Věra Bílá (22 May 1954 – 12 March 2019) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

vocalist and musician of

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

ni ethnicity. She initially gained acclaim performing Romani folk and pop songs and was the lead singer of the Czech recording act ''Kale'' with whom she performed songs in

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

, and Slovak. She was highly acclaimed, toured internationally and was often called the "Ella Fitzgerald of Gypsy music" or the "Queen of Romany"

Biography

Bílá, a

Rokycany Rokycany (; german: Rokitzan) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Rokycany is made up o ...

native, was the daughter of singer Karol Giňa. She lived and worked in the Czech Republic. Her name Věra means "faith" in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

; and her surname "Bílá" means "white" in Czech. In 1999 director Mira Erdevicki-Charap portrayed Bila in the documentary "Black and White in Colour". Bila died on 12 March 2019, aged 64 of a heart attack.

Recordings

*Věra Bílá & Kale – C'est comme ca *Věra Bílá – Queen Of Romany *Věra Bílá & Kale – Rovava *Věra Bílá & Kale – Kale Kalore *Věra Bílá & Kale – Rom-Pop (produced by

Zuzana Navarová Zuzana Navarová de Tejada (18 June 1959, Hradec Králové – 7 December 2004, Prague) was a Czech singer and songwriter. She began her career in the early 1980s as a member of '' Nerez'', and gradually become one of the most significant personal ...

)

References

External links

Věra Bílá – singer
— an article on ''Roma in the Czech Republic'' website * Věra Bílá— on

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

1954 births 2019 deaths People from Rokycany 20th-century Czech women singers Czech Romani people Czechoslovak Romani people Romani musicians Romani women singers Czech people of Romani descent {{CzechRepublic-singer-stub Romani-language singers Czechoslovak women singers