"In 1988 Václav Havel came there [to Okrouhlice] because he knew my cousin Vendula Císařovská, then Halounová, and he came to visit them. And at that moment we were at the campfire, Václav Havel came there and her then boyfriend, not yet her husband, Petr Císařovský, got very drunk there. And poor Václav supported him and was leading him home. Nowadays there is a power plant there and water flows there, but back then there was a dead arm [of the river Sázava] into which a sewer led. There was water on the top, but otherwise it was full of faeces. And Václav Havel fell over the low fence and started drowning in the fecal matter. And Hudba Praha band, which was present there, gave him help, we pulled him out of the water. So Hudba Praha saved Václav Havel's life."
"I was very friendly with such a group in the seventies, Vrát'a Brabenec, Zbyněk Benýšek, Vlasta Třešňák. We socialised a lot and went to the wine bar U Ježíška. And in this group, when I was still at the conservatory, I signed the Charter. That was the second wave. And at Petr Uhl's, they were collecting signatures. Of course, I said it at home. My mother was horrified, because she already knew what the communists could do. And my sister was studying at secondary school, so [my mother] pushed me pretty hard to retract the signature. I never signed the Charter again after that, even though I had a thousand opportunities to do so. And it's true that the signature didn't appear there. We were at the Uhls' house, my mum took me there, and I had to declare that I was retracting my signature, which was a terrible situation, and after that I couldn't see my friends much."
"He received a little flat there, he was already a meritorious artist in the sixties, so the national committee gave it to him. I helped him a little bit, because the water didn't run properly, so I brought him water, did shopping, made lunches and so on. And he would give me... pocket money, actually. And on different holidays, at Christmas, for example, or when there was an occasion, he would come to us. And my grandmother, and later my mother inherited it from her, she was a good cook and he loved good food. He would come to my mother and say, 'How about I buy a duck? Here's money for the duck.' And then she roasted it. He had other relatives and family there. Their name was Noha, and Mrs. Nohová was a famous cook too. But he came to us for another reason, I guess, because he could talk about art things with my mum and dad, and of course he enjoyed that."
Michal Ambrož was born on 23 January 1954 in Havlíčkův Brod. He lived in nearby Okrouhlice until he graduated from the Čáslav grammar school. Both his parents were fine artists and from their youth also members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), who as “reactionaries” had to leave the party at the beginning of the normalisation.His paternal grandfather, František Ambrož, was a member of the general staff of the army. After the German occupation, he was involved in the resistance organisation Defence of the Nation. In 1942, the Nazis executed him. Michal Ambrož’s maternal great-uncle was the famous painter Jan Zrzavý, who often visited the family in Okrouhlice. After his death, he lived for many years in Zrzavý’s flat in Prague, where he graduated from the conservatory in classical guitar, but during his studies he began to devote himself to the electric guitar. In 1978, he signed Charter 77, but withdrew his signature at the insistence of his mother, Božena Zrzavá. However, he did not change his attitude towards the communist regime. In 1980 he founded the legendary new wave band Jasná Páka. The band’s heyday was brought to an end by an article in the weekly Tribuna, “New Wave with Old Content”, which criticised a number of rock bands for their “anti-socialist” and “vulgar” speech, Jasná Páka for example for the sexual overtones of the song “Špinavý záda (Dirty Back)” or the title of the song “Pal vocuď, hajzle (Get out of Here, Asshole)”. The group was subsequently banned. However, after less than a year, the band resumed performing under the new name Hudba Praha and, paradoxically, became more politically radicalised. In 1988, Michal Ambrož and other members of the band saved Václav Havel from drowning. After the revolution, he continued to perform with Hudba Praha and the occasional Jasná Páka and was involved in anti-communist events. His last concert took place on 21 August 2022 at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. Michal Ambrož died on 31 October 2022.
Christmas in Okrouhlice. From left Michal Ambrož, his father Jan Ambrož, mother Božena Zrzavá, great-uncle Jan Zrzavý and grandmother Božena Zrzavá, 1956
Christmas in Okrouhlice. From left Michal Ambrož, his father Jan Ambrož, mother Božena Zrzavá, great-uncle Jan Zrzavý and grandmother Božena Zrzavá, 1956
The beginnings of Jasná Páka with the then typical black glasses for the new wave. From left Michal Ambrož, David Koller, Markéta Vojtěchová Ambrožová, Ivana Fraňová, Jan Ivan Wünsch and Bohumil Zatloukal, 1981
The beginnings of Jasná Páka with the then typical black glasses for the new wave. From left Michal Ambrož, David Koller, Markéta Vojtěchová Ambrožová, Ivana Fraňová, Jan Ivan Wünsch and Bohumil Zatloukal, 1981
Markéta Vojtěchová Ambrožová, first wife of Michal Ambrož. She died less than three weeks after his death on 18 November 2022. Photos from the early 1980s
Markéta Vojtěchová Ambrožová, first wife of Michal Ambrož. She died less than three weeks after his death on 18 November 2022. Photos from the early 1980s
