Pražské hudební světy 2

What kind of past is emerging in the public space of present-day Prague? Who are the people who commemorate its history through music? The book takes readers to theatre stages, concert halls, clubs, and pubs to meet Václav Havel, Milada Horáková, Josef Toufar, a priest tortured to death, the protest singer-songwriter Karel Kryl, the underground icon Ivan “Magor” Jirous, and Gideon Klein, a composer from the Terezín ghetto, as well as nameless figures from the past, but also composers, performers, and other participants in collective memory. What is interesting, or even important, about this? As confirmed by numerous researchers in memory studies, collective remembrance is not about mirroring the past. It is about expressively articulating the interests and needs of those who are remembering it in the present (Astrid Erll). Thus, in Prague Soundscapes II, Zuzana Jurková tells the story of the people of Prague in the new millennium.