Dunaj were a Czech

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

  art

Art rock

Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...

/alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band from Brno

Brno

Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

 active between 1986 and 1998. The band is notable for its inclusion of Czech rock figureheads Iva Bittová

Iva Bittová

Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer and composer. She began her career as an actress in the mid 1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and...

 and Pavel Fajt, as well as its own international success and influence on the Czech alternative rock scene. The band's name translates in English to Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

, referring to the river of this name.

History

Calling themselves Kolektiv, the earliest performances by the group occurred in 1986, based around Bittová and Jiří Kolšovský (vocals

Lead vocalist

The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

), Josef Ostřanský and Pavel Richter (guitars

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

), Vladimír Václavek (bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 and guitar), and Fajt (drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

). The group, all of whose members were active in other projects, performed only sporadically at the time.

In 1989, after the success of the Fajt/Bittová collaborative LP, the members decided to resurrect and record the Kolektiv material. In the process, the group changed their name to Dunaj, released their debut record, Dunaj a Bittová, and performed a handful of well-received concerts.

Bittová and Richter left shortly after this period, leaving Kolšovský to both take over on guitar (replacing Richter) and perform the function of lead vocalist and frontman. Zdeněk Plachý also briefly joined as the group's keyboardist

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

, performing on the group's second album, Rosol (Jelly). This dark album was released in 1991 on the Pavian Records label. After performances supporting the record, the band broke up.

The split was short-lived, however, and in 1992 the band reformed under its third and longest-lasting incarnation, based around Kolšovský, Václavek, Ostřanský and new drummer Pavel Koudelka. The band recorded and released its third record, Dudlay, in 1993, followed by 1994's IV.

1995 briefly saw the four current members rejoined by Bittová and Fajt, who re-recorded their debut album, released, along with new material, as Pustit musíš. The band toured in this incarnation prior to returning to the four-piece lineup and recording La La Lai, their final release.

The group disbanded in 1998, shortly before Kolšovský's death. All surviving members remain active in the Czech music scene.

In 2002, the group played a series of reunion concerts featuring participation from most past members. Václav Bartoš (of Fajt's group Pluto) replaced Kolšovský for these performances.

Discography

• Dunaj a Bittová (1989)
• Rosol (1991) (re-released in 2001 with bonus live tracks)
• Dudlay (1993)
• IV (1994)
• Pustit musíš (1995)
• La La Lai (1996)

Members

• Jiří Kolšovský – vocals, guitar (1986–1991, 1992–1998)
• Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals (1986–1991, 1992–1998, 2002)
• Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals (1986–1991, 1992–1998, 2002)
• Pavel Koudelka – drums (1992–1998, 2002)
• Pavel Fajt – drums, percussion (1986–1991, 1995, 2002)
• Iva Bittová
  Iva Bittová
  Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer and composer. She began her career as an actress in the mid 1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and...
  
   – vocals, violin (1986–1989, 1995, 2002)
• Zdeněk Plachý – keyboards (1991)
• Pavel Richter – guitar (1986–1989)
• Václav Bartoš – vocals (2002)

Dunaj line-ups

(1986–1990) as Kolektiv (1986–1989) as Dunaj (1989–1990)	Jiří Kolšovský – vocals, guitar Iva Bittová Iva Bittová Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer and composer. She began her career as an actress in the mid 1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and... – vocals Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals Pavel Richter – guitar Pavel Fajt – drums, percussion	Dunaj a Bittová (1989)
(1990–1991)	Jiří Kolšovský – vocals, guitar Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals Zdeněk Plachý – keyboards Pavel Fajt – drums, percussion	Rosol (1991)
(1992–1995)	Jiří Kolšovský – vocals, guitar Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals Pavel Koudelka – drums	Dudlay (1993) IV (1994)
(1995)	Jiří Kolšovský – vocals, guitar Iva Bittová Iva Bittová Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer and composer. She began her career as an actress in the mid 1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and... – vocals Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals Pavel Koudelka – drums Pavel Fajt – drums, percussion	Pustit Musíš (1995)
(1995–1998)	Jiří Kolšovský – vocals, guitar Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals Pavel Koudelka – drums	La La Lai (1996)
(2002)	Vladimír Václavek – bass, guitar, vocals Josef Ostřanský – guitar, vocals Pavel Koudelka – drums Pavel Fajt – drums, percussion Iva Bittová Iva Bittová Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer and composer. She began her career as an actress in the mid 1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and... – vocals Václav Bartoš – vocals