Kamil Běhounek (29 March 1916 – 22 November 1983) was a Czech-German accordionist and composer. He played

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and popular music. He also worked as a bandleader, arranger and film scorer. He also occasionally played tenor saxophone.

Biography

Běhounek was born on 29 March 1916 in Blatná,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. He was an

autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

on accordion, having learned to play by imitating recordings and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcasts. He studied law in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and began performing in clubs; his first recordings on solo accordion date from 1936. In the late 1930s, he worked with the Blue Music Orchestra,

Rudolf Antonín Dvorský Rudolf Antonín Dvorský (24 March 1899 – 2 August 1966) was a Czech singer, swing musician, composer and a bandleader of the Melody Boys. Filmography * '' Him and His Sister'' (1931) - Singing postman * '' From Saturday to Sunday'' (1931) - ...

, Jiří Traxler, and Karel Vlach. In 1943, he was forcibly compelled by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s to go to Berlin and make arrangements for the bands of Lutz Templin and Ernst van't Hoff. Upon his return to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1945, he used some of these arrangements for his own band, then returned to Germany the following year, where he continued arranging for bandleaders such as , Willy Berking, , and Werner Müller. He also played with his own ensemble, including in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and, after 1948, in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

for American soldiers' clubs. Between 1968 and 1977 he recorded several albums of folk music, but continued to play swing with his own groups. He died on 22 November 1983 in Bonn. He wrote an autobiography, ''Má láska je jazz'' ("Jazz is my love"), which was published posthumously in 1986.

Biography

Further reading