Our band logo, a drawing of a man playing an old tuba, with a boy listening. Text image saying Friends of Old World Music, a Texas non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, home of Kovanda's Czech Band
Our band logo, a drawing of a man playing an old tuba, with a boy listening, and the name of our charity.

A Brief History of Kovanda's Czech Band

Who we are

Czech native Vlastimil Kovanda first organized our band in April 1984. We made our first appearance performing with a Czech play on April 15, 1984. Vlasta wrote many of the early arrangements in our band book, all true to the Czech brass band idiom. Our vision is to present the style of music known in the Czech Republic as dechovka.

Czech dechovka bands have deep roots in Texas dancehall history. Texans would recognize this as the style of the original Baca Brass Band of Fayetteville. Larger groups like ours feature such traditional instruments as fluegelhorns, trumpets, trombones, baritones, tenor horns, Eb and Bb clarinets, tuba and percussion.

Changes through the years

When founder Vlastimil Kovanda returned to the Czech Republic in 1989, Leland Miller of Fayetteville, Texas, took over management of the band. Under his management, we produced several audio recordings and traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for a video recording session.

After Leland retired from the band, we became a non-profit organization, Friends of Old World Music. Your donations to support us are tax-deductible under IRS sections 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(2) of the tax code.

The band has been recorded numerous times and featured on TV productions. A few highlights from the original studio and video sessions have been digitally re-mastered and are available as CD compilations. We also have a 1984 recording of the early seven-piece version of the band.

Over the years, we lost both of our native-born Czech musicians, and we gained new players with deep roots in Czech and German wind band music. Our love of this music unites us and we love to share its joy with you.