16. Cultural life in our country
16. Cultural life in our country
Every nation has its own characteristic culture that distinguishes it from others. A people’s culture include their beliefs, rules of behaviour, language, rituals, art, technology, styles of dress, ways of producing and cooking food, religion and political and economic systems.
I would like to speak about cultural life in the
Drama and theatre
Czech theatre of the 21st century is very colourful. It includes drama, opera and ballet, as well as pantomime, black-light theatre, puppet theatre and popular musicals. I will mention mainly the
In
The National Theatre is the best-known. It has three artistic ensembles for
opera, drama, and ballet and it is settled in the well-known Neo-Renaissance
building on the bank of the
famous Estates Theatre and the smaller Kolowrat Theatre belong to it.
Very famous is also puppet theatre. Everyone knows the puppets Spejbl and Hurvínek. They have their own theatre offering humorous stories with educational character, modern version of fairy tales or satiric comedies.
Musicals have experienced a big boom in the Czech Republic over the past two decades. Both world-famous musicals translated into Czech (e.g. Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon), and original Czech musicals, such as Dracula, Krysař (The Pied Piper of Hamelin) and Golem are presented.
A very special kind of theatre is the black-light theatre.The principle of the black-light theatre is of an optical illusion of the so-called black cabinet, Dancers dressed in black, invisible on the black background cause that people and objects levitate, rotate and move denying the rules of gravity. Black theatres often combine the scenes "in black" with other techniques like modern dancing and pantomime (Theatre Image, Theatre Animato, Ta Fantastika Theatre...).
I can’t forget to mention also Laterna Magika which is an internationally comprehensive non-verbal theatre and its secret lies in the combination of dance, film and black theatre.
Small towns provide little opportnity to see theatre performances. There is not a permanent theatre building usually so when theatre companies come to give a performance there they act on the stage of cultural houses.
I like going to the theatre, because of its special atmosphere. However, I don’t like the opera and ballet very much and I’m not fond of dressing up very oficially so I don’t go to theatres like the National Theatre or the State Opera very often. I prefer small theatres which seem frendlier to me and I feel more comfortable there.
Film and cinema
Nowadays there is the domination of multicinemas in the Czech Republic
Despite our strong film tradition, nowadays people visit cinema less than they used to. I think the reasons are money, lack of time and also the availability of films on video cassettes and DVDs. For me the tickets are quite expensive, so I don’t go very often, although I’d like to. Sometimes I also prefer watching movies at home after a demanding day, because it is more comfortable and time-saving. Anyway, fortunately films which are worth seeing in the cinema are still produced.
And now something about modern Czech film development...
Despite the limitations and ideological controls imposed on Czech cinema by the Nazi and communist governments, Czech films and film directors have gained international recognition in the 20th century. The New Wave of Czech cinema began in the 1960s, when Miloš Forman, Jiří Menzel, Věra Chytilová and other directors made a number of important films that looked critically at social and political conditions in the country.
The year 1989 and the Velvet Revolution introduced a breath of fresh air and freedom into the Czech cinematography.
One notable success was the Oscar for best foreign-language film, which was deservedly won by the father-and-son team Zdeněk and Jan Svěrák for the film Kolya in 1996.
Besides Jan Svěrák, the most outstanding figures among contemporary Czech filmmakers are Jan Hřebejk and Petr Jarchovský, Saša Gedeon or Petr Zelenka and others. the
One of the film industry’s more notable successes abroad was an Oscar nomination for 2003 for the film Želary (directed by Ondřej Trojan).
The Czech film industry also has a strong tradition of animated and puppet films : among the most popular are those produced by Jiří Trnka.
At present, around 15 films are made every year. The film production is supported by the Cinema Development Fund (Fond pro rozvoj kinematografie), and the state body Czech Television.
Foreign films are frequently produced at
There is an international film festival held annually in
Music and concerts
Music has always been a natural part of life in the
The tradition of classical music is very strong in the
Czech contemporary music is very colourful and includes many genres like pop and alternative music, folk, country world music...
One European-calibre star is the singer and violinist Iva Bittová, whose music is a combination of rock, classic avant-garde, jazz and Czech folk melodies.
Folk music has a firm place on the Czech music scene. We should mention Jaromír Nohavica, Karel Plíhal, the rising star Radůza and the elegant Eben brothers. Spirituál Kvintet is a legendary outfit combining spirituals with the folk tradition.
There are also artists and bands whose work borders on several genres, for example the group Jablkoň, Oldřich Janota or Dagmar Andrtová-Voňková.
I think the most widespread genre in our country is pop music. Karel Gott has almost a cult status among the general public (not just in the Czech lands, but also in Germany), in the female category it is Helena Vondráčková and Lucie Bílá.
Hradišťan with first violinist Jiří Pavlica, combine traditional folklore with African folklore, serious avant-garde classical music and independent rock. By contrast, the group Čechomor has become famous by blending rock with Moravian traditional music and for its world tour in collaboration with Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke.
The remarkable Roma minority has expressed itself very strongly in musical terms since the fall of communism. One of the biggest European music figures in the genre is Věra Bílá. We also can’t ignore the “Czech Gipsy Kings:” Terne Chave, Bengas and the funky Gulo Car.
But there are many more styles of music which I shouldn’t forget to mention, for example rock, represented by the popular group Olympic, hip – hop, jazz and blues or many dance music artists.
Large towns offer a better opportunity to enjoy performances of both classicals and pop music. They often invite renowned symphonic orchestras with outstanding conductors and hold music festivals, such as the Edinburgh Festival of Music and the Arts or the Prague Spring Festival, which has been held every year since 1946. These orchestras usually have in their repertoire music by noted composers of all styles and periods. Stars of pop, jazz and rock music give their concerts in large concert halls or sports stadiums. Next there are festivals of country music and brass band music held and at Christmas time carols are often heard.
We come into contact with music all our lives.When we are little, we listen to lullabies sung by our mother and soon we try to sing some songs ourselves. When we reach school age, many of us take some music lessons at a music school. This is quite usual in our country. Later, under the influence of recorded pop music broadcasted by radio and TV the affection and taste of many teenagers may change and they often dream of becoming famous, founding a band and giving concerts to large audiences. At the age of 16 or 17 young people also take dancing lessons, but I can say from my experience that for many of them it is bothering and hardly a half of them finish the lessons. I thing young people rather like dancing at discos or in clubs, watch music programmes on TV and the Top of the Pops. When they go to concerts it’s usually to large concert halls, sports stadiums or clubs. I must admit that I don’t like the huge concert halls, because music is played very loudly there and it is always crowded. I like more concerts in clubs, because I can dance but also sit with my friends and have a chat if I like and I can see my favourite artist or band quite closely. But what I like most are summer music festivals, which are usually held in the open.
Buying tickets for cultural events is possible right at the place but if we want to avoid long queuing in front of the box office, it’s better to book the tickets in advance. We can do it by telephone, internet.. There are many ticket agencies where you can buy the tickets too.
Mass media
Television
Czech state television currently broadcasts on four channels. Two are classic analog channels (ČT1 and ČT2), and two modern channels are digital (the ČT24 news channel and the ČT4 Sport channel). TV Nova has the largest number of viewers.
In my opinion, television can contribute positively to the nation’s education and to the country folks it really brings culture right to their homes. I like to watch TV news, comments on home and foreign affairs or natural science programmes. It’s the easiest and quickest way how to get in touch with what’s going on. I don’t like that there are so many commercials though.
Radio
Seven broadcast radio stations and 76 regional broadcast radio stations currently operate in the Czech Republic. The broadcast radio stations include for example Čro1 – Radiožurnál, Čro 3 –
Compared to TV, radio has at least two advantages. We needn’t sit in front of it and yet we can still enjoy listening to it while we do our everyday boring tasks or travel long distances. And it can be as quick as possible in covering an event. Most of us switch on the radio to hear the time signal, morning news, press review or some good music. Some other programmes, such as popular talks, phone-ins or discussions with well known personalities can be very interesting, too.
Newspapers and magazines
I would distinguish Czech newspapers into two types: broadsheets and tabloids. The main broadsheet titles are Mladá fronta Dnes, Lidové noviny, Právo or Hospodářské noviny. The most successful tabloid newspaper on the market is Blesk. Major weekly news magazines in the Czech Republic are Týden and Respekt.
Internet
Several Internet servers compete on the Czech market. The most frequently visited are Seznam, Centrum , Atlas , iDnes , Volný and Tiscali.
I think the Internet has become the most important source of information, because we can find everything there very easily and quickly. Nowadays nearly everyone uses it and many people have it at home. It’s time-saving and it also makes us mobile, because we can listen to the radio and work on the computer at the same time while beeing away from home.