Jiří Andrs: Western Records and Cassette Samizdat during Normalisation

Today music can be found in a few clicks. In pre-November Czechoslovakia, getting Western recordings took considerable effort and often a lot of money. Records from the West carried an aura of rarity, valued for their sound, appearance and ownership.

Records arrived by different routes, were copied onto tapes and cassettes, sold at hidden exchanges and traded among friends. Surprisingly, many also came from the East, from other socialist states. Listeners and currency dealers helped spread rock, punk and other scarce genres, while some dealers grew wealthy selling records.

The lecture will include period photographs and examples of records and cassettes. Jiří Andrs is a historian at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, a member of the Centre for Popular Culture Studies and the Centre for the History of Everyday Life. He collects records.