Czechs and Slovaks are marking 30 years since they parted in what has become known as the Velvet Divorce. Although the two nations have gone their separate ways, culturally they remain very close and nowhere is this more evident than in the sphere of music.
Almost every year at least one Czech and Slovak duet hits the airwaves and many of them have become hits. We have selected some of the best Czech-Slovak duets born after the break-up. The first by the Czech band Chinaski and Slovakia’s No Name, recorded in 2007 is about the friendship that survived the divorce.
In the years following the break-up there was inevitably a feeling of nostalgia for the common state which lasted for over seven decades. This was a sentiment that Chinaski and the Slovak singer Bára Hosnedlová reflected in their song Česká vlajka má Slovenský klín – the Czech flag has a Slovak wedge –referring to the blue triangle wedged between the red and white strips of what is now the Czech flag.
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Author: Daniela Lazarová