The Rangers or Plavci 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' Places * Czech, ...

pop folk Folk-pop is a musical style that may be 1) contemporary folk songs with large, sweeping pop arrangements, or 2) pop songs with intimate, acoustic-based folk arrangements. Recording production values created a unblemished style that appealed to ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

formed in 1964 by Milan Dufek and Antonín Hájek. Its classic ensemble consisted of Milan Dufek (1944–2005;

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

), Antonín Hájek (1944–1989;

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

), Miroslav Řihošek, Jan Vančura (

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...

), Jiří Veisser, and Radek Tomášek. The band sold over one million records.

Biography

The Rangers quickly became famous for the singing qualities of its members, from the bass of Jiří Veisser to the

of Jan Vančura. The musical repertoire of the Rangers at that time consisted of

Anglo-America Anglo-America most often refers to a region in the Americas in which English is the main language and British culture and the British Empire have had significant historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural impact."Anglo-America", vol. 1, Micro ...

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

s, folk pop and

with Czech

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

. Between 1966–1969 Jarka Hadrabová sang in the band and they won the first two ''Porta''s (1967 and 1968) in the category ''Country & Western''. The Rangers' hits were cover versions of " The Water Is Wide" (1724, ''Rákosí''), "

Cotton Fields "Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)" (also known as In Them Old Cotton Fields Back Home) is a song written by American blues musician Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, who made the first recording of the song in 1940. Early versions Reco ...

" (1941, ''Pole s bavlnou'') sung as

Gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

, " King of the Road" (1965, ''Král silnic''), "

Come the Day ''Come the Day'' is the fifth studio album by Australian group the Seekers. The album was released in 1966. In North America, the album was titled ''Georgy Girl''. The album peaked at number 10 in the ''Billboard'' albums chart and number 3 in ...

" (1966, ''Ave Dies''), and " Nose For Trouble", (1966, ''Nos pro trable''). An exceptional success was Milan Dufek's ''Vysočina'' (Highlands). In 1971 the Rangers were forced to rename into ''Plavci'' (Swimmers). The official reason was that a Czech band name could not be the same as that of "American killers in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

" (the

United States Army Rangers United States Army Rangers, according to the US Army's definition, are personnel, past or present, in any unit that has the official designation "Ranger". The term is commonly used to include graduates of the US Army Ranger School, even if t ...

). Rivalry between Milan Dufek and Radek Tomášek caused Tomášek to leave the band in 1973. The host

Petr Nárožný Petr Nárožný (born 14 April 1938)) is a Czech actor, television presenter, comedian, and entertainer. Life and career As a boy, Nárožný spent part of World War II in Germany, where he experienced Allied bombings. He graduated from the Fac ...

left the band as well and was replaced by

Luděk Nekuda Luděk is a Czech masculine given name. It is the Czech short name of the Slavonic name Ludoslav or Ludomír, later becoming a proper name in its own right. Pet form Ludia, Ludík, Ludo, Slávek, Slavo, Ludine Famous bearers * Luděk Bohman - ...

(1942–1988). Plavci were often part of

TV show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

s and their popularity became nationwide. Although between 1974–1976 Nekuda was not with the band, the enormous success of Plavci continued. After he rejoined Plavci they became the number one music band in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Nekuda definitively left the band in 1978 and the popularity of Plavci suffered a steady decline. On 17 November 2005 Milan Dufek died while

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

. Radek Tomášek explicitly ruled out a reunion with the rest of the band.

Discography

only Czech sung LPs. # The Rangers (I, 1969) # Rangers 1970 (II, 1970) # Rangers (III, 1971) # Plavci (IV, 1973) # Plavci (V, 1974) # Sláva (1975) # Chvála písni (1977) # Plavci na Poříčí (1978), ''live'' # Otvíráme plovárnu (1980) # Galaportrét (1984), ''compilation'' # Erb toulavého rodu (1984) # Výzkumný ústav vodních radostí (1986)

References

Video

*
Balíček karet
' (original version) (1969) *
Balíček karet
' (new version) *
Mám radost
' (1971,

I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" is a song written and performed by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in October 1968 as the only single from his album '' Pride in What I Am''. The song peaked a ...

, 1968) *
Láska je věc kouzelná
' (1971, Love Is Kind Love is Wine, 1967) *
Orchidej
' (1973) *
Vysočina
' (1973) {{Authority control Czech folk music groups Czech bluegrass music groups 1964 establishments in Czechoslovakia Musical groups established in 1964

Biography

Discography

See also

References

External links

Video