Meky is also mentioned in Abbey Road – Hudba – PRAVDA.sk

A few years ago, the Czech music publicist Honza Vedral wrote a book about Mir Žbirek, Close up, in which he maps the life of a recently deceased musician according to his albums. During the years they met, they did several interviews together and the journalist accompanied him on one of the trips to the Abbey Road studio, where Miro Žbirka recorded the album Miro and his other Double album. On Friday, at the request of Mira Žbirka, he spoke at his funeral.

How do you remember Meky Žbirka?

He was an amazing composer, singer and one of the greatest music enthusiasts I have ever met. Music was the most important thing in his life. Every conversation with him, even if it was supposed to last, say, only five minutes, eventually lasted at least an hour, and we took over all the music from the 60’s to the present.

One of his songs is called Nemodernný chalan, although he was still creating something new, so he wasn’t old-fashioned at all. How did he do it?

This was due to his deep knowledge of music and the musical environment. Meky always knew what was going “outside” and had an amazing ability to bring a new sound into our circumstances. He did not go blindly to “fashion trends”, he created original Slovak songs, which, however, did not sound old. And that was unique. He straddled London and Bratislava and was able to bring the sound of British popular music to Czechoslovakia. Most people in music get stuck somewhere in their youth, he didn’t, he was still watching what was going on, and quite naturally it was reflected in his music. I have witnessed several times how he advised the big radio in Prague which of the young British performers should play, and they listened to him there as well.

Photo: Honzu Vedral archive

honza vedral miro collection Miro Žbirka with Honza Vedral.

How did he tolerate the new environment in Prague when he and his wife Katka moved there?

We have talked about this several times, moving from his hometown is always a huge step and I think he did not know what awaited him in Prague either. He claimed that as a musician he was used to traveling and could live anywhere, but he broke away from his natural environment in which he grew up. He met all the musicians in Bratislava and it is much easier to work with him, he had to start in Prague as if from the beginning.

So even as a former Golden Nightingale it wasn’t easy?

Not at all. In his life story, the 90s were a period of searching, the play duo Lučenič – Žbirka disbanded, he had to find new musicians and although at that time he recorded an album with David Koller and Ivan Král, he really managed to start again after ten years from arrival in Prague, when the Blue Album was created. Unexpectedly, he invited 20-year-old boys to whom he did not know personally, but he liked their work, and this album restarted his career, returning Meky to the stage.

Read more Mecca collects awards, his Blue album has a sound from Abbey Road

In your book Up Close, do you map Meky’s life according to his albums, which another you think was equally groundbreaking in his life and music?

We could say that for a very long time, because Meky didn’t record any weak albums, when you listen to those songs over time, his whole career was consistent, without any setbacks. Who else can be said about in Czechoslovak music? His songs also sound in French, Italian, German, record companies were interested in him, but at that time he could not travel freely, and therefore no longer “break through” in the West. He won an international competition in Villach, Austria with the English version of In Dead Ends, won a contract in West Germany – recorded two albums in Hamburg and, as is well known, a chorus from the English version of Ballads about wild birds was “stolen” by Modern Talking band member Dieter Bohlen. at that time an unknown employee of the recording company. If he could perform, perform on television, do interviews outside Czechoslovakia, he might be famous on a pan-European scale, but he did not experience it in any tragic way. He lived at home, where he could compose, play and sing his songs, which reach world class music.

Read the interview I’m just composing songs, Mecca says

At home – in the Czech Republic and Slovakia – it maintained its popularity for many years, until the end.

He died young, 69 years old is not so much, and formed fully. I would like to highlight just the last ten years of his career, which began with a birthday present from his wife Katka – the opportunity to record two songs in the Abbey Road studios. There they got the sound of a Beatles recording that Mecca loved, and I’ve never seen him happier than there! Anyone who has the money to pay for a few hours of recording in a well-known studio can pay for it, but Mecca has been able to more than get his professional sound out of the studio. They immediately fell in love with producer Rob Cass, held each other in high esteem, and finally worked together on both Miro and Double albums – and that’s not at all obvious. Everyone loved him there. Today, on Abbey Road, they remember Meky as one of the great musicians who recorded there.