Illustrative photo – Musician Petr Skoumal died at the age of 76 on the morning of September 28 after a serious illness (in the archive picture). For example, Skoumal wrote the music for one of Michal Prokop's best-known songs, Kolej Yesterday. He was known not only for writing songs for adults and children, but also, for example, for creating film music.
Prague – On the occasion of his late 85th birthday, the musician and lyricist Petr Skoumal will be commemorated with the album Pět mišů and a concert tribute on March 6 and 7 in Prague. Skoumal's songs will be performed in Malostranská beseda by his former teammates in a program called Olin Nejezchleba & The Little Beaver or Tribute to Petr Skoumal. ČTK was informed about this by Vladan Drvota from the publishing house Supraphon.
Advertisement'; }
“I remember best the time when Petr and I played in a trio with Norbi Kovács. I enjoyed it not only musically, but also from a human point of view. There was great ease with Petr, you could make fun of him, we made fun of each other , he was never offended. I got out of the car many times after returning from the concert, and I was still crying with laughter… It's a shame that I will never experience it again,” said Skoumal's close colleague Jaroslav Olin Nejezchleba.
The selection album Pět mišů is composed of Skoumal's songs intended for young listeners and their parents. Over the years, Skoumal composed and recorded hundreds of songs based on texts by Emanuel Frynta, Pavel Šrut, Jan Vodňanský, František Halas and Zdenek Svěrak. Many of them are among the most successful Czech children's songs. They were released between 1991 and 1999 on the albums If a Pig Had Wings, How to Hunt a Gorilla, Pastries, Stories of Bee Bears and Dejte mi Crayon. Most of them are recorded in the interpretation of the author himself or in collaboration with his friends.
“I think that Petr did not completely distinguish between his work for children and adult listeners, which is why the songs work for everyone. Petr and I hated it when, in works for children, performers played tricks or even played tricks. There is no need to pander to children cheaply. If so Petr wrote those songs in such a way that they can please even adults, which I think we can all confirm, so it's just right,” said Skoumal's wife, actress Ilona Svobodová.
From 1966, Skoumal worked at the Drama Club, where he was a director and musical dramaturg. This is where his collaboration with Jan Vodňanský culminated in scenic collages of parody skits, poems and songs. The first of them was created in 1969 under the title With the Smile of an Idiot, followed a year later by Hooray for the Bastille and With the Smile of Don Quixote. Skoumal also set texts by Jiří Dědeček and Jan Burian to music.
The most important of his solo works for adults are the albums …se nez práznji and Poločas rozpadu from 1989 and 1990. Skoumal set several texts of his friends to music on them, most however, he wrote some of the songs himself. He created them in the 1980s without the hope that he would be able to perform a large part of them publicly due to communist censorship.
Skoumal, who was born on March 7, 1938 and died on September 28, 2014, also composed film music . The audience could hear her in several films by Zdeňk Svěrák and Ladislav Smoljak, such as Jára Cimrman lying asleep or Rožpustý a dúpútky. And many people of all ages will certainly not forget, for example, the evening jingle of Maxipes Fík.
