Fast Confession - Singer and voice coach Linda Finková: My partner called me Fatty
Linda Finková has been a part of the Czech show business for a number of years. The public mostly connected her with the entertainer Richard Genzer, to whom she'd been married for many years. Though long-term we mostly see her as a singing coach in the popular show Your Face Sounds Familiar. Linda and music have gone hand in hand all her life and the mom of two made time for an interview with Luxury Prague Life in these covid times.
How are you doing as a singing teacher during the covid era?
Do you know what's the worst? I don't want to upset anyone, but I'm doing very well (laughs).
On the contrary, it's great. How come you're doing so well?
I have been doing okay all my life, or rather I have such a nature. I'm trying to get the best out of everything. Now that this is a bad time, I know that people are losing money and jobs, they have mortgages, and it must be something terrible. I'm very lucky to be busy. All my life I've done a lot of things at the same time, which means that when one of my things falls away, that is, theater, I do the other thing, work as a singing teacher. I have an advantage in that. We also shot the show Your Face Sounds Familiar, that's another job.
How do you teach singing? Online?
Yes. I contact a student via Skype, Whatsapp or messenger and they normally sing to me. We have an online lesson where we can talk about everything, I listen to them, give them comments or some assignments. If we have a bad connection, they will record things and send them to me. I'll listen to it and then we'll call each other. It can be done like this.
But it probably wouldn't be good to teach like that all the time. When you know the students and they know how to warm up, it's fine. But for the first two months, I did practically nothing with newbies other than learning to practice and warm up and so they'd know how to do it. I have to show them exactly how to do it and bother them to learn it. Now we do songs and exercises, it's fine.
Don't tell me it doesn't suit you better when you can be at home in peace.
Depends. You know I'll be sitting here in shorts and a bun drinking a coffee. Of course, it's great about in some aspects, but sometimes I miss that contact with them. We don't talk, I can't see them. I often have to run off, for example, when the bell rings and so on, at work nothing would disturb me. Both have their pros and cons. It's nice to be home, but I wouldn't want to do that all the time.
For example, model Andrea Kalousová also performed in this year's show Your Face Sounds Familiar. Can everyone really sing, or do they need to learn the complete basics from you?
Andrejka actually just came and sang for me and I just knew she could do it. She is not a professional singer, she has never learned to sing before and it was clear that she would have to come to me to stretch out her vocal cords. It was also clear that he would take it head on. You can't just take somebody just because they're beautiful and that's the end of it. She improved a lot with each episode. As she kept singing and using her vocal cords, she suddenly started singing better. Louder, better on rhythm, it's always clear with her and everyone in general. This school of singing, dancing, performing and behaving on stage is suitable.
Who among the performers in this series did you like the most?
I'm thinking… I really like Albert Černý, he's just a dear. A smiling, perfect boy, who sings great for the most part, even with his band.
He's from Malawi, right?
Yes, Lake Malawi. And he really is great. This is the kinda guy, that if I had to go to someone's concert in the Czech Republic, I would go see him for sure. Then I like Erika Stárková, because whatever she does, she does with terrible vigor, in a good way. She's an actress, she's got guts and she sings really well. I enjoy it and it's a surprise to me, I didn't know she sang so great. I mean, I didn't know about her at all.
What about your children? Mates' school got canceled.
Today, Viki ironed and listened to online English, communicated normally in English, and kept up with everything. I taught an online singing lesson a short distance away, and Matýsek had an online lesson upstairs. It suits the children, Mates likes to be at home. But I remember that when it was dragging for a long in the spring, he was looking forward to school with friends. When it's fourteen days, it's fine, when it's two months, it stops being nice.
You also have to cook.
I always cook anyway. Yesterday we had fried sparassis, sparassis soup, toast with camembert and tomatoes, and plum and apple pie.
You eat this? I feel like you've lost a lot of weight and you've been on that keto diet.
Right now, I don't eat much and it annoys me terribly. Once every fortnight I take a piece of cake and stuff myself, or when I was making Szegedin Goulash, I had some, albeit without the steamed bread.
Why are you tormenting yourself like that?
I'm not. Even with that diet, I eat and I can have soft-boiled eggs, yogurt, vegetables. It's not totally strict, I don't have to eat only their products. I immediately went to the second step, where you can eat a little.
How much have you lost?
12 kilos.
In what time?
In three or four months, but it's fine, I didn't torture myself. Now I would like to see eight more kilos.
Eight more?
I used to be very thin, and when I see myself in the mirror, I think it's still not good.
What does your partner say?
He's excited. He met me when I was a lot thinner than this, and I got fat because I'm happy. I don't mean that I was having a bad time with Geňa and lost weight, no. When I'm happy, I eat, and a lot of people have it the other way around, when they're dissatisfied, they eat more. Fortunately, when I'm dissatisfied, I don't eat because my stomach hurts from my nerves, which is rare. Unfortunately, I'm happy, so I'm eating.
But he doesn't mind, he likes you.
He likes it, he likes slim chicks. When I gained weight, he was calling me a fatty (laughs). He has this term for it.
Viktorka still lives with you? I thought she was an adult, that she would leave the house as soon as she could.
She has had this need since she was fifteen. But she still comes here every day, takes clean clothes and irons, but he is slowly collecting things and moving in with her boyfriend, with whom he has been living for about three months. She wants to move in completely, she already has her household there, but he still comes to see us.
How are you taking it, knowing she'll move out soon?
Great, because by coming here every day and still calling me, "Mom, how do you do this and this, can you lend me a pan" and the like, I don't mind. In fact, I may have more contact with her than when she lived here because she was at school or at work. This way she comes in the evening after work to get things, we kiss and the next day he comes again.
What does she do for a living?
She works part-time. She studies at university and works part-time as students do. Until now, she worked at a tennis court, which they have now closed, so now she works at some ski rental shop.
And is everything okay with Geňa?
Of course.
Does everything work as it should?
Everything works as it should, we are fine. I just called him today. It's good. That's why I'm so happy, I'm doing great on all fronts.
So you're not afraid of corona, that you'd catch it?
I am. Or, like this, I'd say I have a decent immunity, which I'm still boosting. I try to live healthily, in addition, I disinfect myself from the inside (laughs). I'm afraid of it and I'm also not afraid. I take it as it is. I'm not stubbornly shouting, "Don't shut anything down, you're bastards, we have a bad government." We have a bad one anyway, but not because they're shutting things down. I kind of follow it all and try to work.
I have a nice home. I thought I'd give people instructions (laughs). For example, I ordered an ultrasonic aroma diffuser. You put a scent in it, everything smells nice at home, you smile, you open prosecco. I clean, I teach online. I want to make this package of how people should live when they have nothing to occupy themselves with. Do nice things. I don't buy clothes, but I scent up my house, I clean, I finish old unfinished things. I look at and sort old photos, I try to learn stuff. I also thought that maybe I would start writing songs. I pulled out the old yarns, I can knit a sweater. Do nice things for myself.
That sounds beautiful, Lindi, thank you for the interview.
Fast confession:
How's teaching singing going for you in the state of emergency?
What would you say about the coronavirus in one sentence?
What was the last thing your parrot told you?
Who do you think is the potential winner of this week's episode of the show Your Face Sounds Familiar? (filmed before the end of the competition, editor's note)
What was the last thing your partner surprised you with?
What did corona give you and what did it take?
What would you say to our government?
What was the last good deed you did?
What was the last joke Geňa made you laugh with?
What did your daughter do that made you happy?
The secret of your weight loss?
Are you for the death penalty?
If you could, what would you do differently in your life?
The most beautiful Czech singer?
Where are you going to go on vacation next?
I hope that works out for you and I envy you and hope to go there soon too.
