Current Affairs
Frank Zappa's connections to Prague
This week the people of Prague have a chance to hear Frank Zappa's music, thanks to the efforts of the American rock musician's sons, Ahmet and Dweezil. They have organized a European concert tour called "Tour de Frank", and are performing in honour of their father, who died in 1993. There is a special connection between Frank Zappa and the Czech Republic. Zappa's music belongs to a repertoire once-banned by the communist censors, and Frank Zappa himself gained huge acclaim in Prague following the Velvet Revolution.
Frank Zappa
When Zappa was invited to Prague by Vaclav Havel in January 1990, he was
reportedly shocked at his instant popularity, as well as by how well
people knew his music—in the 1970s and 1980s Czechs listened to Zappa
thanks to albums that were smuggled into communist Czechoslovakia via
secret networks that transported literature, music, and even musical
instruments.
Ahmet Zappa and Dweezil Zappa, photo: www.zappa.com
The connection may not seem immediately obvious, but Frank Zappa's
popularity in Prague is closely connected to the dark days of the
dissident era, when his music and that of the Velvet Underground were
blacklisted by the censors. For example, Frank Zappa's second album,
Absolutely Free was smuggled into Czechoslovakia within a year of its 1967
release, and critics claim that the music influenced the famous Czech
underground rock band, The Plastic People of the Universe. Zappa's tunes
thus came to represent freedom and independent thought to dissidents in
Czechoslovakia. Reports have it that when young kids in communist
Czechoslovakia played heavy rock music, the police would tell them to
"turn off that Frank Zappa music."
Frank Zappa with Vaclav Havel
Then, in January 1990, Vaclav Havel appointed Frank Zappa as "Special
Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism," much to the
disgruntlement of U.S. Secretary of State, James Baker, who is famous for
declaring: "You can do business with the United States or you can do
business with Frank Zappa." Still, Vaclav Havel's friendship with
Frank Zappa grew, and Zappa shared his ideas about increasing tourism to
Czechoslovakia, and explained the concept of credit cards which were then
an unknown quantity in this part of the world. It was Frank Zappa's brief
interlude in the world of international trade and diplomatic relations—and
the vantage-point was Prague.
Vaclav Havel still counts himself amongst Zappa's big fans, and says that "Frank Zappa was one of the gods of the Czech underground." There he'll surely stay in the memories of his Czech friends.