Rangers (band)

The Rangers is a Czech folk pop band formed in 1964 by Milan Dufek and Antonín Hájek and playing country music as well. Its classical ensemble consisted of Milan Dufek (1944–2005), Antonín Hájek (1944–1989), Miroslav Řihošek, Jan Vančura, Jiří Veisser, and Radek Tomášek. The band sold over one million carriers.__TOC__The Rangers quickly became famous for singing qualities of its members, from bass of Jiří Veisser to countertenor of Jan Vančura. [http://ifolk.cz/index.php?show=article-2153-milan-dufek-stezejni-soucastka-rangers] Musical repertoire of the Rangers in that time consisted of Anglo-American Traditionals, Folk Pop and Country music with Czech lyrics. They won the first two "Porta"s (1967 and 1968) in the category "Country & Western". The Rangers' hits were cover versions of The Water Is Wide (1724, "Rákosí"), Cotton Fields (1941, "Pole s bavlnou") sung as Gospel music, King of the Road (1965, "Král silnic"), Come the Day (1966, "Ave Dies"), or Nose For Trouble, (1966, "Nos pro trable"). Exceptional success was Milan Dufek's "Vysočina" (Highlands).

In 1971 the Rangers were forced to rename into "Plavci" (Swimmers). The official reason was that a Czech band name cannot be the same as of "American killers in Vietnam". [http://rangers-plavci.hyperlink.cz/hhistory.htm] Rivalry between Milan Dufek and Radek Tomášek caused Tomášek left the band in 1973. The host Petr Nárožný left the band as well and was replaced by Luděk Nekuda (1942–1988). [http://rozhlas.cz/historie/vyroci/_zprava/8216] Plavci were often part of TV shows and their popularity became nation wide. Although between 1974–1976 Nekuda was not with the band, enormous success of Plavci continued. After he rejoined Plavci they became No 1 music band of the Czechoslovakia. Nekuda definitely left the band in 1978 and popularity of Plavci suffered steady decline.

On 17 November 2005 Milan Dufek died during scuba diving. Radek Tomášek expressly refused reunion with the rest of the band. [http://radektomasek.cz/kontakt.htm]

Discography

only Czech sung LPs.
# The Rangers (I, 1969)
# Rangers 1970 (II, 1970)
# Rangers (III, 1971)
# Plavci (IV, 1973)
# Plavci (V, 1974)
# Sláva (1975)
# Chvála písni (1977)
# Plavci na Poříčí (1978), "live"
# Otvíráme plovárnu (1980)
# Galaportrét (1984), "compilation"
# Erb toulavého rodu (1984)
# Výzkumný ústav vodních radostí (1986)

See also

* Czech bluegrass
* The Seekers

External links

* [http://www.rangers-plavci.cz/ Official page of the Rangers] cs icon
* [http://rangers-plavci.hyperlink.cz/ Official page of Rangers Band] cs icon
* [http://rangers.cz/rangers.html Official page of New Rangers] cs icon
* [http://zateckecountry.cz/mp3/diskografie/rangers.htm Complete discography]
* [http://discocds.info/alba.php?sID=405&Jazyk=en Lyrics] en icon cs icon
* [http://radektomasek.cz/ Official page of Radek Tomášek] cs icon
* [http://slovacivosvete.sk/338/sprava-tasr.php?sprava=18348 Info about Antonín Hájek] sk icon
* [http://ifolk.cz/index.php?show=article-2153-milan-dufek-stezejni-soucastka-rangers Obituary of Milan Dufek] cs icon
* [http://countryworld.cz/viewprofil.php?id=31 Encyklopedie Country music] cs icon
* [http://folktime.cz/index.asp?url=/clanek.asp&id=3297 Staré televizní pořady s Rangers] cs icon
* [http://supraphon.cz/cs/katalog/databaze-titulu/detail-titulu/?idtitulu=2005976 To nejlepší] – samples with names of original songs en icon cs icon

Video

* " [http://youtube.com/watch?v=BxFzIzAZCEo Balíček karet] " (original version) (1969) en icon cs icon
* " [http://youtube.com/watch?v=X93bI35nKBM Balíček karet] " (new version) cs icon
* " [http://youtube.com/watch?v=ekxtvqFZxss Mám radost] " (1971, I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am, 1968) cs icon
* " [http://youtube.com/watch?v=ljexiOFHeOY Láska je věc kouzelná] " (1971) cs icon
* " [http://youtube.com/watch?v=9q9HI4x31Jc Orchidej] " (1973) cs icon
* " [http://youtube.com/watch?v=X4Ox9NY_FaQ Vysočina] " (1973) cs icon