Boldog születésnapot, ‘Pokloň se, lásko’ és ‘Žádný ptáčník nemá křídla’!

Followers of ‘Girls Of The Golden East’ will have been familiar with my practice of wishing a ‘Happy Birthday!’, in Valérie Čižmárová’s native language of Hungarian, to any of her recordings on that date thanks to the record of recording dates on Aleš Korábek’s Valérie Čižmárová Fan Site, which I have subsequently discovered is itself partly thanks to the record of recording dates on the Supraphonline site. This practice is to be continued in BFB.

Just as I have now decided to transpose the ‘About’ page of BFB and the initial post – on the basis that, on reflection, the original initial post was actually a bit more like an ‘About’ page and the original ‘About’ page was more like a full post – we encounter the first of these ‘birthdays’ – in this case, two, separated by half a decade.

On 3^rd May 1974, at Čs. rozhlas (Czechoslovak Radio), Prague, Valinka recorded ‘Pokloň se, lásko’ (‘Love, Take A Bow’). Music and lyrics were by Jan Hrábek. Accompaniment came from Václav Zahradník se svým orchestrem (Václav Zahradník and his Orchestra) and backing vocals came from Sbor Lubomíra Pánka (The Lubomír Pánek Singers).

Five years later, to the day, at the studios at Dejvice, Prague, Valinka recorded ‘Žádný ptáčník nemá křídla’ (a double negative title, ‘No Birdwatcher Has No Wings’, which might better be translated as ‘Every Birdwatcher Has Wings’). Music was by Jaromír Klempíř and lyrics were by Jaroslav Machek. Accompaniment came from Taneční orchestr Čs. rozhlasu (The Czechoslovak Radio Dance Orchestra), under Josef Vobruba and, as above, backing vocals came from Sbor Lubomíra Pánka.

In one GOTGE post I made reference to a notional Gold, Silver and Bronze ‘podium’ at the Eurovision Song Contest. At the Bratislavská Lýra (Bratislava Lyre) festival there actually was a Gold, Silver and Bronze Lyre awarded and at the 1979 edition thereof Valinka achieved a career highlight by winning Bronze with ‘Žádný ptáčník nemá křídla’.

There is a book in the house, out of the excellent Octopus Books series of wildlife and nature books, of which we have quite a few, which very nicely ties in with the aforementioned recordings. It is ‘A Colour Guide To Familiar Garden And Field Birds, Eggs And Nests’, by Jiří Felix, with illustrations by Květoslav Hísek, published originally in Valinka’s ‘glory year’ of 1973 in Czechoslovakia, by Artia, Prague, translated by Olga Kuthanová, with graphic design by Soňa Valoušková – evidently first published in the United Kingdom just one week before the recording of ‘Pokloň se, lásko’. I have tracked down most of those Octopus books, but the one I’d really like to find in the piles of books all around the house is ‘Woods And Forests’, which would have actual photographs taken probably in the woods and forests of Czechoslovakia. So, that is another pre-existing contact with things from that country – many of those books coming from the height of Valinka’s recording career.

As one will have gathered, today’s ‘birthday’ has been all about power ballads…and what power Valinka did bring to the table! Things are going to speed up just a little bit tomorrow 😉