Framus Five is a Czech rock band founded in Prague in 1963 and led by singer and guitarist Michal Prokop. The band also includes guitarist

Luboš Andršt Luboš Andršt (26 July 1948 – 20 December 2021) was a Czech jazz fusion, rock, and blues guitarist, composer, producer, and guitar teacher. Known primarily for his electric rock-influenced guitar playing, he frequently played acoustic guitar ...

and violinist

Jan Hrubý Jan Hrubý (born 3 December 1948) is a Czech rock violinist known primarily for playing with the bands Etc..., Framus Five, and Kukulín. Life and career Hrubý was born in Prague in 1948. Between 1964 and 1968, he studied violin at the Prague ...

. The group disbanded in 1971 but reunited in 1978 under the slightly altered name Framus 5. They again ceased activity in 1990, due to Prokop's involvement in politics. They regrouped once more in 2000 and continue to play to this day.

History

Framus Five's debut album, ''Michal Prokop + Framus Five'', released in 1968, was strongly influenced by American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

music. In 1970, the band was joined by guitarist Luboš Andršt and drummer Karel Káša Jahn. In 1971, they not only released a second album, titled ''Město ER'', but also published an export edition of their debut, under the title ''Blues in Soul''. With the advent of

Normalization Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Most commonly it refers to: * Normalization (sociology) or social normalization, the process through which ideas and behaviors that may fall outside of ...

in Czechoslovakia after the 1968

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

, which effectively banned all English-language songs or names, ''Město ER'' was pulled from print, and the band disintegrated the year of its release. Prokop subsequently sang in the band Šest strýců as well as with Eva Pilarová, among other projects. In 1978, he reformed his old band under the name Framus 5. The goup's lineup changed frequently during this time, with the only stable members being Prokop and Trnka. In 1984, violinist

joined the ensemble, and they collaborated with poet

Pavel Šrut Pavel Šrut (3 April 1940, in Prague – 20 April 2018) was a Czech poet and writer. Career After graduating in 1967 from the Charles University in Prague where he studied English and Spanish, Šrut worked as an editor in a publishing house. S ...

and composer

Petr Skoumal Petr Skoumal (7 March 1938 – 28 September 2014) was a Czech musician and composer. Skoumal focused on film music. He also composed music for animated shorts (i.e. '' Maxipes Fik''). In the past he made several stage performances with Jan Vod� ...

on their fourth studio album, ''Kolej Yesterday''. In 1990, Prokop put Framus 5 on hiatus as he got involved in Czechoslovak politics. He renewed the group once more in 2000 as Michal Prokop & Friends, and in 2006, a reformed Framus 5 emerged, with a mix of new and old musicians.

Band members

Current * Michal Prokop – vocals, guitar *

– guitar *

– violin * Jan Kolář – keyboards, oboe * Zdeněk Tichota * Pavel Razím * Jiří Šíma * Roman Němec Former * Ivan Trnka – keyboards * Karel Káša Jahn – drums * Ladislav Eliáš – bass * Milan Vitoch – drums * Rudolf Chundela – guitar * Martin Koubek – guitar * Tomáš Suchomel – drums * Lubor Šonka – keyboards * Miki Bláha – bass * Michal Vrbovec – drums * Jaroslav Petrásek * Aleš Charvát – bass * Jiří Burda – wind instruments * Josef Šimon Kučera – wind instruments * Vítězslav Müller – wind instruments * Ivan Umáčený – wind instruments * Petr Klarfeld – drums

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Framus Five + Michal Prokop'' (1968) (export version was released in 1971 as ''Blues in Soul'') * ''Město ER'' (1972) * ''Holubí dante'' (1980) * ''Kolej Yesterday'' (1984) * ''Nic ve zlým, nic v dobrým'' (1987) * ''Snad nám naše děti…'' (1989) * ''Sto roků na cestě'' (2012) * ''Mohlo by to bejt nebe…'' (2021)

Compilations

* ''Až si pro mě přijdou'' (1990) * ''Pořád to platí 1968 – 1989'' (6-disc box set – 2008) * ''Už je to napořád 2000 – 2012'' (2016)

Live albums

* ''Live 60'' (as Michal Prokop, Framus Five & Hosté – 2006)

References

External links

Michal Prokop's official website
* {{Authority control Czech rock music groups Musical groups established in 1963 1963 establishments in Czechoslovakia Musical groups from Prague