Profile

Braňo Hronec (1940): composer, pianist, conductor and bandleader. He graduated from the State Conservatory (accordion, piano) and from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (composition, conducting). He wrote chamber music, jazz pieces, popular songs and instrumentals, and music for film, television, radio and theatre. He played in and led several jazz groups and founded his own band, focused mainly on popular music and show, with which he performed successfully in almost every European country, in Central Asia and in Cuba, and also at the International Jazz Festival in Prague. (That concert was broadcast by Willis Conover, the star presenter of Music USA.)

History

He composed from a young age. He wrote many songs, film and theatre scores, original arrangements of well known songs, a long series of incidental music for radio and television that won festival awards, and the radio musical Lalalila, which was also made for television as Stratená pesnička. He also wrote the songs for Lásky hra osudná, the graduation show of Lasica and Satinský, who were already well known actors at the time, and played in it with his jazz group.

Besides the pieces mentioned above, his most successful jazz compositions include Lunik 2, Kaftan and Richard, written for the West Coast Combo, the group he led and played with at the Sunday youth matinées. In the early sixties he turned more and more to popular music, composing songs for his own band and for other singers. Songs written and recorded at that time include Lampy už dávno zhasli (Braňo Hronec, lyrics Alois Bouda), often called the first Slovak beat song, Biele na čiernom (B. Hronec / Boris Droppa), Kvetinárka (B. Hronec / Rudolf Skukálek) and Mister Morse, with which he and the lyricist Milan Semík took second place at the international festival OMLADINA 64 in Subotica, Yugoslavia. Also Telegrafný kľúč, the first Czechoslovak twist, and others.

Over the years of his band Braňo Hronec Sound he wrote and recorded many more pieces with it. Here are some of the best known:

In the eighties he wrote many songs, mainly for young singers at the start of their careers (students of the course for popular singers), as well as music for the film Zlatňanka, for television productions such as A čo ja, miláčik, which won an award in Italy, for tales from the Thousand and One Nights such as O Džaudarovi a jeho bratoch and Ebenový koník (The Ebony Horse), for the children's musical Stratená pesnička and others. For the film company Schwarzwald Film he wrote the music for three TV fairy tale films: Die Heinzelmaenchen von Koeln, Tuerkenluis and Studňa lásky.

For the television orchestra, which he conducted from 1985 to 1990, and its programmes he wrote several pieces, such as Opus 1 TV Band, also known as Lietajúci tiger, and Lietajúci chlapec. He also recorded several piano solos with it, for example in Old Man River, and created music programmes such as Braňo Hronec v štúdiu 2, Pódium pre Braňa Hronca, Srdečný pozdrav and Swingové reminiscencie.

Almost all the songs of that period have lyrics by Ľubo Feldek. To stand for all of them, including those that have never been recorded, here are at least some:

After the fall of the communist regime he turned to business and, together with his wife, built the cosy boutique Hotel No16. Over time he again gave more and more of his time to music, above all to playing the piano. Works from this period include:

He gave several very successful solo performances on various occasions, such as the “Zlatý koncert” (Golden Concert) at the National Tennis Centre or Marián Čekovský's talk show “Čeky point” in Košice.

In 2013 Braňo Hronec published his autobiography, “Braňo Hronec: Život na klávesách” (Life on the Keys).