Synkopy 61

The Brno group has been active since 1960 with a break in the nineties. The group was founded by guitarist Petr Směja when he was fourteen. It also featured drummer Jiří Rybář, Pavel Pokorný - at that time a violinist and Jan Čarvaš, double bassist (since 1961). They played together until the 1980/81 season, when Čarvaš and then Směja left the group, the other members just changed the name and continued on. They named the group Syncopy and every year they changed the name behind the name (Syncopy 62, 63...). At first they played regular popular and dance hits, but in 1964 they started playing big beat.

The line-up of the band changed several times in the 1960s. In 1966, Synkopy performed several times in Poland, at the festival in Gliwice they successfully beat 17 other bands and won the 1st prize of Gliwicki X, probably thanks to their current work.

Around 1975, their work was briefly influenced by hard rock, then several art rock projects were created around the 80s, such as Sluneční hody. As a professional group, Synkopy disbanded in 1990, followed by a comeback in 1995 and a return to the original name of the band Synkopy 61 and also to the original line-up, which in 2006 underwent a change again to the current composition: Petr Směja – lead guitar, vocals/ Jan Korbička – keyboard instruments, vocals; Jiří Rybář – drums, vocals; Michal Polák – solo vocals; Pavel Pokorný – accompanying guitar, violin, vocals; Vilém Majtner – bass guitar, vocals.