Hey bass masters: who are the best Czech bass players?

As is known, the bass makes music. And while some bassists strum their instrument away from the main event on stage, others like to bask in the spotlight. Which Czech bass masters form the rhythmic backbone of our rock and pop scene?

We are here for bassists everywhere donated some time ago. However, we must not forget the Czech bass greats, these are some of the most outstanding Czech bass players.

Vilém Chok

The darling of the Czech rock audience. Vilda Čok burst onto the scene at eighteen with the punk band Zikkurat, which stunned local rock music audiences in the late 1970s. Unsurprisingly, he was soon noticed by members of the Prague selection group, namely Michal Pavlíček and Michael Kocáb, when they were looking for a replacement for Ondřej Soukup, who left to play bass in Karel Gott’s backing group. With Čok, the group then recorded quite possibly the best Czech rock album of all time, their debut Straka v hrsti, which was banned shortly after its release, and the group with it.

However, in the 1980s, Chok also became famous for its distinctive yelp, which was exploited a lot in the composition, Karel probably brings teathat for Jiří Korn (by the way, originally the bassist of the band Rebels, who went through Olympiclisten)) was written by Michael Kocáb with lyrics by Milan Bukovic. The composition became a famous duet and thanks to it Čok was also discovered by mainstream listeners. However, the selection was later able to play again and Čok returned to him. He has also performed with the group Nová růže, and is currently involved in the band Bypass. And he is certainly not to be missed that he sang jingles for the cartoons Kačeři z Kačerov and Chip & Dale.

Brom Milan

Petr Janda speaks of him as the best bass player in Europe. And he certainly doesn’t exaggerate in any way. Milan Broum’s talent is really widely recognized among Czech rock fans, and apparently it’s no coincidence that after the very dry seventies for Olympic, the group breathed its second great success (the first was obviously in the sixties) just with his arrival in training in 1978.

Broum has played with a whole range of other musicians, including the aforementioned Karl Gott, and the project he participated in in the 1990s with musicians of a younger generation, guitarist Miroslav Chyška, drummer Štěpán Smetáček and singer Dan Bárta, is still highly regarded today. The speech is of course on the virtuoso Die El project. An elephant?after that there was only one great album left, Elefantology.

Roberto Balzar

It is rare for a jazz musician to acquire such widespread fame even among fans of “less demanding genres” such as pop, rock or funk. Robert Balzar, the leading Czech double bass player, managed to do exactly that, and he was drawn into his circle of collaborators by Roman Holý, an absolutely infallible seeker of great musicians. Balzar thus became an essential part of JAR’s funk rhythm, but he was also a support of the Illustratosphere groupwhich was founded by Miroslav Chyška and Dan Bárta originally as a side project together with JAR, however, Balzar has long been dedicated to his jazz trio, which he also founded in 1996.

Ondřej Soukup

Today it is almost forgotten due to the number of his other projects and above all his composing and production merits, but Ondřej Soukup really started on the music scene as a bass player. As already mentioned, he went through one of the first formations of the Prague Selection even before they had time to record any albums and for his departure Karl Gott earned from them mocking song SOS, which was released on the Magpie in a Handful disc. After all, Soukup himself is talking on the phone.

But Soukup didn’t just focus on Gout, he soon started composing film music (his cool 80s funk and synthpop could be heard, for example in the movie The Pawn’s Second Move), later established a long-term creative partnership with singer Lucí Bíla, for whom he composed a number of his own hits, which were written by Soukup’s wife at the time, Gábina Osvaldová. By the way, today it is almost forgotten that Soukup produced the album Hemlut kills Hilda for “The Cure from Brno” Helmut’s syringe since 1991. And besides, he sometimes stood directly behind the microphone. For example, in 1994, she needed to tell us with her song about her that she is a decent person.

Marek “Marta” Minárik

Many people might question this choice, because Marta Minárik is obviously not Czech, but Slovak. However, she lived for many years in the Czech Republic and worked in famous Czech bands, including Lucie. She found herself in the first Czechoslovakian pop rock league in 1992, when she played on Pavol Habera’s second solo album called Habera 2. And soon after she recorded the bass part to the song When a man has breakfast with a woman Karl Gott, which Habera wrote for him. Then it happened in pretty quick succession.

Minárik played with Jan Kalousek, who guested on JAR’s second record Mydli-to, and when his PBCH bassist Lucie left, Marta took his place. Although he only worked with Lucia until 1998, he continued to work with David Koller on her solo track and was the bassist in her band for many years. He also plays quite characteristically on Koller’s 2015 album called ČeskosLOVEnsko. And you can’t forget either to the Pusa group, which Koller and Lenka Dusilová founded with Marta. You played too with the Slovak musician Katarzií.

Marek Huňát alias Mardoša

When it comes to Tata Bojs, one of the first things that comes to mind of any music lover is Mardoš, who dances wildly and hops in high heels with his bass guitar. Mardoša is not only a bassist of the band, but also a kind of mascot. After all, since their vocalist Milan Cais sits behind the drums most of the time, it is precisely Mardoš who replaces the role of frontman of the group at concerts.

Furthermore, Mardoša is also known for his writing and calligraphy skills. And most puns like it “a little lie is a spoon, a little love is a weasel” come from his pen. As is known, Mardoša is also a founding member of the group along with Milan Cais, often claiming The Clash or David Bowie as his greatest musical role models. In the A/B album, Mardoša stood up to the microphone quite exceptionally, ie in the song Friends.

Vladimir “Guma” Kulhanek

One of the greatest icons of Czech rock bass is certainly Vladimír Kulhánek, well known by music lovers with the nickname Guma. After all, Kulhánek played on one of the other Czech rock albums, Chicken in the Clock. That is, the iconic Flamengo group album from 1971. However, he has played with a number of other famous groups such as Bohemia, Etc, …, Stromboli and Krausberry. And he also played in František Janeček’s group Kroky, but it was before the arrival of Michal David, when Jana Kratochvílová sang with Janeček’s group, i.e. before his emigration.

However, he has also been invited to work with musicians a generation or two younger, such as the group November 2nd, with whom he has been working since 2002 and has played on nearly all of their albums released so far. In 2013, Guma Kulhánek, who is already seventy-seven this year, was inducted into the Beat Hall of Fame.

Matthew Belko

The youngest on our list is a musician who, despite his young age, has really achieved a lot. Matěj Belko, who is the son of Tomáš Belko, the lyricist of the band Sto svítěr, plays with David Koller as well as a number of other musicians such as Klára VytiskováLenka Dusilová, Adam Mišík, in the project Blue shadows Petra Ostrouchova and until the recent death of Michal Ambrož he was also a member of the band Hudba Praha. He not only masters the bass, which is his main instrument, but also plays keyboards and guitar. However, he has also gained a lot of publicity for merit Kumst programin which he and fellow musician Petr Šťastný parody various musical genres on YouTube.

Opening photo: Profimedia