40 let a jeden mesic po
okupaci
21. zari 2008 - Plastici v Torontu
In 1976, a loose outfit of rock musicians inspired by artists
such as Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground had become something
of a legend. Formed in the late sixties, their moody, psychedelic
sound had earned them a legion of fans across communist Czechoslovakia,
but also the unwanted attention of the police. With their long
hair, weird sound and blatant refusal to conform to the stifling
norms of the culturally barren period that followed the August
21,1968, Soviet-led invasion, they must have been the regime's
worst nightmare.
In association with Richard Krpac,
Consul General of the Czech Republic
THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE
+ Friendly Rich and the The Lollipop People
Sunday September 21 at 8:30 pm
The Phoenix
410 Sherbourne,
between Wellesley and Carlton
Adv Tix $25
ticketweb.ca, Rotate This, Circus Books And Music
"What's it like making rock 'n' roll in a police state?
The same as anywhere else, only harder. Much harder" -Paul
Wilson, 1983 The rock band that actually changed the course of
history was not the Beatles or Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones
- it was the little-known PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE, the
Czech group that went from a primitive psychedelic band to jailed
dissidents to national heroes by helping spur the formation of
Charter 77, the human rights organization that was instrumental
in fomenting dissidence in the former Czechoslovakia and negotiating
the smooth and peaceful transition of power from totalitarian
communism to democracy. They got their name courtesy of THE MOTHERS
OF INVENTION and were born amid the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
in late 1968. Evolving during one of the chilliest periods of
the Cold War, they got their Western rock via remote feed, and
this accounts for their unique sound lodged firmly in the Central
European landscape. In addition to a repertoire of VELVET UNDERGROUND,
DOORS, and MOTHERS covers, the band distinguished themselves with
garish face paint, satin togas, and wild original compositions.
In 1969, they enlisted the help of Canadian language teacher Paul
Wilson to provide vocals and to teach the band English lyrics
for their compositions. They endured many years of government
harassment and persecution, all while continuing to develop their
sound and an ardent following while cementing their place as fathers
of the Czech musical underground. Having lost state sanction as
professional musicians early in the Soviet occupation, the band
often appeared in the guise of amateur entertainment at weddings,
dances and family parties, as well as in the occasional underground
festival. Their equipment was often laboriously hand-made, and
rehearsals were usually conducted without amplification in the
secrecy of friend's and family's crowded apartments. Arrangements
were typically practiced as individual parts, with the combined
works being put together in impromptu fashion only on those rare
occasions when the band found themselves with an opportunity to
perform on stage. They managed to record their first album, "Egon
Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned" in 1974, although it would
not be released until 1978 in France. Members of both the band
and their audiences were often arrested, and at one such performance
in 1974, state police rounded up hundreds of student fans and
band members, imprisoning six and expelling dozens from their
universities. In the spring of 1976, Czech police raided dozens
of flats and communal homes; arrested twenty-seven members of
the Plastics and other underground bands; confiscated and destroyed
most of their instruments and equipment; and seized countless
texts, music sheets, tapes and photos. Five members of the Plastics
were imprisoned. By the late seventies, several members of the
band had relocated to Vienna, where they continued to perform
and record. The band dissolved in 1989, shortly before the collapse
of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia but reformed In 1997.
THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE stand out in the history of
modern music due to their completely remarkable story of persistence
in the shadow of suppression behind the Iron Curtain in post-'Prague
Spring' Czechoslovakia. TOM STOPPARD'S recent hit play ROCK 'N'
ROLL is central to the story of The Plastics although it is told
from the sidelines by fictional characters. "It's a story
not of activism but of whimsy treated as sedition, stubbornness
met by brutality and a regime unknowingly consolidating its opposition."
***
Kanadske konexe Plastiku
Predestinace skupiny Plastic People of the Universe je ve znameni
javoroveho listu. Pri prvnich vystoupenich s nimi zpival Paul
Wilson, ktery se zatoulal do Cech a legendarni Mejla Hlavsa bedlive
sledoval kanadsky hokej a pravidelne v casopisu Hlas Disidenta,
ktery vysel dvakrat ve ctyrech exemplarich vyhlasoval All Stars
tym NHL. Vsak take jedna jejich skladba se jmenuje Phil Esposito.
Text neni vsak ani v anglictine, ci francouzstine ani v jazyku
Egona Bondyho cestine (popripade v nemcine). Je to snad jedina
skladba, kdy plastici pouzili jazyku latinskeho. Take jejich druha
exilova deska Pasije vysla v Kanade pod patronaci Paula
Wilsona a uvedla ji jako prvni ve svem velikonocnim vysilani CBC.
Hlavni konexe mezi Kanadou a Plastiky vsak nastaly v roce 1983
kdy saxofonista Vratislav Brabenec emigroval s manzelkou Marii
Benetkovou a dcerou Nekolkou pres Viden do Toronta. Koncert 21.
zari 2008 by mohl byt zaroven jakymsi stribrnym vyrocim, (zlate
vyroci by pak bylo v roce 2033) Brabencova prijezdu do teto zeme.
V meste pod CN Tower se venoval hlavne zahradniceni a udrzbe zahrad
a na Masaryktownu vyoral neprehlenutelnou brazdu. Prestoze bydlel
nejprve v Harmonii, rozhodl se premistit do nedalekeho Scarborough,
ktere bylo pred amalgamaci samostatnym mestem. V dobe sveho torontskeho
pobytu spolupracoval s redakci casopisu Paternoster a svou
poezii publikoval ve sborniku, ktery vydal zesnuly Bob Krcil v
New Yorku. Tato poezie nenasla pochopeni u vedeni MMI, presto
zachycuje urcitou reflexi tohoto obdobi.
Na jare 1989 doslo k jakemusi jednorazovemu znovusjednoceni Plastiku
v New Yorku. Tehdy zde hrali Plastici pod jmenem Pulnoc.
Zaroven za torontskeho pobytu se potkava s Josefem Karafiatem,
ktery zde pusobil jako solovy hudebnik a kytarista. Pod umeleckym
jmenem Joe Carnation natocil nekolik kazet. Zatimco Karafiat zustava
po roce 1989 v Ontariu, Brabenec se na prelomu osmdesatych a devadesatych
let stehuje do Britske Kolumbie, kde bydli nejprve na Sunshine
Coast a pozdeji v Comoxu. Jeste v Kanade natocil Brabenec kazetu
Mraky se vari.
V polovine devadesatych let se Joe Carnation premistili do Prahy,
kde hral s Garazi a Vratislav Brabenec zacal hrat opet
s Plastiky. V roce 1997 doslo k definitivnimu Brabencovu premisteni
do Cech. Ve stejnem roce zacal s Plastiky hrat i Joe Carnation.
Nejen repertoar Plastiku tak prosel zmenou, ale i obsazeni. Kytarista
Josef Janicek se zacal venovat klavesovym nastrojum a na jeho
misto prisel Karafiat, ktereho znal Brabenec z Kanady. Behem sve
prve navstevy v Kanade hrali Plastici v Torontu v legendarnim
klubu Elmocombo, kde vystupovali takove hvezdy jako Rolling Stone
nebo bluesova legenda John Mayal.
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