1991 - 74th Segment: “Black Angels”

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 continue with the year 1991.

On January 1st there was monetary reform. The Czechoslovak crown became internally convertible and free pricing was introduced.

On January 26th, the first public auctions began with small privatization.

In Slovakia, resistance towards President Vaclav Havel grew. He was attacked twice on the SNP Square in Bratislava; first on March 14th, 1991 and again in October 1991, when he and his entourage had eggs thrown at them.

1991 attracted long queues to the cinemas – people were excited about films such as the Oscar-nominated “Elementary School.” The year also marked the last Golden Nightingale poll, won by Pavol Habera, his band Team and Iveta Bartošová.

Photo: Gang Records

It was also a good year for David Koller, Michal Dvořák, Robert Kodym and Petr Bretislav Chovanec, who created one of the most successful Czech bands called Lucie. The first full-length album called “Lucie” was recorded by the group in 1990 and the second one, “In the Sky,” was recorded in 1991. It produced a hit called Černí Andělé, or Black Angels, which was then popularized by radio, television and cover versions created by many local bands across the country.