Vratislav Brabenec is a Czech

Czech people

Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 musician and author, and a member of The Plastic People of the Universe

The Plastic People of the Universe

The Plastic People of the Universe is a rock band from Prague, Czech Republic. It was the foremost representative of Prague's underground culture . This avant-garde group went against the grain of the Communist regime and due to its non-conformism often suffered serious problems such as arrests...

.

Life

Vratislav Brabenec was born in 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...

 into the family of a postal worker. He studied gardening at the Agricultural Secondary School in Mělník

Melnik

-Places:Bulgaria* Melnik, Bulgaria, a town in Bulgaria* Shiroka Melnishka Losa, a Bulgarian wine grape also known as MelnikCzech Republic* Mělník, a townUnited States* Melnik, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community...

, and he practised gardening for several years after school. From 1964 till 1969 he studied theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 at Comenius evangelical faculty in Prague, but he did not complete it. He worked in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 in 1969, and when he returned to his homeland he worked for some gardening companies. In 1976 he was arrested and imprisoned for political reasons (March - November). When he was released after eight months, he signed Charta 77 and was forced to emigrate in 1982 (Operation Asanace). He lived in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 from 1983 till 1997 (first in the east - meeting Josef Škvorecký

Josef Škvorecký

Josef Škvorecký, CM is a leading contemporary Czech writer and publisher who has spent much of his life in Canada. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country...

 and other Czech immigrants; then on the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast, British Columbia

The Sunshine Coast is a region of the southern mainland coast of British Columbia, on the eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, and just northwest of Greater Vancouver...

 and finally on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

) but since the Velvet Revolution

Velvet Revolution

The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...

 he often visited Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 (and after 1993 the 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....

). He returned to his homeland in 1997, and since then he has been pursuing a musical career and partly also working as a garden designer.

His wife Marie Benetková (born 1945) is a poet and artist. He has a daughter, Nikola.

Music career

Vratislav Brabenec plays the alto saxophone

Alto saxophone

The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...

, bass clarinet

Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...

, clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

 and he also sings. He has been a member of The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) and so he experienced the persecution of the 1970s in Czechoslovakia which, due to the banned concerts of PPU, led to Charta 77. He wrote much of the lyrics for the group with philosophical („Jak bude po smrti“ What it will be like after death with the use of texts by Ladislav Klíma

Ladislav Klíma

Ladislav Klíma , was a Czech philosopher and novelist influenced by George Berkeley, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. His philosophy is referred to varyingly as existentialism and subjective idealism.-Life:...

) and religious themes („Pašijové hry velikonoční“ Easter Passion Play, first played in 1968 with the Spirituál kvintet

Spirituál kvintet

Spirituál kvintet is a Czech Folk music band formed in 1960 by Jiří Tichota and others. Its importance for the Czech public can be compared with the Weavers for the US. Both the band's publisher and independent reviews consider it as a legend and one of the best Czech bands...

). In 1997 he returned to the Czech Republic and joined a revival group. He also plays in the Sen noci svatojánské band.

Literary career

His first poems were published in 1968 in a religious magazine Kostnické

Konstanz

Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...

 jiskry. He also published in samizdat

Samizdat

Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...

 editions. The only one solo samizdat was his Svědkové (Witnesses, 1978). He prepared another one in 1982 (Sebedudy) but it was not published until 1992. His poems are in close relation to music. He has published in most Czech literary and music magazines and collective volumes in the 1990s (e.g. Revolver Revue, Host, Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, Rock & Pop etc.). In the last few years, Brabenec has appeared in several movies, usually about or with PPU (Milan Hlavsa

Milan Hlavsa

Milan "Mejla" Hlavsa was the founder, chief songwriter, and original bassist of the Czech band Plastic People of the Universe, which was part of the inspiration for the anti-establishment movement Charter 77....

, a Plastic People of the Universe, 2001 or ...a bude hůř, 2007)