Karel Plíhal (born August 23, 1958 in

Přerov Přerov (; ) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 41,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Bečva River. In the past it was a major crossroad in the heart of Moravia in the Czech Republic. The historic city centre is we ...

) is 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 *Czech (surnam ...

folk and jazz musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He graduated from the Industrial College of Engineering and then worked as a designer and boilerman in the

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

theatre, finally becoming a singer (even though he had no formal musical education). He has played the guitar since he was 15 years old. First, he played in various underground country-swing bands in Olomouc: ''Hučka'', ''Falešní hráči'' and ''Plíharmonyje''. He produced his first solo album in 1983. Between 1985 and 1993, Plíhal worked with Emil Pospíšil, and from 1995 to 1999 he produced music with Petr Freund. He has also won four Porta

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

awards . His 2005 album ''Karel Plíhal in Olomouc'' was recorded in his home town in

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

in a 2004 concert. Plíhal has composed music for numerous productions at the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc, among others ''Zlatovláska'', ''Sluha dvou pánů'', ''Utrpení Dona Perlimplína'', ''Manon Lescaut'', ''Cyrano'', ''Zimní pohádka'', ''Pašije'' and ''Giroflé-Giroflá''. He has set music to a few of Josef Kainar's poems, and he has directed recording for albums by artists such as Jarek Nohavica, Petr Fiala, Eben brothers and Bokomara band. He starred as himself in Petr Zelenka's mockumentary

Year of the Devil ''Year of the Devil'' () is a 2002 Czech mockumentary film directed by Petr Zelenka. It stars musicians who act as themselves: Czech folk music band Čechomor, musicians and poets Jaromír Nohavica, Karel Plihal and British musician and compos ...

Discography

* ''Vzduchoprazdniny (2012)'' - (expected September 1, 2012) * ''Karel Plíhal v Olomouci (2005)'' - two CD recording of a concert in Olomouc * ''Karel Plíhal v Telči (2005)'' -

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

recording of a concert in

Telč Telč (; ) is a town in Jihlava District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,100 inhabitants. The town is well known for its historic centre, which is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

* ''Nebe počká (2004)'' – poems of

Josef Kainar Josef Kainar (29 June 1917 in Přerov, Austria-Hungary – 16 November 1971 in Dobříš, Czechoslovakia) was a Czech poet, lyrics writer, dramatic author and translator, but also a musician, illustrator, artist and journalist. He was a membe ...

, in collaboration with

Zuzana Navarová Zuzana Navarová de Tejada (18 June 1959 – 7 December 2004) 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 personalities of the Czech folk an ...

* ''Rok Ďábla (2002)'' – music for the movie of the same name * ''Kluziště (2000)'' - album with new

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

s of old songs * ''Napadl Sníh (Sova Sněžná) (2000)'' - a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

released as a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

CD of

Česká spořitelna Česká spořitelna (literally "Czech Savings Bank") is a Czech bank, headquartered in Prague. Despite being organized as a joint-stock bank, it is the heir to a long history of savings banks in the Czech Republic, going back to the establishment o ...

* ''Králíci, ptáci a hvězdy (1996)'' * ''Takhle nějak to bylo ... (1994)'' * ''Karel Plíhal 1985-89 (1992)'' – summary edition of the two previous albums with added song ''Žlutí sokoli'' * ''Karel Plíhal...Emil Pospíšil... (1989)'' * ''Karel Plíhal (1985)'' * ''Plíharmonyje'' - concert bootleg * ''Mávej, mávej'' - concert bootleg

External links

Karel Plíhal - official site (in Czech)Radio Prague "Musician and songwriter Karel Plíhal releases album to celebrate 25-year career" 31 March 2005 retrieved 10 March 2006
1958 births Living people Musicians from Přerov Czech songwriters Czech folk singers Czech jazz singers Czech guitarists Czech male guitarists Czechoslovak male singers 20th-century Czech male singers 21st-century Czech male singers Czech record producers {{guitarist-stub