Vašo Patejdl. (source: Gabriel Kuchta)
Vašo Patejdl, a leading Slovak singer, keyboardist and songwriter, died on Saturday at the age of 68 after a short illness.
Back in the day, Patejdl co-founded the popular Slovak music group Elán. It was the band that announced the death of the artist late on Saturday morning.
“I had met him before we started to play together,” said Elán member Ján Baláž. “I had lived with him all my life, we had lived through a lot, we had lived together for decades.”
The band was formed in 1968. Patejdl was then 14 years old. Elán became popular in 1980 after it won the Bratislavská Lýra song contest with Patejdl’s song “Kaskadér” (Stuntman).
Elán has released 15 studio albums, five English albums and several compilations.
Patejdl recorded the first four albums with the band: “Ôsmy Svetadiel” (Eighth Continent), “Nie Sme Zlí” (We Are Not Bad), “Elán 3” and “Hodina Slovenčiny” (Slovak Language Class). He left the band at the end of 1984.
“I’ve lost interest in fame. As someone who studied to be a songwriter, I wanted to devote myself to songwriting more,” he told Czech Public Radio in 2022.
Among the group’s biggest hits from the period when Patejdl was still a band member are “Kaskadér”, “Stužková” (Prom), “Kráľovná Bielych Tenisiek” (Queen in White Trainers), “Zaľúbil Sa Chlapec” (The Boy Has Fallen In Love), “Neviem Byť Sám” (I Can’t Be Alone) and “Nie Sme Zlí”.
Big success in South Korea
In 1986, Patejdl released his first solo album, “Chlapčenský Úsmev” (Boy's Smile). He then released a few more albums, including a Christmas album in 2020.
One of his biggest solo music achievements is the song “Nepriznaná” (Hidden).
Patejdl also collaborated with Slovak singer Richard Müller, for whom he composed the big hit “Po Schodoch” (Up The Stairs). He also wrote music for several musicals, including his own musical “Jack The Ripper”. It premiered in 2006. The musical remains popular in South Korea.
When asked why he thinks the musical has been loved by people in Asia for a long time, Patejdl told Czech Public Radio modestly: “Probably it is good.”
Patejdl, together with writer Boris Filan, also wrote music for the popular film “Fontána Pre Zuzanu” (Fountain For Suzanne) from 1986 and its sequels. Several songs from the film, including “Mopedová” (Moped Song), which features singer Oľga Záblacká, “Ak Nie Si Moja” (If You’re Not Mine), and “Nemožná” (Clumsy) became classics.
But it is “Voda Čo Ma Drží Nad Vodou” (Water That Keeps Me Afloat), a ballad written by Patejdl and poet Jozef Urban and featured in one of the film’s sequels, that is considered Elán’s biggest success – although some fans might challenge this.
A song for young Čaputová
Patejdl rejoined Elán in 1996 and recorded six more albums with the band.
“What keeps me going when it comes to music is that there are people who grew up listening to my songs and still love them. It makes a person very happy,” the songwriter told the Sme daily in 2007.
President Zuzana Čaputová recalled on Facebook how she met Patejdl when she was 17. “He was a star. He had a concert in Pezinok [her hometown] on my birthday. And he played me a song,” she said, adding that he would not play her another song in the future.
The group last performed in 2018, when they sold out Prague’s O2 Arena during their tour in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2024, they planned two concerts in Prague and Bratislava to celebrate Patejdl’s and Jožo Ráž’s 70th birthday. Ráž is the frontman of the band.
In the past, the band was criticised for playing at events organised by the political parties HZDS, headed by the former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar, and Smer, led by former prime minister Robert Fico.
Patejdl was born on October 10, 1954 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. He was five years old when his family moved to Bratislava.
