1966 – 49th Segment: “Sha-la-la-la-li”

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In this series we present 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. On Czech Radio’s web pages you can find a poll, in which you can vote for the best hit from the past century. We look forward to your vote! We continue with the year 1966.

1966

For the first time, an official nationwide beauty contest Dívka roku (Girl of the Year) took place. The winner was a 19 year-old model from Prague, Dagmar Silvínová.

On April 18th, the film Obchod na korze (The Shop on Main Street) was the first Czechoslovak film to win an Oscar.

November 24th marked the biggest air crash in the history of the territory of Czechoslovakia at the time. The plane crashed near the airport in Bratislava.

In the US, the TV series ‘Star Trek’ premiered.

Today’s segment will focus on the trio whose popularity is more or less connected with the Prague Rokoko Theater. The first member of the celebrity trio is a girl born in České Budějovice who won her first Golden Nightingale in 1966. Her name was Marta Kubišová. Helena Vondráčková also had a Golden Nightingale, which she had won in 1965, proving her popularity well outside of her native town of Slatiňany in eastern Bohemia.

There is still one more member of the Golden Kids trio which rose to fame between 1968 and 1970. Despite his small frame, Václav Neckář was the owner of a resounding voice. In the mid-1960s, this fearless performer became an embodiment of youth, enchantingly entering a world full of surprises and adventures. He and his partners Helena and Marta mirrored each other in this sense.

When we look back at the best-selling vinyl singles of the sixties, six out of the twenty best-selling singles belong to this trio. One is a recording of “Sha-la-la-la-li,” originally a hit from the British group Small Faces, written in Czech by Zdeněk Rytíř and sung by Václav Neckář.

Vote for the best song of the century!