Marta Kubišová & The Golden Kids Orchestra – Tajga-Blues ’69
from 7 inch single, 1969, Supraphon 0430646 (mono); also on CD “Tajga blues (Singly 5)”, 2000, Bonton 4988602 (stereo version)
produced by Bohuslav Ondráček, conducted by Josef Vobruba

original SP sleeve (actually a generic “Kubišová” sleeve with additional track imprint on the back)
I admit it right away: I’ve been watching the semi-finale of the Eurovision Song Contest yesterday. Actually my wife did, that is. But I’ve seen it too. It’s been the first time that Czechs participated on this silly contest, and since we’re living in Switzerland, we’ve voted like crazy for the Czech representative, the hard rock group Kabát. Not that their song would mean anything special to us, but I’ve met those guys a couple of times personally as they are good friends of some good friends of mine from the city of Teplice. Thus I can say that they are really nice guys and actually also great musicians – something that you can’t say of many of the other contest participants. Anyway, if you don’t know the semi-finale results yet, you’ll surely find out soon if it’s really of any importance to you. Just as a side note: judging from the results, the Czech Republic obviously doesn’t belong to the Eastern Europe anymore (which it never did in geographic sense anyway). And that’s actually good news… ;)
Well then, what’s left for us – let’s have the Taiga blues today. Do I need to say more about Marta Kubišová than I already did in my very first music post last year? Tajga blues ’69, written by producer Bohuslav Ondráček (1932-1998) with lyrics from the Golden Kids bass player Zdeněk Rytíř, is yet again a bitter reflection of the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia in late summer of 1968. And it is yet another proof what talent has been put to ice for long twenty years while Marta was prohibited from performing and recording by the communist regime.
The Tajga blues (Singly 5) double CD is an excellent compilation of the last 1969/1970 single sides by Marta Kubišová before she’d been banned. It also includes some unreleased material as well as a bunch of beautiful Moravian folk songs recorded clandestinely in 1978 with singer/songwriter Jaroslav Hutka in Prague. Ten out of five stars!