Jiří Šlitr - Plakala panna, plakala CD

This Czech-language audio recording captures a television programme Jiří Šlitr created in autumn 1969 for Czechoslovak Television with a group of anonymous young people. Seated at the piano and surrounded by the young participants, Šlitr talks and sings with them openly and informally, performing songs from Reduta, Semafor and Osvobozené divadlo, as well as his own favourites with lyrics by Jiří Suchý, including “Hluboká vráska”, “Černá vrána” and “Magdaléna”. The opening song gives the programme its title. Directed by Jiří Menzel and co-written by Pavel Kopta, the two half-hour broadcasts aired only after Šlitr’s death in December 1969 and received an exceptional response. During the normalization period, amateur recordings of the performances became a rare treasure, as television neither repeated nor preserved the programmes. Thanks to several enthusiasts and collectors, beginning with Hynek Kaněra, both performances have been reconstructed and carefully cleaned, allowing listeners to hear an authentic artistic performance by one of the great figures of modern Czech history in good sound quality.