The Czech Republic is situated in Central Europe and consists primarily of the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, first settled by Celtic and Germanic tribes but developed in their modern form after the arrival of Slavs in the early 9th century. The Kingdom of Bohemia and its capital of Prague were founded soon thereafter, achieving prominence under the 14th century reign of Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who among other cultural achievements established a tradition of French-inspired courtly music under composer Guillaume de Machaut, which in turn influenced the development of early dance music in Bohemia.
After a period of religious strife in the 15th century, cultural life revived greatly during the Renaissance under enlightened Habsburg emperor Rudolf II, who introduced Italian, Spanish and English influences to the music played at his court. After the end of his reign, the country slid into further religious chaos, which led to open insurrection against the Catholic direction of Habsburg rule and eventually to the Thirty Years' War. This period saw the end of any independent political life in the Czech lands, but also the emergence of the first noteworthy Czech composer, Adam Michna (1600 -1676). Over the next two centuries, most arts came to a standstill, but music education flourished, and Prague came to be known as the "conservatory of Europe" as Czech musicians achieved fame in Vienna, Paris and Rome, particularly Vatican court composer Josef "Il Divino Boemo" Myslive?ek (1737-1781), who inspired sometime Prague resident W.A. Mozart (1756-1791). Mozart himself occupied a significant local role in the Austrian-dominated late 18th century, famously remarking that only Prague audiences understood his music and composing his Don Giovanni in the city.
The 19th century saw the rise of nationalism and a corresponding interest in folk culture, culminating in the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Locally born classical composers Bed?ich Smetana (1824-1884), Antonín Dvo?ák (1841-1904) and Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) drew on motives from Czech folk sources to worldwide acclaim, and the revival of the Czech language from obscure dialects also brought about increased interest in folk songs. Moravian-born composer Leoš Janá?ek (1854-1928) took this tendency even further, drawing on pan-Slavism, speech melodies and traditional work songs to create a highly individual style.
This period also saw a wave of folk song collecting, perhaps most importantly in the case of Impressionist painter Ludvík Kuba (1863-1956), whose massive Slovanstvo ve svých písních (The Slavs in Their Songs) compiled 4000 songs from across Central Europe and the Balkans. A pioneer collector of a different type was leading interwar writer Karel ?apek, who assembled in the 1920s-30s a unique and still-valuable collection of almost 500 vinyl records of traditional music from around the world.
The political turbulence of the 20th century had enormous impact on music in the Czech lands, as both the Nazi occupation and the post-war Communist rulers exploited folk culture for their own benefit. Following the Stalinist dictum "socialist in content, national in character", traditional music was subsumed into large state-sponsored dance ensembles. At the same time, the role of music as resistance was taken over by jazz and later underground rock, which had the advantage of being both international and youth-oriented at a time when folk music became increasingly associated with the establishment. After government persecution of experimental rock band The Plastic People of the Universe in 1976, underground music became closer to the circle of dissidents around playwright Václav Havel, with several figures from this scene playing leading roles in the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
After more than a decade of political transition, folk music is again experiencing something of a revival, after a period of healthy distance from the "fakelore" promoted by the former regime. Traditional music can be roughly divided into Bohemian and Moravian strands. Bohemia is a plateau surrounded by highlands with many cultural links to neighboring Germany and Austria, while Moravia consists of rolling hills and fields and finds its musical roots in the string ensembles of Hungary and Slovakia. This can be further divided in both cases—Bohemia is known for brass bands and as the birthplace of polka, but also for a tradition of minor key laments and bagpipe music stretching back to Medieval times (continuing today in the person of legendary bagpiper and folklorist Josef Režný). Moravian music focuses mainly on the cimbalom but divides neatly, with the upper Hor?ácko and Lachia regions incorporating styles from the East (local Roma fiddler Jožka Kubík greatly influenced Moravian music in the post-war era) and the lower Dol?ácko and Slovacko regions, with their emphasis on traditional ritual music (memorably described by novelist Milan Kundera in The Joke).
Part of the revival in Czech folk music must be attributed to the many open-minded tradition-influenced bands active today. These range from well-established acts Ji?í Pavlica & Hradiš?an and ?echomor, both of which collaborate regularly with leading world music artists, to more aggressive bands such as Ahmed ma Hlád and Chodská Vlna, which openly acknowledge their debt to both Ludvík Kuba and punk rock. Prague artists such as accordion chanteuse Raduza and pub-rockers Neo?ekávaný Dychánek are rooted in "staropražské" beer-hall songs, while hip-hop act Gipsy.cz bring together traditional Roma instruments and topical rapping. The sisters V?ra Bilá and Ida Kelarová perform traditional and popular Roma styles, while the uncategorizable Iva Bittová performs in a wide variety of styles ranging from classical to electronica while always remaining close to her Moravian roots. Recent efforts by pianist Emil Viklický and cimbalom virtuoso Zuzana Lap?iková to combine traditional music with jazz improvisation have also been highly succesful. —Keith Jones
