Mikolas CHADIMA - 9 September 1952 Cheb, composer, saxophonist, guitarist and singer
STUDIES
OD Svoboda graficke zavody n.p. ("Vocational Education Centre-Svoboda Graphics Company,
state enterprise")/Offset printer 19681972.
Secondary school for workers at the Svoboda Vocational Education Centre,
state enterprise/Leaving Certificate 1968-1974.
LSD Prague-Cakovice ("Cakovice People's School of Art")/Saxophone 19721974.
Jazzova skola hrou ("Jazz playing school"). Courses by Karel Velebny and Rudolf Tichacek 1974-1978.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Employment:
Svoboda graficke zavody n.p. ("Svoboda Graphics Company, state enterprise") 1968-1974, printer.
Geodezie n.p. ("Geodesy, state enterprise") 1975-1977, labourer. Czechoslovak Post Office 1977, postman.
National Technical Museum: clerk for the printing department 1977.
Vojenske stavby-Metro ("Military Buildings-Metro") 1977-1978, labourer. National Technical Museum 1979-1988, printer and graphic designer.
National Technical Museum 1988-1989, clerk for the printing department. Composer and musician - since 1990.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Activist for Jazzova sekce (Jazzova sekce = "Jazz Section" a well known cultural organisation) 1978-1989.
Signatory of Charter 77 in 1979.
Vybor na ochranu Fr.Starka ("Committee for the Protection of Frantisek Starek") 1988.
Founder member of Svaz autoru a interpretu (SAI - "Union of Authors and Performers"), since 1989.
Member of Unijazz since 1992.
Member of the Board of Administration for Nadace cesky hudebni fond ("Czech Music Fund Foundation") 2000-2005.
Regular member of OSA (The Performing and Mechanical Rights Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and INTERGRAM since 1990.
LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES
1969 Criminal prosecution for "Disorderly Conduct" - Insulting the head of state and the head of a friendly state" (Protests on the first anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia)
1979 Criminal prosecution for "Disorderly Conduct". (For using the "vulgar" word "shit" on stage) .
1979 Signatory of Charter 77
1990 Beginning of career as a professional musician.
2003 Birth of daughter.
HONOURS AND ACCOLADES
1981 "Band of the Year" for Extempore. "All Stars Band" survey by the magazine "Jazz-bulletin soudobe hudby" ("Jazz-Bulletin of Contemporary Music").
1991 "Album of the Year", a prize from the Nadace Cesky hudebni fond for the album "MCH BAND - Es reut mich f..."
1998 "Zluta motorka" - a "Golden Motorbike" award for the most artistically successful title of the year. A prize from the music publisher Black Point for the album "Chadima&Fajt-Pruhledni lide."
2003 Nomination for the album "MCH Band - 20.let live" ("MCH band - 20 Years Live") for an Andel prize in the alternative music category (Andel prize = Czech "Grammy") .
WORK
Musical Work: (discography) + Exodus. Premiera Agon Orchestra, dum U kamenneho zvonu. Prague, 20 April 1993.Music for Film and Theatre:
Sestficky/Nurses. Director: Majka Sandova. FAMU film 1980.
Shapira. Director: Lubos Pistorius. Theatre production at the E.F. Burian theatre. Prague 1990.
Povidani o smrti (UTalking of Death"). Director: Maria Prochazkova. FAMU film 1995.Video clips:
Der Schwatz. Director: Zdenek Suchy. Czech TV 1993.
Stary zpevak zpiva (An Old Singer Sings"). Director: Maria Prochazkova. MCH 1998.
Zpivaji Hvezdy (uThe Stars Sing"). Director: Maria Prochazkova. MCH 1999.
Literary Work:
"Extempore - Cerna kniha" (Extempore - The Black Book"). Own samizdat printing 1980.
"Od rekvalifikaci k Nove vIne se starym obsahem.1I (From Retraining to the New Wave with Old Content"), 1st samizdat edition - own printing 1985. "Alternativa" (Od rekvalifikaci k Nove vIne se starYm obsahem) – „Alternative" (From Retraining to the New Wave with Old Content"), 2nd edition, Host-Brno 1993.
Columns for Salon, the literary supplement of Pravo. Since 1997.
Sporadic texts for the band's requirements. Since 1974.
Contributions to various anthologies. Since 1979
TV
„Concert for Charter 77“. Czech TV, Prague 1990.
„Kanafas“. Czech TV, Prague 1994.
„Big Beat“ (28,29,41). Czech TV, Prague 1995/96.
„MCH Band v klubu Na Chmelnici“. Czech TV, Prague 1998.
„Mezi proudy – Crescendo“ („Between Currents - Crescendo"). Czech TV, Brno 2002
„Ladí neladí“ („In tune or not? – MCH Band in Club Fabric“) Czech TV, Ostrava 2006
„Noc s Andělem“. (The Night With Engel). Czech TV Prague 1999.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Melodie, Jazz-bulletin soudobe hudby, Vokno, Gramorevue, Rock&Pop, Uni, HIS and other music periodicals. Since 1976.
"Encyklopedie jazzu a moderni popularni hudby"
(„The Encyclopedia of Jazz and Modern Popular Music"), Matzner, Polednak, Wasserberger et al. EDITIO SUPRAPHON-Prague 1990.
"Vyjimecne stavy"
(„States of Emergency"), Karel Srp. PRAGMA, Prague 1994.
"Jazzova sekce v case i necase"
(„Jazzova Sekce in Time and Foul Weather“), Vladimir Kouril. TORST- Prague 1999.
"Sametovi filozofove"
("Velvet Philosophers“) , Barbara Dey. DOPLNEK-Brno 1999.
"Alternativni kultura - Pribeh ceske spolecnosti 1945-1989"
("Alternative Culture - The Story of Czech Society 1945-1989“) , by a team of authors, NLN,s.r.o. (Ltd.)-Prague 200l.
"Svet jine hudby"
("The World of Other Music“), Zdenek K. Slaby a Petr Slaby. VOLVOX GLOBATOR 2002.
„Akce jazz “
(„Action Jazz“) Oldřich Tomek.
Collections Securitas Imperii No.10. ÚDZK - The Office for the Documentation and the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism. Prague 2003.
MCH STORY
Mikoláš Chadima, founder of MCH BAND – non-conformist musician, composer, lyricist and publicist, one of the “fathers” of the Czech alternative scene. He became widely known in the second half of the ‘70s with his performances at Pražské jazzové dny (Prague Jazz Days) as a member of the bands Elektrobus and The Rock & Jokes Extempore Band of J. J. Neduha. Chadima took over Extempore during Neduha's attempts to emigrate legally, leading the band from 1979 to September 1981. In addition he was engaged in the cult improvising group called Kilhets and the revival-style Old Teenagers as well as the Classic Rock and Roll Band later.Chadima's popularity reached its peak in 1981. Extempore won the “All-Star Band 1980/81” survey in the Jazz Bulletin, Volume 27/28, published by Jazzová sekce, beating Etc..., Pražský výběr and Modrý efekt by a wide margin. Chadima also ranked second in the “Celebrity of the Year” survey, following V. Mišík. After eight years he received his passport back and he could finally introduce his work abroad. On 1 March 1981 Chadima performed his music in the London Three Steps club, accompanied by members of the bands This Heat, The Work, Henry Cow and Art Bears. In July of the same year Extempore played three concerts in Hungary as a guest of the former No. 1 Hungarian band – Hobbo Blues Band. Chadima's passport was then unfortunately confiscated again upon his return from Hungary, which made other offers to perform abroad irrelevant – both in the Western and Eastern blocs.
In September 1981 Chadima broke up Extempore and founded the MCH Band. In the summer his signature on Charter 77 appeared in the media and after the New Year the strength of the repression started to grow. Not even two years later, his legal concert activities were completely blocked. Chadima then slowly faded from the minds of the general public. Although he continued to perform underground, the band kept changing its name for security reasons. MCH Band thus only existed on audiocassettes where Chadima, under the brand Fist Records, spread his music as well as the music of other friendly bands in a “samizdat” way.
In 1983 Chadima established close cooperation with the poet Ivan Wernisch, which has continued to the present.
MCH Band returned to the legal stage in January 1989 with a hugely successful performance in the sports hall in Prague's Holešovice district, at the event titled “Koncert pro Arménii” (“Concert for Armenia”). After nine long years – a legal concert in Prague! Chadima was offered cooperation with a professional agency – still state-owned at that time – on the spot, making it possible for MCH Band to start appearing legally again, in spite of several restrictions. Chadima received his passport back after many years. This enabled MCH Band to perform a concert on 5 November 1989 at the legendary festival Solidarnoszi Czeskoslow-Polskiej in Wroclaw. In December 1989, after the revolution, Chadima had his first performance with MCH Band in the West, at the “Permutant 89” festival in Copenhagen!
In 1990 Chadima decided to go freelance, becoming a professional composer and musician. He prepared his archive records for release and enjoyed the post-revolution euphoria with his band. However, he didn’t abandon his activities after all the excitement had faded, continuing to write music, release new records and perform concerts both at home and abroad.
In addition to MCH Band, Chadima cooperated with many other musicians after the revolution, such as Peter Binder, Aleš Charvát, Pavel Fajt, Vladimir 518, Mnaga a Zdorp, Chris Cutler (GB), Fred Frith (GB), Fred Gulliani (I), Marc Sens (F), Sergey Letov (RUS), Mona Mur (D) ltd. When not playing with his own band he produces electronic and "economy" project MCH TRIO (MCH3), revival project THE EX EXTEMPORE MEMBERS PLAY THE CITY, improvising project RADIMIL UHLIR & MCH3 and with Julius Fujak Czecho-slovakian improvising project XAFOO.
MCH BAND / MCH TRIO
Mikoláš Chadima – sax, guitar, vocals, loops
Martin Schneider – bass
Jiří Janďourek – keys, background vocals
Jan Chaluš – drums, background vocals
Jan Jirucha – trombone
