1957 - 40th Segment: “Bench in Jasmine”

In this series we present 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. On Czech Radio’s web pages you can find a poll, in which you can vote for the best hit from the past century. We look forward to your vote! We continue with the year 1957.

1957

Antonín Novotný became the president of Czechoslovakia.

The first appearance of an elk since the Middle Ages was recorded in northern Bohemia.

The first Sportka lottery game took place.

In 1957, when our radio colleagues held a public recording session for new chansons and dance songs in Lucerna Palace in Prague, they could not have imagined the extent of the event’s impact.

All they needed was to choose a few promising compositions for an international contest organized by East German Radio.

The most important criterion was the audience’s reaction. The chanson category was won by Ducháčkova’s arrangement for a string orchestra called “Bench in Jasmine.” The song sold over 130 thousand records. As a well-known hit, the song later appeared on long playing (LP) records.

Photo: Pixabay / CC0

It seems that this one-time Czech Radio event in 1957 inspired the idea of a real song contest. “Looking for a Song for the Weekday” took place in the following years and produced a number of successful songs.

Our 1957 hit is “Bench in Jasmine” a song that lovers can easily relate to.

Vote for the best song of the century!