Zlatý slavík () was a
Czechoslovak music poll and award of the same name established by the magazine ''
Mladý svět'' in 1962, and broadcast on television. It was held until 1991, when
Český slavík
Český slavík () is an award meant to recognize outstanding achievement and annual popularity in the Czech music industry. It was established in 1996 as the successor to the Zlatý slavík awards, which were established in 1962 in Czechoslova ...
took its place. After the
dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...
at the end of 1992 and its division into
Czechia and
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, the latter got its own award, named
Slovenský slávik.
Karel Gott was both the first and most highly decorated recipient of Zlatý slavík.
History
In 1962, as the popular Czechoslovak magazine ''
Mladý svět'' was generating ideas for a music poll, one of its young editors, later actor and director
Ladislav Smoljak
Ladislav Smoljak (9 December 1931 – 6 June 2010) was a Czechs, Czech film and theater director, actor and screenwriter.
Biography
Smoljak was born in Prague. He tried to study at an art academy but failed the admission process. He went on to ...
, came up with the name "golden nightingale", after a children's toy.
In the first year of the poll, 797 votes were returned; the highest vote tally registered in its 29-year history was over 115,000. From 1969 until the collapse of
communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, the poll's results were falsified for political reasons.
Categories and censorship
Award categories changed over the years. In 1962, 1963, and 1970, there was a joint male and female singer category; the song category was eliminated after 1968.
In 1970,
Marta Kubišová was set to win her fourth slavík, but since she had been banned from speaking publicly by the government due to her anti-communist lyrics and activism, the editors of ''Mladý svět'' were forced to change the results at the behest of the Czech Office for Press and Information: the male and female singer categories were thus combined, leading to a victory by
Karel Gott. Kubišová received her award retroactively in 1990 by then-editor-in-chief of ''Mladý svět'', Luboš Beniak.
Winners
Over the course of its 29 years, 6 male and 7 female singers, 8 bands, and 7 songs received the award.
Top winners
Karel Gott (22),
Hana Zagorová (9),
Naďa Urbánková (5), Marta Kubišová (4), and the band
Elán (4) won the most trophies.
Table
Successors
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zlaty slavik
Culture of the Czech Republic
Culture of Slovakia
Czech music awards
1962 establishments in Czechoslovakia
1991 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia
Awards established in 1962
Awards disestablished in 1991