Music has always kept me afloat
Petr Vašina was born on October 21, 1953 in Karlovy Vary. His father ended up as a political prisoner in the Jáchymov uranium mines. In 1956, the family moved to Příbram. Petr Vašina still experienced old Příbram before insensitive construction interventions in the 1960s and 1970s. He has been involved in music, playing and composing music since the age of thirteen. He remembers the relaxed atmosphere of the Prague Spring, concerts after theater performances and clubs where big beat was played in Příbram. In August 1968, he witnessed the arrival of Soviet troops in Příbram. In the years 1969–1973 he studied at the grammar school in Příbram, yet he did not receive a recommendation to study at university. Eventually, he could study technology in Brno, while his faculty was located in what was then Gottwald (today’s Zlín). He also got married there in 1977. After his studies, he went to war in Karlovy Vary. For five years he lived on the border in the Ore Mountains and worked for a textile factory in Abertamy, which fell under the Dobříš Glove Plant. In the middle of 1984 he returned to Příbram with his family. He played in a theater orchestra. He recalls the course of the Velvet Revolution in Příbram. He still devotes himself to music.