The orchestra of conductor and composer Gustav Brom, who was born on May 22, 1921 in the Slovak village of Veľké Leváre, was one of the top musical ensembles at the time.
<!—->
Heavenly riders or The more I love you. Recall the hits of Rudolf Cortés, who would celebrate 100 years |
He was able to play not only swing and jazz, but he also mastered many songs from the so-called middle stream. His principal was not only an excellent musician and successful manager, but also a funny moderator of his own concerts. In addition, he was able to look for new talents, for example, he discovered Hana Zagorová.
Brom, who was born Gustav Frkal and chose his stage name in 1945 at random, when he stuck his finger in an encyclopedia, also sang and wrote lyrics. Within a few hours of the announcement of the first cosmonaut’s flight in 1961, for example, as a tribute to Yuri Gagarin, he recorded the legendary song Tribute to the Astronaut (or Hello, Major Gagarine), hastily composed by Jaromír Hnilička and Pavel Pácl. The song then became a big hit, today Brom’s most famous.
Brom acquired his musical foundations at the Moravan Music School in Kroměříž, and in Brno he founded the R-Boys music group with his high school classmates, with whom they performed on student teas. In 1948, he first led the orchestra to do so for the rest of his life. Under Brom’s direction, the orchestra has toured over 250 abroad, and its recordings have appeared on more than 570 audio titles. Gustav Brom died on September 25, 1995 in Brno at the age of 74.
His memory is commemorated by the newly planted cedar, which people will find in the U Buku meadow between Soběšice and Útěchov, where, despite the rainy weather, he played the Brom Orchestra and met a number of bandleader friends, colleagues and followers. They remembered Brom as a great musician, but also an organizer.
The meeting with Brom changed the life of singer Tibor Lenský. “I was lucky to invite me to cooperate. This is more or less the beginning of my professional career. He also taught me managerial work, which he then handed over to me, “Lenský said.
“He was a great conductor, he really proved it on various heavy songs. Not that he just tapped and produced in front of the band. He was a great manager, a diplomat, a completely crazy sports fan. He had a vision and he managed to fulfill it, “said Brom’s former drummer, Václav Skála, 85.
It was Skála who now received the Gustav Brom Award for important jazzmen. Brom hired him in 1958. “And Václav Skála then helped the orchestra keep the exact rhythm for 28 years,” said Hana Ondryášová, director of Czech Radio Brno.
–
<!—->
–
