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Život na klávesách (Life on the Keys) is an autobiography that Braňo Hronec wrote with the journalist Barbora Laucká. It is a rare testimony of the era our whole society lived through after the Second World War, and it maps life in Slovakia behind the Iron Curtain. In it, Braňo Hronec talks about his successes abroad and his defeats at home, about situations that were sometimes funny and at other times painfully sad. He remembers hundreds of musicians and friends he played with and shared more than fifty years of his professional career with.

“It is very easy, and too simple, to judge the time we lived through from the point of view of today's ‘heroes’, whom nobody ever forced to make ideological compromises. I never thought of leaving the country, because I was always happy at home in Slovakia. But I in no way condemn those who left. They had every right to. I, however, decided to stay, and so to accept even what was often silly, illogical, comical or downright embarrassing. That was the reality of the life millions of our people had to live. I tried to make the best of mine that the conditions of the time allowed.”

Milan Lasica on Braňo Hronec:

“It was sometime at the end of the fifties when I met Braňo. There were several likeable things about him. He came from central Slovakia like us, he was the son of a Lutheran pastor (in Pliešovce we were all Lutherans), he played jazz beautifully on the piano and, last but not least, he played preferans. We studied together at the Academy of Performing Arts, I dramaturgy, he composition under Professor Moyzes, whom we all liked.

At our performances with Julo Satinský, Braňo stood out because he laughed the loudest of all, or to be precise, uproariously. For Julo and me, as beginners, this was a great encouragement, because when we heard Braňo's laugh we knew the joke had worked. Later Braňo turned to pop music, and he became not only a great organiser but also an exceptional composer. In the sixties I wrote several lyrics for him myself; in fact my very first lyric to reach the public was set to music by Braňo.

Sometimes we saw each other more often, sometimes less, but we always knew about each other, and our shared beginnings always kept us together. And, of course, preferans. Braňo, I'm looking forward to the next game.”

Milan Lasica

The book is available, for example, here