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Jazz in Czechoslovakia

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286:. The first problem or law that it transgressed was the size constraint. By the time the Section was shut down, membership had reached up to 7,000 — 4,000 more than was allowed. Membership was also breached in other ways. The bulletin and book series that the section published spread quickly from hand to hand. Škvorecký writes “If in a high school one student belonged to the Jazz Section, the books and periodicals he was allowed to buy were read by practically the whole student body and usually also by the teaching staff.” As the Section's popularity grew and their ability to sponsor musical events became more limited, it reached beyond jazz, and even beyond music in general to literature and art. They began to publish volumes of 278:
seen as “trash music” for the underclasses, was accepted. The Ministry of the Interior issued a number of guidelines, most importantly that the section was limited to a membership of 3,000. For the first couple of years after its conception, the Jazz Section kept within the confines of the laws. It began the Prague Jazz Days festival, which was expected to be a yearly event. It published a bulletin that discussed the ongoing music scene. As the section grew, the heads of the section became bolder and launched a book series that discussed all popular culture at the time — from Czech art, to rock poetry, a dictionary of American rock bands, to the 1984
303:, in the early 80's, the communist government feared bad publicity and could not shut down the section immediately. In 1980, the Jazz Days festival was cancelled under the pretext that 15,000 fans had bought tickets and the event could be listed as a “public disturbance.” In 1983, the bureaucrats sought to pressure the Czech Musician's Union to dissolve the Jazz section. When this was refused, however, the government dissolved the entire organization. 91: 1778: 33: 328:
other, who were against the trial. It reflects a split in the ruling party.” These sentiments are similar to the ideas present at the end of WWII when everybody had their own rescued Jew to prove that they were good beings. Not to be undone by these arrests however, the Jazz Section continued while Srp was in prison.
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The government's approval of the Jazz Section was in part due to its intense dislike of rock music and the overwhelming popularity of that genre. As the rock movement began to become involved with the jazz scene, tensions erupted. At the fifth Jazz Days festival, the authorities got involved when a
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The small victories that jazz won during this time, however, are not comparable to the Jazz Section of the Czech Musician's Union that was created in 1971. Formed through an “administrative loophole,” a group of jazz musicians saw the opportunity to become part of the union, and despite jazz being
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and other people. So the trial was really a compromise between the hard-liners in the Czechoslovak party leadership who wanted to make it a warning to anyone who dared to do something not fully endorsed by the party, on the one hand, and the opportunists who smell a new wind from Moscow, on the
290:, or communist suppressed literature. Publications that were sold only to members in cultural organizations were subject to less censorship and in this way, the Section published numerous manuscripts on “alternative culture” and escaped punishment by the government. 269:, the day revolved around practicing jazz with the group and heroic daydreams. Even though the novel is set at the end of WWII, the books publishing in 1958 is clearly demonstrative of the excitement for jazz that is present at the time Škvorecký writes the novel. 299:“rock operetta” was allowed to be performed. From then on until 1984 when the Section was shut down, the bureaucracy resorted to tactics of harassment. After the Jazz Section applied for membership in the European Jazz Federation, a member of the 315:. Beyond Srp and Kouřil, five other members were arrested and given fairly light sentences. Though the real causes for the light sentences are unknown, Škvorecký speculates “you cannot really hold such things in Czechoslovakia when 264:
occurred, jazz continued its success as an independent form that attracted the youth in all their rebellion. It was the music that was played at clubs and numerous individual bands formed. As one sees in Škvorecký's
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The heads, Karel Srp and Vladimír Kouřil, continued to run the Section even after its disbandment causing them to be jailed in 1986. This action was met with severe criticism from abroad including authors such as
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Among the underground intellectuals, jazz was the genre that was most identified with. As the cultural scene in Czechoslovakia heated up, the jazz scene expanded along with it. In 1964, the First
300: 253:, jazz was developed by Africans and as such, regarded as trash. As this movement grew, it became increasingly intertwined with the growth of the dissident movement. 43: 245:, “Its name was Dixieland. A type of the cannibal-music with roots so patently folkloristic and often (the blues) so downright proletarian that even the most 17: 804: 54: 1107: 155: 1046: 127: 1066: 108: 134: 1031: 1762: 1056: 1026: 141: 257: 1727: 174: 72: 872: 198:
in the 1920s and 1930s. Ježek's influence in this realm is particularly noted and by the time he immigrated to the
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that states a Knowledge editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic.
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falsifier of facts would be hard put to deny them”. Similar to the situation during
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and classical music were among the most popular music. After the invasion of
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United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
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personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay
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Tensions between Jazz Section and communist government
260:was held, bringing hip bands of the time. When the 115:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 1794: 366: 373: 359: 273:Jazz Section of the Czech Musician's Union 175:Learn how and when to remove this message 73:Learn how and when to remove this message 1407: 14: 1795: 354: 230:that the jazz movement was revived. 113:adding citations to reliable sources 84: 26: 202:in 1939, his compositions blending 24: 258:Prague International Jazz Festival 25: 1814: 1728:Album covers of Blue Note Records 1776: 89: 31: 18:Jazz in dissident Czechoslovakia 100:needs additional citations for 1108:Institutions and organizations 338: 233:When this movement began, the 13: 1: 805:Cool jazz and West Coast jazz 331: 7: 237:were opposed to it, but as 10: 1819: 190:roots were established by 1772: 1720: 1630: 1514: 1494: 1473: 1457: 1374: 1265: 1210: 1167: 1160: 1134:See Template: Jazz theory 1095: 1017: 881: 843: 787: 709: 491: 388: 222:Jazz Band performed at a 380: 124:"Jazz in Czechoslovakia" 196:Rudolf Antonín Dvorský 53:by rewriting it in an 282:acceptance speech by 188:Czechoslovakia's jazz 1522:Bibliography of jazz 1302:Continental European 224:World Youth Festival 109:improve this article 1763:Straight, No Chaser 1552:Straight-ahead jazz 1009:Winter & Winter 458:French horn in jazz 1707:West African music 1532:British dance band 1322:European free jazz 1295:British dance band 788:Musicians by genre 568:Free improvisation 243:The Bass Saxophone 55:encyclopedic style 42:is written like a 1790: 1789: 1663:New Orleans blues 1510: 1509: 1453: 1452: 1027:Beaches (Toronto) 438:Swing performance 185: 184: 177: 159: 83: 82: 75: 16:(Redirected from 1810: 1781: 1780: 1547:Continental jazz 1440:Washington, D.C. 1405: 1404: 1307:Czech and Slovak 1165: 1164: 949:India Navigation 647:Progressive jazz 501:Avant-garde jazz 375: 368: 361: 352: 351: 345: 342: 284:Jaroslav Seifert 180: 173: 169: 166: 160: 158: 117: 93: 85: 78: 71: 67: 64: 58: 35: 34: 27: 21: 1818: 1817: 1813: 1812: 1811: 1809: 1808: 1807: 1793: 1792: 1791: 1786: 1783:Jazz portal 1775: 1768: 1749:The Jazz Singer 1716: 1695:Novelty ragtime 1626: 1506: 1490: 1469: 1449: 1403: 1370: 1261: 1206: 1161:Regional scenes 1156: 1091: 1013: 939:Groove Merchant 929:Flying Dutchman 877: 839: 783: 705: 637:Orchestral jazz 617:Mainstream jazz 605:Afro-Cuban jazz 487: 396:Outline of jazz 384: 379: 349: 348: 343: 339: 334: 325:Andrei Sakharov 296: 275: 239:Josef Škvorecký 181: 170: 164: 161: 118: 116: 106: 94: 79: 68: 62: 59: 51:help improve it 48: 36: 32: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 1816: 1806: 1805: 1788: 1787: 1773: 1770: 1769: 1767: 1766: 1759: 1756:Round Midnight 1752: 1745: 1737: 1730: 1724: 1722: 1718: 1717: 1715: 1714: 1709: 1704: 1699: 1698: 1697: 1687: 1682: 1677: 1672: 1667: 1666: 1665: 1660: 1650: 1645: 1640: 1634: 1632: 1628: 1627: 1625: 1624: 1619: 1614: 1609: 1604: 1599: 1594: 1589: 1584: 1579: 1574: 1569: 1564: 1559: 1554: 1549: 1544: 1539: 1534: 1529: 1524: 1518: 1516: 1512: 1511: 1508: 1507: 1505: 1504: 1498: 1496: 1492: 1491: 1489: 1488: 1486:Latin American 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Index

Jazz in dissident Czechoslovakia
personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay
help improve it
encyclopedic style
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verification
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"Jazz in Czechoslovakia"
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JSTOR
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Jaroslav Ježek
Rudolf Antonín Dvorský
United States
jazz
Czechoslovakia
Nazis
Graeme Bell
Dixieland
World Youth Festival
Prague
Stalinists
Josef Škvorecký
Orwellian
World War II

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