"I once made the mistake of performing spiritual music at a party convention. I'd rather not to provoke anyone, but we announced the repertoire a year in advance and I forgot it was for the party congress. That's where we did Henk Badings' Kyrie eleison and similar pieces. Then I heard the regional party committee was talking about what I did. I got ready and cut a little article from Rudé právo. It said that Comrade Fojtík and the ideological commission members attended an evening performance of Handel's Messiah after a meeting in Bratislava. I took it and waited eagerly for them to call me up, but much to my chagrin they did not."
"I compiled the repertoire myself. Once there was a funny complication with little children. It's a funny story that shows what kind of people were there (in the CPC). One day, they contacted my director and asked me to come. They didn't like the idea of us singing a song called Zamotaná (Convoluted). That's a tune where you sing the melody to Na Bílé hoře with another song over it, hence the name. They asked me why Convoluted and to rename it. I explained the first graders certainly weren't singing anything political. I didn't back down, and they understood that 'convoluted' was not an attack on the regime. We sang it in the end."
"I took religion classes. The rectory was opposite the school. The parish priest would often meet my father at the fence and they would have long discussions, such as when my father went out into the garden. They would discuss various issues for 45 minuts. The parish priest, Mr Kolaja, was dad's friend and was very nice to me. I was at Holy Communion and went to church until the third grade; then the (school) inspector from Šumperk told Daddy it was not appropriate. So I never went to religion classes from the fourth grade on. But since my mother, grandmother and grandfather still went to church, I also went to May mass."
Jiří Skopal was born into the family of a head teacher on 15 August 1947 and spent his childhood in Zvole near Zábřeh in Moravia. His father, a versatile musician, exposed Jiří to music from an early age. In the enthusiastic post-war times, his father joined the Communist Party to help build a better society for all. Jiří’s maternal grandmother voluntarily surrendered her farm to the state out of concern for the future of her children and grandchildren. In addition to being a versatile musician, Jiří Skopal was also a Sokol sportsman. Thanks to his father, Jiří played the violin, piano, accordion, clarinet and saxophone. He completed the 11-year school in Zábřeh na Moravě. In 1965-1969, he studied mathematics and music education at the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc. In 1965, he was among the students selected to take part in the gymnastic meeting at the Spartakiad in Prague. In 1970, he married his wife Květa, and children Jiří and Jana were born. Post-August 1968, he was unable to start doctoral studies in Olomouc as a non-member of the Party. He continued his studies in Hradec Králové. He joined the party eager to change things for the better, following his father’s example. From 1977, he was the choirmaster of the Jitro children’s choir in Hradec Králové. The choir went on dozens of tours around the world and had the opportunity to compare different standards of life. In 1982 he founded the boys’ choir Boni pueri. In his academic career, he focused on music didactics and choir conducting. In 1998, he was named Professor in this field. At the time of filming, he lived, worked and played sports in Hradec Králové.
