Slavic and Eurasian Studies

Talk" The history of Czech pop and alternative music and the influence of American culture" by Vaclav Havelka

Tue, March 22, 2011 | UTC 4.112

3:30 PM - 5:00 PM


Since the US Army arrived in Czechoslovakia in 1945, the influence of American culture on Czech art and music is emphatic and indevile. It's hard to say where the Czech music's identity lies. As in other cultures and countries it's rather in the alternative than the mainstream, popular culture / scene. It's very natural for human beings to look up to things out of reach. And that's basically the major element that let the people to the interest in American culture. The forbidden apple tastes the sweetest. But because it has been forbidden it wasn't easy to listen to records, read books, watch movies. Instead, people were reinterpreting Western songs and music in order to be able to share them. And this fact was a major influence on actual songwriting and the approach to music, to the song.

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