Michael Kocáb

Michael Kocáb, Frank Zappa and Ivan Martin Jirous, manager of The Plastic People Of The Universe, photographed in 1990.

Michael Kocáb (July 28, 1954) is a Czech film and TV composer. In 1976, he became the lead singer of the rock group Pražský Výběr who, due to their political lyrics, were banned by the Communist regime between 1983 and 1986.

In 1989, after the Berlin Wall fell, Czechoslovakia gradually transformed to a democratic nation. Together with Michal Horacek, he founded a Civic Forum to organize a new government, with former poet and activist Václav Havel as the new President. Between 1989 and 1991, Kocáb was a member of the Federal Assembly and mostly devoted to organizing the gradual departure of all Soviet troops from the country. He was external advisor of Havel (1993-2003).

Michael Kocáb was Czech Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities (2009-2010).

His daughter, Natálie Kocábová, is also active as a poet, writer and musician.

Frank Zappa

Lead singer Michael Kocáb and Frank Zappa at the Prague airport, 1991. Photo credit: Nadace Michaela Kocába.

Frank Zappa and Michael Kocáb during the 1991 concert

Michael Kocáb was a huge fan of Zappa's music. Through a mutual friend, a meeting was arranged between Zappa and Kocáb, when the Czech musician visited the United States in 1989. He originally invited Zappa to Czechoslovakia to attend a performance of Zappa's music in Prague. As fate would have it, the Berlin Wall fell on 8 November 1989 and, like so many other Eastern European countries at the time, Czechoslovakia underwent a revolution where the Communist Party was removed from power. By the time Zappa and Kocáb met on January 20, 1990 in Prague , Kocáb had gone into politics and Zappa was invited to become Cultural Ambassador of Czechoslovakia.

Frank Zappa talked about him in They're Doing the Interview of the Century, Part 2, by Den Simms, Eric Buxton and Rob Samler, Society Pages (US), June 1990: "(...) There's a composer from Czechoslovakia named [Michael] Kocáb, who writes music for movies. He writes operas. He writes, y'know, all different kinds of stuff, plus, he has a rhythm & blues, well, a rock & roll band of some sort [v], and he was in town, and came over to visit. He speaks not very much English, but enough that we could talk, and he told me what was going on in Czechoslovakia. He was part of the student protest movement, one of the people who was speaking out against the government, and he invited me to Prague. [35] They wanted to play some of my music there, and all the rest of this stuff."

During his visit to Czechoslovakia (1990), Zappa met with Václav Havel and members of The Plastic People Of The Universe. Kocáb also introduced Zappa to his sister, Magdalena Westman.

Frank Zappa and Michael Kocáb, 1991.

On 24 June 1991, Zappa also played with Kocáb's band, Pražský Výběr in Prague. The meeting was organized by Kocáb's sister, Magdalena Westman. Zappa's improvisation jam with Prazský Výber, Improvizace v A dur", was also released on the album Adieu CA (1992) and can be seen in the concert film Prager leben gut (1991).

Michael Kocáb and his sister Magdalena Westman are also mentioned and thanked in the liner notes of The MOFO Project/Object (2006) album.

See also

• Magdalena Westman
• Pražský Výběr

External links

• Wikipedia:Michael Kocáb