I have devoted my whole life to folklore and I don‘t regret it
Stáhnout obrázek
Jaroslav Švach was born on 22 September 1947 in Stará Břeclav. He was introduced to folklore by his aunt Anna. Already at the primary school he attended a folklore club led by his class teacher Růžičková. He performed with it for the first time at the Ethnographic Festival in Tvrdonice. Later he became a member of the Podlužan ensemble, with which he went to competitions and festivals abroad. He recalls that the ensembles were then accompanied by a political worker and the participants had to meet strict conditions. However, thanks to their participation in the ensemble, they were able to travel to Western countries without any major problems even during the totalitarian regime. In 1966 he enlisted in the army, first in Karlovy Vary, then in Mikulov. Also during his military service he was a member of a folklore ensemble. After the war, he lived with his family in Ostrava, returned to Breclav in 1972 and two years later joined the Břeclavan ensemble. In 1984 he founded the ensemble Břeclavanek and was active in other ensembles. After the Velvet Revolution, he continued to perform at home and abroad, and at the same time foreign ensembles came to Czechoslovakia. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Association of Lecturers and Connoisseurs of Slovácký verbuňk. He leads the folklore ensemble Old Stars Břeclav, organizes training for young „verbíř“ and serves on the senior jury of the „verbíř“ competition at the International Folklore Festival in Strážnice. In 2017 he travelled to the USA to teach folk dances to his compatriots. In 2024 he received the South Moravian Region Award for his lifelong work in folklore.
