The Czech musical tradition has made its way into the world in the most diverse ways. One polka, for example, successfully made it onto an American commemorative postal stamp. It accompanied the astronauts of the space shuttle Discovery on their journey into space as well, and the son of the composer, the heir to the family tradition, shook the hand of the American president.
The Vejvoda family founded their musical tradition in a small town south of Prague where for generations they passed on their love for music and for leading bands. Jaromír Vejvoda (1902– 1988) was the author of 82 pieces which have become an integral part of the Czech folk music repertoire. One of these pieces was his Modrany Polka (1927), which by pure chance found its way to the publishing house of Hoffmanna (Jana) vdova (Jan Hoffmann’s Widow). There it was given a text by Václav Zeman and renamed “Škoda 6 7 lásky” (“A Waste of Love”). But then as the publisher gained contacts, it soon began to be played in America as well. An English text starting with the words “Roll out the barrel” was written, and the 1938 recording by Will Glahe became the 32nd album to be designated a “gold record” for sales of over 1 million units (the first in this series of historic recordings was a 1903 Enrico Caruso album). During his trip to Prague, general Dwight D. Eisenhower called “Roll Out the Barrel” a song that helped win the war, and another American president, George Bush Sr., shook the hand of the composer’s son Josef Vejvoda, and later wrote him a personal letter to thank him for a manuscript of the polka with the author’s signature.
Josef Vejvoda follows in the steps of his family’s musical tradition in a different style of music. He was born in Prague on July 13, 1945, shortly before the end of the war, graduated from Prague Conservatory, and became one of our top jazz drummers. He has performed and recorded not only with the best Czech jazzmen, but with the best international players as well.
At the same time, he has not neglected his father’s music. On March 21st, 2002 he conducted Vejvoda Sr.’s most famous polka in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, the American tabernacle of classical music. The audience of 2,800 people rose in a standing ovation to show what this melody meant to them.
This album contains a selection of Jaromír Vejvoda’s classic pieces performed by the brass band and Salon Orchestra which Josef resurrected in the family tradition. Included as a bonus are also German and English versions of “Škoda lásky” and Josef’s polka “Jak zamlada” (“Like When I Was Young”), written for the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his father’s birth. The text by Milon Cepelka includes the lines:
It simply can’t be coincidence That Vejvoda plays Vejvoda for us. The son, since his father has ceased to play, Continues on in just the same way. – Dr. Lubomír Doružka April, 2005
Track Listing:
1.ŠKODA LÁSKY
2. ZELENÉ HÁJE
3. TY NEMÁŠ SRDCE
4. JÁ RÁDA TANCUJU
5. ZBRASLAVSKÁ
6. UŽ JE TO DÁVNO
7. CERNÝ KOS
8. JEDNOU, DVAKRÁT
9. SNUBNÍ PRSTÝNEK
10. POLKA MODRÝCH OCÍ
11. ACH BOŽE, LÁSKO
12. PSANÍCKO PO LETECH
13. KDYBY TY MUZIKY NEBYLY
14. SMÁL SE MESÍC
15. KDE JSI, MÉ MLÁDÍ
16. TY TO VÍŠ
17. AŽ PUJDU OD TEBE RÁNO
18. ODE ZDI KE ZDI
19. JEŠTE TU POSLEDNÍ
BONUS TRACKS
20. JAK ZAMLADA
21. ROSAMUNDE /Škoda lásky
22. BEER BARREL POLKA (Roll Out the Barrel) /Škoda lásky