respect to ideas of transculturation
Transculturation
Transculturation is a term coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940 to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures....
, appropriation
Appropriation (music)
In music, appropriation is the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new piece, and is an example of cultural appropriation....
, traditionalism
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
, and "world" music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
.
Background
Czech interest in things American dates to the nineteenth century, and is suffused with luminous conceptions of the Old West, cowboys, American Indians and other iconic images. Czech TrampingCzech Tramping
Czech tramping or in Czech, simply, tramping, is a movement that combines a trajectory towards nature with imaginative play based on ideas of "Amerika." It manifests itself in distinctive clothing style and weekend and vacation trips, and even musical performance.Czech interest in "Amerika" dates...
emerged as its main vector after 1918 in the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic
Czechoslovak Republic
Czechoslovak Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1938 and between 1945 and 1960. See*First Czechoslovak Republic*Second Czechoslovak Republic...
. Tramping in this sense is a Czech-specific blend of ideas taken from Scouting
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
, the German wandervogel
Wandervogel
Wandervogel is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 onward. The name can be translated as rambling, hiking or wandering bird and the ethos is to shake off the restrictions of society and get back to nature and freedom...
s, and Americanist romanticism. The music that accompanied the movement (tramp music) was a blend of Czech folklore, early jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and other "syncopated music
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
", such as barbershop
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...
, harmony singing, and popular songs from the U.S., France, and elsewhere. Czech tramping enthusiasts quickly incorporated the sounds and "style" of Bluegrass when they first heard this music in the late 1940s.
The First Generation
Many Czech bluegrass "old-timers" date their involvement with something specifically bluegrass-like to the post-war years, a lean time for the music, but one that contains important developments. Information and inspiration for the music reached Czechs through unlikely means. When Czechs tuned in to Armed Forces NetworkAmerican Forces Network
The American Forces Network is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces American Forces Radio and Television Service for its entertainment and command internal information networks worldwide...
radio programs from US military installations in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, they were flooded with a wealth of American music that they were able to freely use for their own ends. Tramping's song repertory was soon augmented with tunes learned from the likes of Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
and others.
Instruments were often an obstacle, especially the still largely unknown banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. The few musicians who tried to get by on tenor banjo and guitar banjo had little to inform their attempts at emulating what they heard on the radio, until Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
's 1964 Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
concert. Banjoist Marko Čermak was able to build the first Czech five-string banjo from photographs taken at this event. Soon after he started presenting this new style and instrument in performances with the group Greenhorns (Zelenáči).
This first generation of players (which also includes Rangers
Rangers (band)
The Rangers is a Czech pop folk band formed in 1964 by Milan Dufek and Antonín Hájek, playing country music as well. Its classical ensemble consisted of Milan Dufek , Antonín Hájek , Miroslav Řihošek, Jan Vančura , Jiří Veisser, and Radek Tomášek...
and Taxmeni) inspired many Czechs to take up distinctly bluegrass-like music, necessitating cottage industries and then actual businesses to support this community with written materials, recordings, and of course, instruments.
Czechs were in many ways isolated from sources of American bluegrass, but still were able to stay informed, though not without some difficulty. Paradoxically the 1968 Soviet invasion helped Bluegrass in the Czech lands. It scattered many Czechs into exile, whence they were able to send books, recordings, and other materials back home. The first (and now longest-running) Bluegrass festival in Europe began its history in 1972 in Kopidlno
Kopidlno
Kopidlno is a town in the Jičín District of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 2,238. Kopidlno lies between Jičín and Poděbrady, 80 kilometers from Prague.- History :...
, only seven years after Carlton Haney
Carlton Haney
Lawrence Carlton Haney was an American booking agent, festival promoter, and songwriter primarily active in bluegrass music. Once dubbed “The P.T...
introduced the concept with his Roanoke (VA) Bluegrass Festival of 1965.
Second Generation: The Progressive Impulse
When recordings by the band New Grass RevivalNew Grass Revival
New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles....
starting spreading through the Czech bluegrass community in the 1970s-80s, interest was sparked in the progressive possibilities of this music. The band Poutníci
Poutníci
Poutníci is a Czech bluegrass ensemble, heavily influential in the second wave of the genre.The group formed in 1970; its lead singer and bassist Jiri Pola has been with the group since 1981. In 1989 and 1990, the group was awarded the Best Non-American Bluegrass Record of the Year by the American...
are a Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
-based group that included in their repertory bluegrass standards translated into Czech, newly composed and more folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
-like songs, as well as classical instrumentals adapted for bluegrass instrumentation. They also sing almost entirely in the Czech language
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, making their music more accessible to wider audiences in their own country.
This group continues to play today, with almost entirely new personnel. Lead singer and songwriter Robert Křesťan has become one of the most well-regarded Czech "folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
" singer-songwriters, and has continued his trajectory away from the core of bluegrass with his band Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva is a bluegrass band from the Czech Republic, formed in 1991 by Robert Křesťan. As of August 2005, they have released eighteen studio albums either as a group or as side projects....
, who are best known in the U.S. for their collaboration with former Bluegrass Boy Peter Rowan.
Mandolinist/Fiddler Jiří Plocek left Poutníci
Poutníci
Poutníci is a Czech bluegrass ensemble, heavily influential in the second wave of the genre.The group formed in 1970; its lead singer and bassist Jiri Pola has been with the group since 1981. In 1989 and 1990, the group was awarded the Best Non-American Bluegrass Record of the Year by the American...
to found the band Teagrass and has created an exciting performance idiom that includes elements of more traditionalist bluegrass, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
, Moravian folk music, and other regional traditionalist genres.
Petr Kůs is another notable composer/bandleader known more for the poetics of his texts than for his solid mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
chops. Like Křesťan, he moved from emulative beginnings to a style that is less indebted to Bluegrass, though his band has always maintained the traditional bluegrass instrumental lineup and a lot of its musical affect.
(Neo-)Traditionalism
The bluegrass boom in the years following the 1989 velvet revolutionVelvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
was an expansion that attempted to fill the realm of possibilities Czechs enjoyed after being freed from the constrictions of state socialism
State socialism
State socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the working class, and a gradual process of developing socialism through government policy...
. Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva is a bluegrass band from the Czech Republic, formed in 1991 by Robert Křesťan. As of August 2005, they have released eighteen studio albums either as a group or as side projects....
toured the U.S., and American artists were more able to perform in the newly forged (as of 1993) Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and its counterpart, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. This bubble didn't last, however. Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva is a bluegrass band from the Czech Republic, formed in 1991 by Robert Křesťan. As of August 2005, they have released eighteen studio albums either as a group or as side projects....
and Poutníci
Poutníci
Poutníci is a Czech bluegrass ensemble, heavily influential in the second wave of the genre.The group formed in 1970; its lead singer and bassist Jiri Pola has been with the group since 1981. In 1989 and 1990, the group was awarded the Best Non-American Bluegrass Record of the Year by the American...
as well as some other hybridizing groups still perform successfully, but are not part of active musical development.
In the last decade enthusiasts in the Czech Republic--following trends in the U.S. community--have nurtured a strong interest in the traditionalist forms of the music. Groups like Reliéf
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
, Bluegrass Cwrkot, Petr Brandejs Band, The Bucket, Roll's Boys, Dessert, and many more fit into this category. They all perform aspects of bluegrass drawn from work by American musicians of the early days of the genre, including Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
, Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".-Early years:Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee. Jimmy Martin was born into the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneedville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding...
, and all the usual suspects.
Current Scene
The range of "bluegrass" expressions in the Czech Republic is wide. All the streams of emulation and innovation persist, serving different needs and sub-communities. An interesting current phenomenon is the growing streams of bluegrass music and materials that are exported from the country.Czech bluegrass bands of the more traditionalist variety tour to some degree in the U.S., but find it more practical to limit their travel to Europe, where they are known for their masterful instrumental and vocal performance.
Czech luthiers have built a reputation for their fine craftsmanship and quality instruments. Makers such as Jiři Lebeda, Ondra Holoubek, and Eduard Kristůfek produce guitars, mandolins, and dobros that are known and purchased worldwide. Most significantly, perhaps, are the metal parts produced by banjo-makers Jarda Průcha, Láďa Ptáček, and Pavel Krištůfek, which are used throughout the world, most notably by Gibson and other established U.S. makers.