DVD of Václav Havel tribute concert released

Prague, Oct 1 (CTK) - Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has christened a DVD from the Homage to Vaclav Havel concert that was staged in December 2011 after the funeral of the former Czechoslovak and Czech president.

"Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred," presidential candidate Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) said, using Havel's famous motto when presenting the DVD at a concert in the Akropolis club in Prague on Sunday evening in which most of the singers and bands that played in the Homage to Havel event participated.

The public Czech Television (CT) recorded the event last year and the organisers wanted to enable those who could not attend it to see it on a DVD at least, David Gaydecka, one of the organisers, told CTK.

Havel, a dissident, playwright and the last Czechoslovak and the first Czech president (1989-2003), died in his country house in Hradecek, east Bohemia, on December 18, 2011, aged 75 years.

After his state and private funerals on December 23, a multicultural event in his memory was staged in the Lucerna palace, which was built and owned by the Havel family, on Wenceslas square in Prague centre in the evening on the same day.

The organisers spread some 4000 tickets to the event for free and hundreds of people were watching the concert on large screens from Wenceslas square.

The programme offered Havel's favourite bands and singers as well as theatre and films focused on Havel's personality.

The new DVD, which was issued in August, evokes the entire atmosphere during the event. It includes not only the concert on the main scene but also interviews, for instance, Gaydecka said.

All proceeds from the DVD's sale will go to the Vaclav Havel Library, the establishment of which Schwarzenberg initiated.

The concert was opened with the Velvet Underground Revival Band and it culminated with The Plastic People of the Universe underground rock band. The trial of its members in 1976 initiated the Charter 77 human rights manifesto that turned into a long-lasting dissident movement. Havel was one of its founders and spokespersons.

He cooperated with the band and organised their secret concerts at his cottage in Hradecek.