| Background: | person |
| Oldřich Janota | |
| Birth Date: | 27 August 1949 |
| Birth Place: | Plzeň, Czechoslovakia |
| Death Place: | Czech Republic |
| Genre: | Folk |
| Occupation: | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument: | Guitar |
| Years Active: | 1970s–2024 |
| Label: | Indies Scope |
Oldřich Janota (27 August 1949 – 27 July 2024) was a Czech singer-songwriter. He is known for incorporating minimalist and experimental techniques into folk music, as well as working with pre-recorded tapes.
Janota was born in Plzeň and studied journalism at Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1975. That same year he started playing with . Together with some other musicians, they founded the band Pentagram in 1977. He was a member of Mozart K along with guitarist and sitarist and saxophonist between 1978 and 1983.[1]
His collected lyrics were published in the book Kytaru s palmou in 2015. An 8-CD box set of his songs from the 1970s to the present was released in 2016, titled Ultimate Nothing.[2] [3]
In 2009, a 17-track tribute album Ztracený ve světě: A Tribute to Oldřich Janota was released to mark his 60th birthday.
Janota died on 27 July 2024, at the age of 74.[4]