Jaromír Nohavica, singer, songwriter, translator, born June 7, 1953, Ostrava.
 
Nohavica attended a secondary comprehensive school in his home town and then completed a secondary school of library studies in Brno; his studies at the Ostrava Polytechnic Institute of Mining were never completed. He currently lives in Ostrava, though in the years 1978–99 he lived in Český Těšín.

He has worked at a wide variety of jobs, among other trades as a labourer and a librarian; since 1981 he has been able to support himself as a musician. He has no formal musical training, and in fact taught himself how to play the guitar, violin, flute and accordion.

Nohavica first made a name for himself as a songwriter, beginning with lyrics for the regional groups Atlantis (1967), Noe (1968); he also wrote for the Ostrava rock band Majestic, collaborated with the Czech Radio offices in Ostrava and leading popular singers from the region – Petr Němec, Věra Špinarová, Marie Rottrová. In 1981, he published an unofficial samizdat translation of the volume of satires “Piórka” by the Polish poet Jan Sztaudynger and adapted the songs of V. Hlavička for the staging by the Těšín Theatre of “Dundo Maroje aneb Lišák Pomet” (D. M., or the Confused Fox).

Nohavica’s first public performance with his original songs occurred (by chance) in March 1982 at the “Folk Carousel” festival in Ostrava-Poruba; as a mature artist, he quickly rose among the leading personalities of Czech folk song. At the Czechoslovak national finale Porta 83, he won the viewers’ poll as the most interesting personality, in particular through his song “Pánové nahoře” (The Men Above), openly attacking the evil effects of unlimited political power, though making use of an adaptation of an international classic, the French writer Boris Vian. This and other texts of Nohavica’s understandably soon provoked the ire of Communist censorship, and like many other artists who articulated a clear political subtext, he found many obstacles placed in the way of his free expression. Matters came to a head in 1985, when he was invited to perform at the Porta festival but prevented from appearing on stage and actually forced to leave the town of Plzeň, the event’s traditional location. Paradoxically, in the time when Nohavica had still released no recordings and the media ignored him, he managed to win a place in the top ten artists in the “Zlatý slavík” (Golden Nightingale) poll, first in 1987 and then several times afterward. Nonetheless, his work was widely dispersed among the general public in the form of illegal amateur audio recordings or even handwritten copies of his songs.

The first officially released album of Nohavica’s saw the light of day only shortly before the fall of Communism in 1988: “Darmoděj” (Wastrel) is a mature and balanced album, assembled from live recordings from late 1987–88 and representing the first crowning period of Nohavica’s singing career. In 1989, a selection of songs entitled “Osmá barva duhy” (The Eighth Colour of the Rainbow) appeared, followed one year later by “V tom roce pitomém” (In That Stupid Year). The first studio project by Nohavica was brought together in 1993. Entitled “Mikimauzoleum” (Mickey Mouseoleum), it quickly was recognised as one of the great Czech singer-songwriter recordings ever; the arrangement, ground-breaking for its time, is the work of Karel Plíhal. An ensuing studio project, “Divné století” (Strange Century) won the Czech Grammy for the record of the year in 1996 without any classification (the first time that a folk recording had ever won). A conceptual meditation on the century soon to finish, it is a compact and highly thought-out album, at times evoking the French chanson, at others inspiration from Russia and the Balkans, but above all putting forward the testament of a well-seasoned artist. The sensitive, stylistically and instrumentally rich arrangements (Karel Plíhal, Vít Sázavský) strongly underscore Nohavica’s evocative voice and accordion playing. With this album, Nohavica caught the attention of the wider public and sparked the interest of the mass media. In the years 1994–95, he concentrated primarily on work for children (the album and book “Tři čuníci” (Three Piglets) with rhymes and stories) and the complete publication of his lyrics (the book Písně Jaromíra Nohavici od A do Ž [Songs of J. N. from A to Z] was published by the press Hitbox).

Nohavica has written song lyrics as well as music for many theatrical stagings in the Těšín Theatre, Prague’s Fidlovačka Theatre, Ostrava’s Petr Bezruč Theatre etc. Other frequent collaborators for song lyrics include the groups Neřež and Doga, the singer Pavlína Jíšová and many others. In 2000, Nohavica recorded the album Moje smutné srdce [My Sorrowful Heart], with influences of folk, blues, chanson and jazz, guests include Čechomor, František Uhlíř, Milan Kašuba etc.) and became one of the leading figures in the Czech Television documentary entitled “Legends of Folk and Country,” covering the Czech scene from the 1960s up to the present day.

In 2002, Nohavica played the leading role in the fictitious documentary by director Petr Zelenka, “Rok ďábla” [Year of the Devil], which won several “Czech Lion” awards from the national film academy, including the prize for the film score, shared by Nohavica and the group Čechomor. “Perhaps Year of the Devil most closely resembles a thoughtful cinematic variation on one of Nohavica’s songs –  in this respect, the singer remains the central personality of the film, and with equal facility alternates disarming humour with reflections verging on the philosophical” (reviewer Darina Křivánková, Lidové noviny, March 7, 2002). “The greatest attention is attracted by Jaromír Nohavica himself… While all the others continually are seeking something, a kind of absolute knowledge of themselves, whether through God, ritual, music or alcohol, Nohavica is the only one not trying to explain anything. He in fact is striving for nothing, only existing on the screen, perhaps because he  discovered this sense within himself long ago and hid it within his songs, which themselves form the impulse for the others to start their own searching. He becomes the symbol and the indication of nearly everything metaphysical that transpires in the film” (reviewer Martina Muziková, Literární noviny, July 22, 2002).  

Nohavica is exceptionally talented, marked by his intelligence, erudition, sensitivity, and industriousness. His concerts are often a unique experience for his listeners, as he definitely ranks among those performers who create, while on stage, a kind of gripping mystery. With great expertise, he remains poised between folk music and folklore, truly occupying the role of the bard of his region. Strikingly, he remains different from the generation of Czech folk singers from the 1960s, in that his stylistic orientation tends to look eastwards: using elements of Slavic melody, taking subject matter from a Slavic setting and inspiration from Russian Romantic literature. Indeed, Nohavica is one of the songwriters closely linked to poetry and literature in general: he has set to music the work of several Czech poets, e.g. František Gellner (Radosti života [The Joys of Life]) and Petr Bezruč (Kdo na moje místo [Where Do I Belong]), translated and sung the songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, Bulat Okudžava and Alexandr Blok (though also making use of the translations of Milan Dvořák). However, the great bulk of his translations remain unpublished (viz. Petr Čehovský, author of the sole scholarly study hitherto on Nohavica).