The Role of the Czech Office of Press and Information in Culturally-Political Direction of Popular Music in 1970–1980 Cover Image

Role Českého úřadu pro tisk a informace v kulturně-politickém řízení populární hudby v letech 1970-1980
The Role of the Czech Office of Press and Information in Culturally-Political Direction of Popular Music in 1970–1980

Author(s): Aleš Zapletal
Subject(s): History
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: The Czech Office of Pres and Information;gramophone firms;cultural politics;normalisation;pop;the 1970s;

Summary/Abstract: At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, there was a process of consolidation in Czechoslovakia, which was supposed to renew the role of the communistic party in all the areas of society weakened by the reform process of the second half of the 1960s. Music, as an important carrier of the reform process, was also influenced. Popular music was especially significant since it was widely important during the relaxed atmosphere of the late 1960s. One of the means of its submission was The Czech Office of Press and Information (Český úřad pro tisk a informace), which was given a role of a controller of the Czech pop lyrics intended for a gramophone release or which were intended for songbooks by the Bureau of Central Committee of The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (ÚV KSČ) for the control of the party’s work in the Czech lands. The primary point of this measure was a prevention of emergence of a culturally-political unwanted content of the lyrics. Therefore, production of gramophone firms was subordinated to preliminary censorship. That was not a sufficiently effective instrument and soon The Czech Office of Press and Information started to apply its influence by different means. Primary consolidation measurement was sufficient, and it stayed valid through all the1970s.

  • Issue Year: XLIV/2018
  • Issue No: 54
  • Page Range: 315-332
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Czech