Zuzana Čtveráčková, translator for the Brno City Theatre, has won the competition organised by the European Union Songbook Association, which in July 2020 invited translators to translate the lyrics of selected Czech songs into singable/melodic English.
Čtveráčková entered the competition through an open call published by the Collective Rights Management Society for Musical Works (OSA) and won. The first EU Songbook was compiled over the course of nine years - independently of EU institutions - by more than 100 music organisations and conservatoires. Through a public vote, covered by more than 400 mass media channels and involving more than 87,000 citizens in 27 Member States, 164 songs were selected, six from each Member State. Each of the songs is recorded in the EU Songbook in solo form, with chords and lyrics in one of the 25 original languages (covering three alphabets), with English lyrics alongside. The EU Songbook also includes QR codes on all the scores, which direct you to a free app with links to the original recordings. Each song includes theoretical introductions by 61 national editors, providing a unique overview of European musical history over six centuries. The oldest song is a Greek Byzantine hymn, the most recent is a world-famous Portuguese love song from this millennium. The editors of the EU Songbook for the Czech Republic and the authors of the introductions to Czech songs are, in addition to the OSA, Lukáš Prchal from the Czech Choirs Association and Hanuš Bartoň (1960-2023), then head of the Department of Composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
In 2018, in cooperation with the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU) and the Czech Choirs Association (UČPS), the six best songs from the Czech Republic were selected in a public poll with 1,568 votes cast via iROZHLAS.cz, Frekvence 1 and Aktuálně.cz:
- Love songs: Lásko má, já stůňu (Oh, My Queen, My Heart Aches) (1982) – (Karel Svoboda / Jiří Štaidl)
- Nature and seasons: Chválím Tě, Země má (I Praise You, Mother Earth) (1995) – (Jaroslav Uhlíř / Zdeněk Svěrák)
- Freedom and peace: Modlitba pro Martu (Prayer for Marta) (1968) – (Jindřich Brabec / Petr Rada)
- Folk songs: Černé oči, jděte spát (Black Eyes, Go to Sleep) – (folk song)
- Songs of faith: Ktož jsú boží bojovníci (All You Mighty Warriors of God) – (mediaeval chant)
- Children's songs: Není nutno (Worry or Not) (1993) – (Jaroslav Uhlíř / Zdeněk Svěrák)
The lyrics are published side by side in the EU Songbook both in the original Czech version and in the English translation by Zuzana Čtveráčková (with the exception of the song Modlitba pro Martu (Prayer For Marta), which was translated into English in 1990 by lyricist Michal Bukovič, whose translation is used here).
The EU Songbook is being released today, Tuesday, 5 November 2024, not only throughout the European Union, but also in the UK and the USA. And the aforementioned EU Songbook app, containing all 164 songs, introductions and YouTube links, is already available for free download on the App Store and Google Play.
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