Hundreds bid farewell to major Czech underground figure Pavel Zajíček

Hundreds of people have turned out to pay their respects to the Czech poet, lyricist, musician and artist Pavel Zajíček who died earlier this month at the age of 72. The farewell ceremony took place on Thursday afternoon in the Church of Peter and Paul in Radotín, where Zajíček served as an altar boy in his youth.

One of the most important figures in Czechoslovak independent culture in the 1970s, Pavel Zajíček was perhaps best known for his work as the front man of the group DG 307, which he founded with Milan “Mejla” Hlavsa.

Zajíček was jailed for a year in the 1976 trial of members of the Plastic People of the Universe and associates of the underground band. He was later forced into exile, settling in Sweden before moving to New York.