Always on his toes - It wasn’t an easy interview; it underwent many changes while being authorized. “I have to be on my toes all the time and I must keep my mind open to what the market will say to me tomorrow,” confided Karel Gott. He also confessed his conviction that during the Totalitarian Regime he symbolized “the light in the dark” and he emphasized that he wants to be buried “in absolute humbleness”.

We’re sitting in an half-empty restaurant. Has the financial crisis also affected you personally?
Not personally, no. Not yet. And I don’t think it will come down on any of us. I’m sure you believe me when I say that I meet with many people and they continue to talk about what they’ve just bought, where they plan to spend their holiday or what luxury car they’re going to have. When they come to a shopping mall there’s no parking space. Everyone’s shopping! The financial crisis is only a bugaboo conjured up by the media. The sacking of employees, which we are forever reading about, would happen anyway, crisis or no crisis. That’s the way things go in Capitalism. Everyone knows that the whole situation has been caused by immoral banking house high rollers who control the internal economy. They artificially created growth; they worked with non-existing money. And so what does the state do? It prints more money.

And gives way to inflation.
Definitely. And that’s the beginning of inflation, whereby THE “crisis” is not warded off thereby. And what does the state then do? It’s like gambling: If I lose, I must double! So, in its own interest, the state must give them a loan. So it gives them a loan. And the high rollers distribute it amongst themselves. They get an injection from the state to put it all into motion but instead of doing that they increase their wages, remuneration, bonuses by twenty percent. When I see the huge amount of money that the most powerful economies of the world print I get the funny idea that perhaps the intention is to devaluate the currency and thereby also debts. After all, we all know who is most powerful (K. G. means USA, editor’s note). So much on what’s happened. I would like to add that I’m a war child. I know what a real crisis feels like. War, hunger, ration stamps. That which we are experiencing today really isn’t any sort of crisis. But, unfortunately, crises are used to cover all manner of things. The fact that there are more and more rich people is clear proof of the very opposite of the impression that the current “crisis” is making on people. But what does it mean when there’re more rich people? The entire coherent infrastructure must be put into movement, otherwise their wealth is worth nothing.

I spoke to Vratislav Brabenec from Plastic People a few days ago and he told me how he and his family went to spend several thousands they’d found at home a day before the Monetary Reform but there was nothing that they could spend it on. So it applies to various situations.
Yes, you have money so that you can spend it on something. In order for people to enjoy their wealth, they need the means to do so – a car, housing, put simply everything that makes you happy... And now we’ve come to what can make or break today: I believe in new inventions, in new types of energy that automatically give people new job opportunities. Just like things were put into motion when the steam engine was invented. We could talk hours about that but I’d like to keep to our line of business. Everywhere where there’s an industrial boom an entire infrastructure is created, including the entertainment industry. When Detroit became home to the automobile industry boom, the Motown Record Corporation was established there. It produced artists like Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and The Jackson 5. Do you know how many fantastic productions were created there at that time? A huge industrial colossus needs to entertain people – through music, shows, productions, sport... In America there are entire institutions that exclusively focus on how to entertain people so that when they come home they don’t just have dinner and then go to bed!

Is show business also affected by the crisis?
Cliff Richard, a contemporary of mine, said: “Those who don’t accommodate themselves to changes on the market have to leave our music trade.” I’m of the same opinion. We mustn’t grieve over reduced CD sales.

But yours continue to be sold.
I can’t complain, but that doesn’t mean that I’m on the winning side. We all feel that when a Gold Record is awarded for a total of five thousand sales then there’s really no where higher to rise in our line of business. It need not take long and record corporations may say: “It’s not our worth to produce anymore. You have your pay from concerts but we have no return.” Then there’s only one solution: combine all the products around the singer into one package so that everyone profits. Interconnect music productions with concert promoters, with the production of promotion material…

And then people will buy a CD along with their ticket.
Perhaps. Everything must be put under one roof. The magical word is Merchandising. T-shirts, caps, everything... People go to concerts to touch the singer. That’s what keeps us above water! I have to attend autograph signing no matter how tired I am. And then people will say: :Hey, I’ll get a CD at the same time. I’ll buy a T-shirt. And let him sign it.” Everyone will profit from the result of this global service. We all need one another.

That reminds me of a big shopping mall where you can get everything from clothes to a car and still find time to have lunch there.
Well yes, the principle is a similar one. I realized this immediately after the Velvet Revolution and that’s why Capitalism didn’t catch me unaware. I learnt to do things in such I way that I’m not ashamed of my work but at the same time remain business-oriented. That’s why we quickly established an agency with František Janeček that did exactly this. We did everything by ourselves: we were the first.

Indeed, also Václav Klaus wrote in the foreword to your book that unlike others you were quick to learn how to adjust to the change in political regime and that you never wanted the state to support you.
With the new political regime at our doors, we popular singers really never had the feeling that we should ask the state for support. Because we earned our keep. But there’s much experimental art that needs support otherwise there’d be nothing new. That’s why we have committees that decide which art forms need to be supported through grants. I, on the other hand, have to be ready and prepared to change my opinion and strategy in regards to how to behave on the relentless market. I have to be on my guard and must continually think about what the market will bring me tomorrow. Where my stand will be placed and what it is going to offer. And I must also think repertoire-wise. The main thing is not to become set in one’s ways. That’s why I meet with artists that you’d say would never go together with Karel Gott.

Like Bushido, the German rapper.
Yes. I can no longer sing “When the moon climbs the sky and the evening breeze ruffles the tree leaves, my darling...” It will no longer surprise anyone anymore today. But notice that today’s hits are provocative; they make you think; they jump-start you. And it’s that jump-start that’s the law of the market! It makes a louder scream out to the world. What is publicity? A scream!

Tell me about how you planned to become an idol?
That depends on what stage in life I was. As a boy I wanted to become an actor. I have been an enthusiastic moviegoer since I was small, in fact I sometimes went to see the same movie several times. My parents were surprised to see me go to see the same movie for the third time, but I knew very well why: I was studying, observing what makes men appeal to women. And the next day I practiced on the girls at school the courteous rhetorical phrases of famous actors, such as Clark Gable or Oldřich Nový. Of course, when the unleashed music from the West started to flood our music scene, I bought myself a guitar and wanted to be Elvis. I also wanted to move like him. It cost me a hip, but it was worth it!

You’re sometimes referred to as “Heavenly Karel”. Why do you think?
I suppose... But no, a singer shouldn’t suppose. A singer may secretly think about himself. A singer who sings romantic songs and lovingly uplifts a woman’s beauty should be ethereal and elusive. And even if I knew the recipe, I wouldn’t reveal it anyway.

You were captured by a woman to create a joint household no sooner than when you turned 69.
I guess I stopped being ethereal and came down to earth. Everyone who knew me kept shaking their heads.

Did any of your fans accuse you of getting married?
No. To my great surprise they write in all their fan mail and shout out at me at concerts: “You did well! You deserve it! We admire you for it!” They no longer think of me as an idol with whom they’d like to get acquainted and with whom they’d like to have a fling. “It was time,” is what they write to me in their letters. There’s no: “We’ve lost you and you’re no longer ours!” And never did any of them write to me: “You’re no longer mine.”

Doesn’t it upset you?
No. I also think that it was time. Everything has its place in time. I wasn’t mature enough in the past to start a family – I concentrated all my efforts on building a career, I was very apt to make it big time worldwide. And I viewed marriage as a disruptive factor that would swallow up the necessary time and energy.

Your two older daughters never reproached you for this?
My eldest daughter, Dominika, always says: “Daddy, Kájo, I’m proud of you, of what you’ve achieved. Even though your music isn’t exactly my cup of tea.” You see, she’s very heavy. She likes listening to Motörhead, Metallica, ACDC... My younger daughter thinks otherwise: “I’m grateful to you for all that you’ve given me. You’ve furnished my flat. You bought my mum a car. But one thing you failed to give me: more time for me.”

By the way, you’re said to have a grandson. Congratulations!
Thank you. I’ll celebrate after he’s born. I’m superstitious.

Perhaps he’ll take after you.
Maybe; people say that you inherit some things from your grandparents. But I’d try to talk him out of this line of business.

Why? Aren’t you happy?
I’m super-happy because I’ve already become a superstar and because this nice period is already behind me. Now there’s going to be more and more advertisements. All that music on the radio merely fills the space between individual advertisement blocks.

That sounds terrible.
Actually, it’s always been like that with the difference that sponsors used to be called patrons. And a patron could even be a monarch. Or just think how many painters used to be supported by rich merchants, like Rubens. He had his conception and his pupils painted it for him. For them it was a trade.

Can it be said how much you get from one tour?
It’s impossible to give a figure. But trust me when I say that without sponsors it’s impossible to profit from a tour. The costs, insurance included, are enormous.

What about your vocal cords? Are they also insured?
No-one will insure your vocal cords. Even if they make your living.

How much did you earn during the Totalitarian Regime?
I was lucky enough to have been classified into the first category so I got six hundred korunas for a concert in a full house for several thousands! But hey, they started to give me 1200 korunas after I was awarded the Artist of Outstanding Merit Award!

How much did you earn as a National Artist?
Yes, that was even better. 1600 korunas!

How much did you get then from the records sold?
Almost nothing. But take it when Dean Reed, American actor, singer and songwriter who spoke out against imperialism and who lived in the German Democratic Republic, visited us he wanted to be paid in dollars for his records. And me? When I made my first record in 1975 in the Soviet Union, five million copies were sold there. Can you imagine what that would mean today? How much I’d get? But they paid me a mere two hundred rubles per song! Whether the record was being sold or not, that was of no matter of importance. My fees remained the same. And in addition to that I was awarded the Gold Record award a mere five years ago. After thirty years Melodie representatives explained to me on the stage of the Kremlin Court that they couldn’t give me any gold or platinum record at the time because apparently it would be viewed as a celebration of the market.

What did you reply?
I comforted them and told them not to worry that I experienced the same at home. Most important was “not to celebrate the market”! The best selling album of my career – Vánoce ve zlaté Praze (Christmas in Golden Prague) – saw sales exceeding
1 400 000 copies – thanks to the fact that Christmas comes round every year. Nevertheless, the record also includes many sacral songs - Ave verum corpus, Ave Maria... So ideologists ordered Supraphon: “Sell, but quietly. Don’t celebrate religious holidays, don’t celebrate the market.” That’s why I never got a Gold Record for it. But I know that the listeners of this album have come to understand me very well. The record was released in 1969, when the cat got out of the bag, and became a symbol of silent resistance. It facilitated immersion into spirituality at a time when it was prohibited to talk about spirituality.

Forgive me when I say that you remind me of Václav Klaus who in an interview published in the Lidové Noviny magazine stated that he was the biggest fighter against the communist ideology in this country.
Did he really say that? But you know, he had a direct effect on the communists thanks to his position of prognosticator – unlike others who weren’t allowed to write, for instance. Just like the protest of a singer who wasn’t allowed on stage ceases to be effective.

Now you’re kicking a little, into Marta Kubišová for example.
I’m not. Not at all. On the contrary. She became a martyr because people found out what the communist party was actually doing thanks to her story. The communists were aware of this and that’s why they tried to convince her to make a comeback. They came to her, they made her an offer to slowly start singing again. They told her: “We could make a deal.” But she replied: “I’m sorry, I’ve already decided to live a different life.” And that was it – she wouldn’t budge. In fact, the Regime celebrated her: they made her a Joan of Arc! And the people didn’t forget. Marta created her own memorial based on her life. I’m also trying to achieve the same, but afterward I don’t care. I want to be buried in absolute humbleness. And I really want to have a very small little grave.

What do you think you are a symbol of?
That depends on how who looks at it. If you decide to label Normalization a dark period, then we singers who at that time succeeded in cheering up people for at least a while with a song were the little light in the dark. John Amos Comenius said: “Lux in tenebris”. I’d like to say it using the words of the phenomenal German promoter Mr. Rau: “When I saw his concert held at the Prague Sports Hall I came to understand what pertains to his long-standing popularity in Czechoslovakia – Karel continued to be loyal to his country and to his public in times when not the best of relations existed between the East and the West. And he acquainted them with the best that was born of international pop music. I regard such conduct as being a cultural and also a highly political act.”

What in your opinion was better during the Normalization Period?
Do you know what was better? When they loosened the reins some and allowed us to let go a little and to do music thanks to which the world looked up to us and thanks to which we could have the feeling that better times await us. Now, surely no-one can hold this against me!

Do you today think that no better times await us?
All right. I’ll say it otherwise. At that period in time we felt that better times await us. And if not, we could at least hope that there were countries to which we could emigrate. Taking the current situation, we can go in either of two directions. The first direction is a pragmatic one, that means inventions, technical miracles and new impulses, which I’ve already spoken about. Or you can go in the direction of spirituality. I guess there’s something to it when very recognized sources emit a vision of the so-called “collective reorganization of human awareness”. Which means an acceleration in evolution and making contact with the electromagnetic pole of the earth. And these sources say that people who are open enough have a chance to connect to so-called universal intelligence...

I’ve lost you.
How much time do you have? I can explain it to you. But I also don’t understand it.
Karel Gott

Box
By hand and four times
The first time he came an hour late. We ordered Carpaccio and went our way. The second time we started the interview but I had to write down everything by hand because he doesn’t like Dictaphones. We again ordered Carpaccio and I wrote and wrote for two hours. He didn’t like the result. The third time I brought my notebook with me; we ordered Carpaccio and I hammered the keyboard. He again was not happy with the result. The fourth time we met we rewrote some of the passages and we ordered Carpaccio. I can’t stand it anymore; Carpaccio I mean.