Karel Kryl

Karel Kryl (12 April 1944 – 3 March 1994) was a Czechoslovak poet, singer-songwriter and author of many hit protest songs in which he explicitly criticized the Communist (and later also the post-communist) regimes in his home country for their hypocrisy and inhumanity. The lyrics of Kryl's songs are highly poetic and sophisticated, with perfect rhyming and a frequent use of metaphors and historical allusions. The sparse sounds of his guitar served to underscore the natural flow of the lyrics themselves.