"A song is actually more than just work." The Birth and the Impact of the Golden Mace Military Song Competition

(in English) This thesis deals with the Czechoslovak military song festival Zlatý palcát (The Golden Mace), which took place in the 1970s and 1980s. Its original vision was only to complete the mosaic of Czechoslovak normalization society through a case study of a seemingly marginal, but for the contemporary consumer and recipient not insignificant segment of state socialist everyday life, namely the Czechoslovak People's Army. The theoretical part maps the circumstances surrounding the birth and further impact of the competition, its military-political mission in the constellation of times of normalization and its ambitions and visions. Furthermore, it analyzes the ways in which the Golden Mace per se succeeded or failed to penetrate the music industry system as a unique normalization festival. The practical part presents a model teaching lesson that works with a range of song lyrics from contemporary pop music. Using authentic documents, it presents the stories of the performers of the time with the aim of bringing the perspectives of that time music to life for students.