1978-61th Segment: “Motorest”
In this series we present 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. They became widely popular, were played during important time periods, and some even won the hit parade of the year. Now it is up to you, our listeners, to vote for the best Czech song of the century. Today we continue with the year 1978.
Vladimír Remek became the first Czechoslovak cosmonaut as a member of the crew of the Soyuz 28 spaceship, which was launched on March 2nd.
On April 24th, activists behind Charter 77 (Václav Havel, Jiří Dienstbier, Petr Uhl and others) founded the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted (VONS). Its goal was to monitor Czechoslovak dissidents and highlight their situation in foreign media, especially Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.
On June 12th, Zbrojovka Brno football club won the Czechoslovak First League for the first time.
Jakub Janda, the first Czech to win the World Cup in ski jumping, was born on April 27th.
One of the more inconspicuous but still important figures in 1970s Czech popular music was the guitarist, composer, lyricist and singer Otakar Petřina. Born in Malé Žernoseky near the town of Litoměřice, Petřina started out as a guitarist at the Rokoko Theater. He later became a member of Václav Neckář’s backing band Bacily. As a result of his attitude, lifestyle and opinions, reflected in his long hair, he preferred to withdraw from live performance. This made him even more useful as a session musician and as a composer with a distinctive style.
