Communist silencing of Czech composer Jaromír Vomáčka
On today's Sunday music show, we'll be presenting music from the Czech composer Jaromír Vomáčka in commemoration of his remains returning to Czechia on June 25, 2025.
The remains of composer Jaromír Vomáčka are returning to Czechia after many years, thanks to the Život umělce (Artist's Life) foundation. The author of the song Vánoce, Vánoce přicházejí (“Christmas, Christmas is Coming”) and the legendary protest song with the refrain "Běž domů, Ivane" (“Run Home, Ivan”) will rest in a new foundation grave at the Vinohrady Cemetery on June 25, 2025, symbolically on the day Ivan is celebrated.
Jaromír Vomáčka was a Czech composer, pianist, and actor. He started his musical career as a seventeen-year-old student in a café band in Pardubice, where, in addition to the piano, he also played the violin, harmonica, and trumpet. His extraordinary musicality and sense of melody led him to the pinnacle of domestic pop music.
On today’s show, we will be playing some of his songs, including hits like Lékořice (“Licorice”), Zhasněte lampiony (“Turn off the Lanterns”), and the mentioned Vánoce, Vánoce přicházejí, which became an inseparable part of Czech Christmas.
He also composed for a whole range of stars from that time. For Yvetta Simonová, his first wife, he created songs like the mentioned Zhasněte lampiony and Já jsem zamilovaná (“I am in Love”). For Václav Neckář, he composed the legendary hit the mentioned Lékořice, and for Milan Chladil, Volání divokých husí (“The Call of the Wild Geese”).
In addition to popular music, he also worked in classical music, composing, for example, the operetta Hrdinové na zámečku. His melodies were also heard in films and TV series (Kamarádi, Pan Tau). A significant chapter of his life was his collaboration with Laterna Magika, with whom he traveled the world. He was also a co-founder of the Theatre Na Zábradlí, where he played several theatrical roles.
His music was finally censored and, ultimately, silenced after 1968, and his opportunities for public activity were drastically limited. The ban on his artistic work and life in seclusion took a heavy toll on his health; he passed away on July 7, 1978, at the age of 55, after his third heart attack.
