Vladimír Kouřil

* 1944

  • “Getting permission for the Jazz Days was always problematic. I remember that they never forbade it; however, they became alert any time some amateur bands would appear there. We usually had an oral consent, and they would give us the written permission later. It was during the times of Dr. Navrátil. But there were always scrambles. The last two years of the Jazz Days – they literally intervened there. They did not wish for certain bands to attend. So the last Jazz Days went under due to some forbidden bands performances at Folimanka - the famous story of the Chadim's band, for instance.”

  • “There was a list. Miloš Chadima has it even printed in the first part of his memoirs, already in the samizdat edition. There were around thirty bands. Each one with an incredible span; it went from the rock ones that were seen as a bother - mostly based on the people playing in them -, towards the Prague Syncropic Orchestra, or the ensemble named Relaxace (Relaxation), whose members strummed the Indian chants on a zither. In fact, it was incredible. These were the bands that used to perform during the Jazz Days, so they had (the Communists) compiled the list out of them."

  • “Such things were being prohibited. Those concerts used to be banned often. That was the reason why they were held under various pretexts. Once the twist was allowed, the twist band shows - as it used to be called - took place then. Or, we used to go to Mírák (Náměstí míru) or to Radiopalác (Radiopalace). We used to go there for that usually there would be a guest performance in the middle of the afternoon tea programs, and that was usually a rock band."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Praha, 14.03.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 01:43:07
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 2

    Praha, 22.03.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 01:58:42
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 3

    Praha, 03.04.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 01:24:19
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I did not believe they would really send me to prison.

A portrait no. 2, Vladimír Kouřil, 2019
A portrait no. 2, Vladimír Kouřil, 2019
zdroj: authors of the film

Vladimír Kouřil was born on November 10, 1944, in Těšetice near Olomouc. He moved to Prague with his parents in 1949. During his studies at the secondary technical school, he became interested in foreign music, especially the rock one. Vladimír started to study at the Czech Technical University in Prague; however, he has never finished his studies, as he found himself more into the music industry. He found a job at the water management institute and later became a planner at the company named Metrostav. At the turn of the 60-s and 70-s, he stood at the foundation of the Jazz Section – a club associating lovers of the jazz music, organized under the auspices of the official Union of Musicians. Besides organizing festivals, the club used to publish prints and books that bothered the Communist regime – especially as the Jazz Section’s organizing and publishing activities had enjoyed increasing public acceptance. Vladimír, along with other officials of the Section, had become a target of interest for the State Security, whose officials repeatedly conducted home inspections at their houses. This targeted pressure that focused on the destruction of the Jazz Section culminated in 1986 with the arrest of its officials, together with allegations of an illicit business. Vladimír was sentenced to a ten-month immediate imprisonment. His stay in prison caused him serious health problems; he had to undergo kidney transplantation and still bears lasting consequences up to these days. After the revolution of November 1989, he has devoted himself to writing about jazz music.