Rock musician Michal Ambrož, frontman of the bands Jasná Páka, died at the age of 68
Rock singer, guitarist, composer and lyricist Michal Ambrož, known as the frontman of the bands Jasná Páka, Hudba Praha and Divoký srdce, died on Monday at the age of 68 after a long illness. The family of the musician, who had to limit his musical activity some time ago due to health problems, did not share information about the last farewell, his followers and the bandleader of Hudby Praha, guitarist Radovan Jelínek, informed about it.
In April of this year, Ambrož’s last recording was the EP of the group Jasná páka, entitled Starej bejt jajne neu umí. The band, which is found together with Prague’s search, as a symbol of the Czech new wave, released an EP with four songs. Due to problems with rheumatism, Ambrož had to give up playing the guitar. “I only play ‘for the rest’ with Jasná páka, but it’s more of a show, I stick to the guitars and try not to spoil them. But luckily, my voice has remained,” he said recently in an interview with ČTK.
In 2019, Ambrož released a studio album with Hudba Praha called Michal Ambrož & Hudba Praha. Although it was recorded by a new line-up, musically it follows her mood from the mid-eighties. On the Michal Ambrož & Hudba Praha album, there will probably be no audio: guitarists Radovan Jelínek and Michal Pelant, keyboardist and guitarist Matěj Belko, bassist Jakub Vejnar, drummer Roman Vícha, saxophonist Jakub Doležal or singers Tereza Kopáčková, Veronika Vítová and Markéta Foukalová . Eight texts were written by Michal Ambrož, the other two came from Petr Váša and JH Krchovský.
The previous line-up of Hudba Praha disbanded eight years ago. Two ensembles were created that continued its tradition – Hudba Praha Band and Michal Ambrož & Hudba Praha. From the old Hudba Praha, Ambrož tried to transfer the atmosphere of the songs to the new album, which according to him were always “about booze, Bolsheviks and women”. “I think it’s still about that, only the Bolshevik is not quite a Bolshevik anymore, he’s disguised himself a bit. I get to social issues through inter-partner relationships. And women will always be a topic, even century bluesmen who barely sit on their chairs sing about them ” he added.
Music Praha was founded by Ambrož in 1984 after the banning of Jasná páka, which was blacklisted in the article Nová vlna with old content in Tribuna magazine. The article, which was signed under the fictitious name Jan Krýzl, started the persecution of the alternative Czech rock scene, which mainly affected representatives of punk and new wave. In addition to Jasná páka, the Prague selection was also affected. Ambrož rebuilt the band and used a lot of tricks at that time, for example – he renamed the group.
The first stage of Hudba Praha closed in 1996. The reason was the overload of the group and the solo projects of its members. Ambrož worked on the Wild Heart project. The second period started in 1999 with the charity Concert for Kosovo. In the fall of 2006, the band known at the time as Jasná páka/Hudba Praha celebrated its 25th anniversary and entered the Beat Hall of Fame.
Ambrož was born on January 23, 1954 in Havlíčková Brod. He also worked as a presenter on Radio Beat.