"After the troops came in and after my performance at the carnival, I was deprived of my position as head of the building department. I had about six project architects under me who worked for the metallurgical industry, and I was removed from that position to a normal worker, my salary was reduced, and the director from Prague wrote in my background profile, the company was later called the Projektový ústav Českého svazu výrobních družstev [Project Institute of the Czech Union of Production Cooperatives – trans.], so he checked me up me and did not allow me, for example, to earn extra money. I had four children and the salary I was earning as a project architect was not enough, so I earned extra money by drafting houses for people in Veselí, everything they needed. I had to beg the director in Prague to give me permission for every single house project I did, otherwise I would not have gotten it approved by the state. I had to get permission that I was capable, and I was allowed to interfere, in addition to my job, with the project that was to be accepted by the state, and the director did not sign it twice. Then I had to go down there and beg him on my knees, and the director then allowed me to do some of those projects, about three or four of them I did after that."
"I got a placement with an apartment, because I already had a family and our son Jan was born, and the apartment was a condition of my starting work, so I took advantage of the offer of Priemstav Prievidza, which was offered by Bratislava university students in Brno. I took advantage of the job with an apartment and started working in Handlová on 1 June 1957 as a construction manager. I was given the task to build a hotel already under construction, a slag shed, a school and some small improvements in the town. Well and that was the beginning of my life as a builder. It was a wonderful time. Modest, but because we got the apartment and we had a family, it was a joy. As my wife and I, both members of a song and dance group and collectors of folk songs, promised ourselves that we would continue, we kept it. In our free time, which was not much with the little child, we also visited the villages of Ráztočno, Chrenovec, Jalovec, Malá Čausa, Nitrianske Rudno. There we packed the child on a sledge or a pram, and either went by train or walked and asked around for people who were marked as singers, and we picked out the villages. My archive of Slovak songs has number 180, of those songs, and it is a treasure that I still have to this day."
"I have to admit that it was comfortable, surrounded by the love and care of my parents, even though there was a five-year war, they still managed to feed me and survive in the terrible environment that the family was in at the time. This was in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, hunger was universal and we survived as children. But the fact that I am a small person, 168 centimetres, I claim that Hitler caused that because we had little food at that time. But maybe it was a genetic thing and not Hitler's. Well, never mind, but I am just mentioning it as a joke. Well, that is how I spent my childhood. As a pupil surrounded by love, as a student surrounded by the whole world."
Jaroslav Smutný was born on 27 March 1934 in Hlohovec, Slovakia. He grew up in Slovakia for the first six years. During the World War II the family moved to Brno. He finished high school in Jihlava, where the family moved because of his father’s work. After finishing school, Jaroslav Smutný returned to Brno, where he studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. During his studies he was a double bass player in the ensemble Vlajka mládí. There he also met his wife Vlasta. After graduation, he got assigned a job in Handlová, Slovakia. Here he and his wife also collected folk songs. They then moved to Veselí nad Moravou, where he spent the rest of his life. With his wife he founded several ensembles, which he also led. Because of his opposition to the August occupation, he left the Communist Party, of which he became a member during his studies. At the time of the interview (2021) he lived in Veselí nad Moravou. Jaroslav Smutný died on 5 January 2022.
Jaroslav Smutný, first from left as a project architect and construction manager during the building of a hotel in Handlová in Slovakia. Second half of 1950s.
Jaroslav Smutný, first from left as a project architect and construction manager during the building of a hotel in Handlová in Slovakia. Second half of 1950s.
Jaroslav Smutný as a bassist in the early days of Martin Hrbáč's Horňácká cimbálová muzika. Martin Hrbáč playing the first violin in the foreground. Second half of the 1960s.
Jaroslav Smutný as a bassist in the early days of Martin Hrbáč's Horňácká cimbálová muzika. Martin Hrbáč playing the first violin in the foreground. Second half of the 1960s.
Married couple Jaroslav and Vlasta Smutná as the leaders of the folklore ensemble Radošov during the patronal feast day festival in Veselí nad Moravou. Jiří Gazárek in the foreground. Around 1975.
Married couple Jaroslav and Vlasta Smutná as the leaders of the folklore ensemble Radošov during the patronal feast day festival in Veselí nad Moravou. Jiří Gazárek in the foreground. Around 1975.
Jaroslav Smutný, in the middle carrying a bass, as a bass player, founder and leader of the ensemble Radošov in Veselí nad Moravou, second half of the 1970s.
Jaroslav Smutný, in the middle carrying a bass, as a bass player, founder and leader of the ensemble Radošov in Veselí nad Moravou, second half of the 1970s.
Cimbalom music of the Radošov ensemble under the direction of Jaroslav Smutný. Third from the left on violin Aleš Smutný, son, next to him bassist Jaroslav Smutný. After 1980.
Cimbalom music of the Radošov ensemble under the direction of Jaroslav Smutný. Third from the left on violin Aleš Smutný, son, next to him bassist Jaroslav Smutný. After 1980.
Jaroslav Smutný as bassist of Martin Hrbáč's Horňácká muzika. Opening of the exhibition of paintings and pictures by Jaroslav V. Staňek, 1985. On the left, the first violinist Martin Hrbáč, behind him the second violinist Vít Trachtulec, JS, violinist Jiří Slovák.
Jaroslav Smutný as bassist of Martin Hrbáč's Horňácká muzika. Opening of the exhibition of paintings and pictures by Jaroslav V. Staňek, 1985. On the left, the first violinist Martin Hrbáč, behind him the second violinist Vít Trachtulec, JS, violinist Jiří Slovák.
Jaroslav Smutný and his wife Vlasta receiving the award from the regional council president of the South Moravian Region Stanislav Juránek. Brno, 2006.
Jaroslav Smutný and his wife Vlasta receiving the award from the regional council president of the South Moravian Region Stanislav Juránek. Brno, 2006.
Jaroslav Smutný in his Sokol outfit at the Sokol gymnasium in Veselí nad Moravou during the filming of Folklorika episode about him - Moje Veselí for ČT Brno. 2020. Photo Jitka Staňková.
Jaroslav Smutný in his Sokol outfit at the Sokol gymnasium in Veselí nad Moravou during the filming of Folklorika episode about him - Moje Veselí for ČT Brno. 2020. Photo Jitka Staňková.
Jaroslav Smutný. During the filming of Folklorika about him - Moje Veselí on the site of the former ironworks in Veselí nad Moravou, 2020. Photo Petr Mička.
Jaroslav Smutný. During the filming of Folklorika about him - Moje Veselí on the site of the former ironworks in Veselí nad Moravou, 2020. Photo Petr Mička.
Jaroslav Smutný with Martin Hrbáč during filming of ČT programm Folklorika about him - Moje Veselí on the site of the former ironworks in Veselí nad Moravou, 2020. Photo Petr Mička.
Jaroslav Smutný with Martin Hrbáč during filming of ČT programm Folklorika about him - Moje Veselí on the site of the former ironworks in Veselí nad Moravou, 2020. Photo Petr Mička.
For peace and life against nuclear war. Photo from the performance of the ensemble Radošov. Cultural activities in SZK Kroměříž, 1983. Chronicle of the Radošov ensemble.
For peace and life against nuclear war. Photo from the performance of the ensemble Radošov. Cultural activities in SZK Kroměříž, 1983. Chronicle of the Radošov ensemble.
