That's how it started
The first thing I said to Marta Kubisova when we met her after her show at a little music club in Prague in September 1999 was:
Marta, thank you for the democracy!!!!!
She looked at me with a little smile and said: "Well, I don't think I did so much for democracy but thank you!". Our Czech friend Vasek thought that it was right to say like that and he still recalls that every time we meet each other and talk about Marta. His Czech friends ask me: "Oh, is it you who said to Mrs Kubisova thank you for the democracy...?" I think that Czech people are very proud of Marta and I understand why.
Stefan & Raffe meet Marta for the very first time
(3 years before we started www.raffem.com)
go.to//
1989 1990 1991 1992-1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000-2001 2002 2003-2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Marta is back... November 21, 1989
Several thousands more than on a Tina Turner concert... It is very hard to hold back tears when you see the video with Marta's very first performance after 19 years of silence...
She did not know that it was her real comeback. Her performance of The Prayer for Marta (Modlitba pro Martu) has been filmed and shown on Czech TV some years later. This is an unique documentary about a big artist's comeback in front of several hundred thousands people gathered on the Vaclavske Namesti in the centre of Prague.
But her very first performance on stage in 1989 took place 1 month earlier. Marta participated in a show "Evening with the lamp" at the club "Ypsilonka" on October 10, 1989.
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Everything went very quickly. Marta appeared on stage several times during November and December 1989. On December 3rd, 1989 she participated in 10-hours-show "Concert for all big people" at the sport hall "Pkojf".
The Prayer for Marta still important...
On December 26 & 27 Marta appeared as a guest star in Vaclav Neckar show at the Karlin Theatre in Prague. The big surprise for the public was when even the third member of Golden Kids Helena Vondrackova joined Vaclav and Marta. The old band "Golden Kids" performed together again 20 years later...
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Songy a balady - the 1990 re-release
In 1990 Marta worked as a singer again performing and recording. The record company re-released very quickly Marta's 1968 album "Songy a balady" with two alternative covers. Marta came on the fourth place as the most popular female singer in Czechoslovakia in 1990 according to the "Golden Nightingale" voting results in December 1990. Not bad for an artist who had not released anything new since 1968...
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The singles
Several singles of Marta and Golden Kids were re-released in 1990 among them "Modlitba pro Martu" (The Prayer for Marta), Marta's famous cover on The Beatles' "Hey Jude" as well as Marta's and Helena's evergreen "Oh Baby Baby". The record company "Supraphon" released three single in a hurry in the company sleeves. Several years later we received personal dedications from Marta which made these sleeves very precious...
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Lampa - the compilation
The record company "Supraphon" released 13 of Marta's greatest hits on a new compilation album entitled "Lampa" after one of her most beautiful songs. The cover of the album is probably the best one ever made for a pop album in Czech Republic. It shows the "real" Marta as she is - sometimes a little bit dreamy, dark, thoughtful. Under the lamp can we see a picture of Marta in the late 1960s shortly before the communists damaged her life as an artist... You can even see the famous "Charta 77" on the table. The album contains her 13 greatest hits from the first period of 1963-1970. The title track is one of the most dramatic songs Marta ever sung. According to the singer it is a tragical story of a prostitute girl. The unforgetable "Oh Baby Baby" sung together with Helena Vondrackova can be found here as well and many more songs which show Marta's exceptional skills as a singer.
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Promotion
The video
The first video compilation with Marta's greatest hits was released in 1990. The video contained 14 songs and was entitled "Marta Kubisova - sinful and fair-minded".
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Marta Live, June 2, 1990
The first concert after the revolution took place at Lucerna in Prague and it was attended by the President of Czechoslovakia Vaclav Havel - an old friend to the singer from the time when both of them were forbidden - she as a singer, he as a writer. The show lasted for more than 3 hours and Marta remembers that there were heaps of flowers and never-ending standing ovations.
The German weekly magazine "Stern" wrote: "This is the only singer in the world who did a revolution to be allowed to sing."
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New album
The first brand new album after the Revolution was recorded by Marta in the summer 1990 and it contained... 15 advent songs. The album was released in the late autumn in the same year. The album has not been re-released on CD and it remains as one of the rarest Marta albums which is probably not possible to find on the market. Marta was accompanied by well-known musicians as the brothers Eben and Petr Hapka.
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In April 1991 Marta was in the recording studio preparing a brand new album. The album "Nekdy si zpivam..." was her third studio album ever recorded. It contained 10 songs and indicated clearly her will of doing songs in the style between pop, jazz and "chancon". The "chancon" style is very popular in Central Europe and comes originally from France where it was created by such big artists as Edith Piaf, Yves Montand or Charles Aznavour. The Czech Republic has some big female artists singing in this style as for instance Hana Hegerova.
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The album "disappeared" from the record shops quite quickly and today it is definitely a hard to find CD in Prague. Be happy if you own a copy of it...
The photo session
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Prayer for Marta - TV special
In the summer of 1991 Czechoslovakian TV made a TV documentary about the legendary song "Modlitba pro Martu" (Prayer for Marta). The song originally recorded in 1968 became during the "forbidden" years an unofficial anthem in Czechoslovakia. Both Marta and the composer Jindrih Brabec were talking about their feelings about the songs. Old video including rare film pieces from the Sovjet invasion in Czechoslovakia in 1968 was included in the documentary.
If you want to listen to "The Prayer for Marta" - go to/Marta Discography
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In October 1991 Marta gave some concerts in Prague.
Songs and moods - the album
The next project was the album called "Songy a nalady" (The songs and the moods) which Marta recorded in August 1993 and released at the end of November 1993. The songs from the album were used in the Czech movie "Stalo se na podzim" (It happened in the Autumn) directed by Jan Nemec with Marta in main role.
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The movie picture "Stalo se na podzim".
The film directed by Jan Nemec featured six Marta songs - five of them were taken from the latest album "Songy a nalady". The film had its premiere on Czech TV on November 19th, 1993.
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The best of Golden Kids
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The first compilation album with the group Golden Kids, which existed at the end of 1960s with Marta Kubisova, Helena Vondrackova and Vaclav Neckar was released at the end of 1993. The singers promoted the release.
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The year of Golden Kids
This year would be very special for Marta and two of her friends: Helena Vondrackova and Vaclav Neckar. The big stage comeback of the group Golden Kids was probably the last link between the past and the present to be set in the chain of her life. Golden Kids was the most successful group in Czechoslovakia during 15 months in the late 1960s. The group which never split up... As Marta was forbidden in 1970 the others started working on their own becoming the most successful singers in the country.
Golden Kids 1994 - the photo sessions
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Golden Kids Comeback, November 3, 1994
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The show was held at Lucerna Concert Hall in Prague on Thursday, Nov 3, 1994. All were there. Both fans and celebrities who wanted to see their favorite artists performing together again. A kind of confirmation that stupid people and regimes do not survive and the right will be right anyway...
They sang all their great hits and the concert was recorded both for Czech TV and the record company Supraphon for the CD release later the same year. The group did not plan more activities than some touring in Czech Republic. Due to the solo projects though the group has no plans for any new recordings.
Reka vuni... - the album
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In 1995 Marta Kubisova released a new studio album "Reka vuni". The CD contained strong 14 tracks written by top Czech composers as well as 3 cover versions of Lionel Ritchie's hits: Deep River Woman, Say You Say Me and Hallo. The album was released by the record company Popron. Marta recorded a video to the title song and promoted the album in several TV shows. The concert at the Vinohrady Theatre in Prague was recorded by Czech TV.
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The album is currently not available and out of print in Czech Republic. According to the singer the master is lost and it is impossible to re-release it. We can hope that the master will be found soon because the album is definitely the highlight of the pop of the 1990s.
The Prague Castle, October 28, 1995
This day Marta received from her old friend, the president of Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel the medal for earnings for the homeland. Not unawaited...
God only knows - the album
Marta Kubisova with the band during the recording sessions for the album "Buh vi" at the beginning of 1996.
The 1996 album release was a trip back to Marta's roots. The CD "Buh vi" (Only God knows) contained 10 songs in calm jazz-blues style. A jam session was arranged in the Prague bar "Bugsy" where even the cover pictures were taken. The album was released by Polydor.
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The photo sessions at the Bugsy bar in Prague.
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Promotion of the album
Marta appeared on TV and in the press. New pictures featured a relaxed singer in the happy colours which were maybe not so typical Marta colours.
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The season meeting - the CD release
In May 1996 Marta Kubisova participated in a project created by three famous musicians: Petr Malasek, Jaroslav Sveceny and Rudolf Rokl. They recorded several tracks and Marta had vocals on five of them. Rudolf Rokl died in September 1997 and the record company Multisonic released the recording session on CD. The CD was a tribute to Rudolf Rokl - the multitalented pianist. Marta still tours occasionally with the repertoire from the CD together with Petr Malasek and Jaroslav Sveceny.
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Christmas with Marta
In October 1997 Marta was in the recording studio in Prague where she recorded songs for her Christmas album. The singer was probably inspired by her participation in Helena Vondrackova Christmas shows in 1996 and 1997. The album featured 14 Christmas songs and a very special bonus, a new version of the Marta classical "Prayer for Marta".
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Theatre Ungelt
The Ungelt theatre in Prague is probably the smallest and the oldest theatre in the world. After several album releases and thousands of concerts on big stages both solo and together with her collegues in Golden Kids: Helena Vondrackova and Vaclav Neckar, Marta suddenly understood that "Ungelt" is definitely this sort of stage she needs. The theatre gave her a unique possibility to have a very close contact with her audience and the intimacy that Marta's songs require. The theatre boss Milan Hein had always admired Kubisova and it was his great wish to have her in Ungelt. The first real collaboration between Marta Kubisova and Milan Hein was the show "Nechci byt ta druha" (I don't want to be the second woman) which was performed in Ungelt by Marta together with Petr Malase (piano).
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The Hall of Fame
In 1998 Marta Kubisova was introduced to the Czech Hall of Fame.
Marta + the group R.E.M.
The Hall of Fame - CD
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The Czech record company Bonton released compilations series under the common title "Sin slavy" (The hall of fame). The most important artists were featured and one of them was of course Marta. The album contained 22 old songs recorded by Marta. Some of them were almost unknown and some different remixes of well known songs were released on this album.
The shows
Marta did several concerts at various spots in 1999. One of the shows was held at the literary café "Salmovska" in Prague on September 27, 1999.
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Marta Kubisova in Ungelt
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A new album from Marta came at the end of 1999. Recorded at the theatre "Ungelt" in Prague it marks a new trend in Marta's musical life. It was the beginning of Marta's career on the theatre stage. Marta re-recorded her greatest hits in the "acoustic" version accompanied by Petr Malasek on piano.
Tell Me on a Sunday - the musical
Marta played the main and only role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Tell Me On A Sunday" which had its Czech premiere at the "Ungelt" theatre in Prague.
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Prague March 18th, 2002
Marta 2002
Our wonderful meeting with Marta Kubisova at the Ungelt Theatre in Prague.
Two days before our meeting Marta won the Thalie Prize as the best musical artist in Czech Republic in 2001.
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You have hard to understand that such a big artist is such a "normal" person. Here are some pictures from the evening at Ungelt in Prague.
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The passion... ja mam rada pejski...
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Marta's biggest passion are dogs. She is engaged in many projects to help dogs and other animal that need help.
Authorization of our homepage about Marta
Prague, December 17, 2002
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Mrs Kubisova received a print of our homepage with all text about her and accepted it which means that our page is authorized by the singer. A typical Swedish souvenir: a snowboll with light was Christmas gift to Marta from Sweden with love. She liked it and Stefan enjoyed every second in her company.
Lucerna, 19.11.2003
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Marta participated in a big gala show at Lucerna Hall in Prague devoted the pop composer Karel Svoboda who celebrated his 65. birthday
Marta is very busy with new stage projects. A show at the Vinohrady theatre in April 2004 featuring her greatest hits, shows at the Ungelt theatre, some occasional performances with her old friends from Golden Kids: Helena Vondrackova and Vaclav Neckar are only some of her present in 2004. A new CD release in March 2004 "Pribeh" features her hits and some rare tracks as "Rekni, kde ty kyty jsou" previously unreleased on CD.
Marta Kubisova in Stockholm 18-21.11.2004
On November 18 Marta Kubisova, Milan Hein, Petr Malasek arrived in Stockholm. Marta Kubisova had a concert for Czech immigrants living in Sweden on Friday evening. She met even the Swedish journalist Robert Aschberg who was in Prague in 1978 when Marta was forbidden by communists and made a unique recording of 4 folk songs which Marta sang in an apartment in the kitchen. (The songs are available on CD now).
On Saturday it was time for our first meeting at the hotel on Östermalm in Stockholm. It was a great joy to see Marta, Milan and Peter on "our" territory for the first time. Marta wrote a greeting for her fans on raffem.com. Later on Saturday Czech Embassy in Stockholm arranged a boat trip in Stockholm's archipelago. The weather was beautiful - cold with lots of snow and sunny.
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Raffem.com had a great pleasure to spend many times on Sunday together with Marta and Milan. We took pictures in the Old Town in Stockholm with the City Hall in the background in the morning.
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Later we continued our trip through Stockholm to the suburb of Jakobsberg where we took more pictures at the Görväln castle and the sea of Mälaren.
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It was cold in Stockholm (-7 C) so our walk in Görväln was not long. We decided to go to our place and have a lunch together. Marta and Milan were very interested in internet and of course we discussed the future of our homepage.
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Marta wanted even see Helena Vondrackova's sections on our homepage. During the lunch we listened to Marta's greatest hits on CD and we could hear a lot of small stories about each song. After lunch and coffee with Swedish "pepparkakor" it was time to drive our guests to the Arlanda airport. During this afternoon we were officially invited to Prague on Marta's gala concert on April 24, 2005 at the Vinohrady theatre (see: Marta News). We will be in Prague the last week in April and we will see two concerts of Marta as she will be playing one show even on Ungelt theatre that week. There will be a report from these events and hopefully lots of new photos of Marta.
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