Fast Confession - Ilona Csáková: I don´t Want to be a Mega Star any Longer
It will be 32 years this year that the singer Ilona Csáková will be playing her part in the world of music. In the world of music thanks to which she worked her way to achieve her dream goal. To start a family. To build a home. There is nothing more important than that.
You have now returned after 10 years with a new album "It is still me". I would say that the first question is clear. Is it still you?
Yes of course. It is still me. I still love my profession. I do concerts with a small band, with half playbacks, at balls and various other events. I am still that singer who enjoys singing to people. Even though I now have my two adorable boys.
Did you sometimes have a feeling that it is not you anymore? That you are not recognised by those around you? That you are not sure of yourself?
I think that everyone with common sense sometimes has some internal doubts. It may be caused by some particular period in life or lack of satisfaction. It may be due to professional failure, failing health, failure in private life. I do not recall anything as definite as that. Therefore I do not think that anyone would have started to suspect that it´s not me anymore. And I hope that I will never get to such a situation if only because of my children. The children reflect everything. They are the sensors. And you can see that they perceive if something doesn´t happen as they envisaged.
It will be 32 years this year of you being a part of the music scene. How would you evaluate your career as a singer?
I started when I was 16 years old. During my studies I started to sing in a band "Laura and her Tigers". Having completed my studies I set off on my own path and as is so often the case, once I was at the top and other times at the bottom. I put up very high standards for myself. And gradually I started to focus on the fact that I want to start a family. After all the things I have behind me, whether private or work-wise, it became the greatest objective for me.
Do you remember the time when you started to long for children?
I remember the time when I realised that I want children very well. And the more I wished to have them the faster the years passed, it got worse for me because it didn´t work out. I was alone for a long time. The relationships just didn´t work. Today I am all the more grateful for my family because in the end it finally happened. It was all supposed to be this way. I was supposed to wait until I was thirty eight.
How does the new album differ from all the previous ones?
There are well-known as well as less known songs, written in swing style. For example there are also jazz solos. That is a different dimension. I am not just a pop singer. I have always been fascinated by swing. I love singers Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. It is actually a kind of cross-section where I look back at my very beginnings.
It is said that the biggest critics are family and close friends. How did your husband evaluate the new album?
My husband is responsible for the organisation and financing and I take care of the creative part, he leaves that up to me. Because he says; who else should understand it but me. And it is true. So my husband looks after the paperwork. And does not interfere. I must say that he totally supports me. I have been lucky to meet a man who appreciates me and stands by me in all respects. And he loves music as such. There are musicians among his friends, so although he is not a musician himself and is not involved in my field, he can engage in it with me. And I think that that is phenomenal.
Nowadays certainly.
Well, as regards my profession it is time-consuming. I have even been away from home for 11 days in a row. Do you understand? So he and the grandparents had to take care of everything. Because of the theatre I now had to commute all the time. This really is crazy sometimes.
You have lived in Prague for twenty years. Now your home is Brno. You can make a comparison. Is there a big difference?
It is a great deal of difference. I had been alone in Prague. I lived in the city centre. It was a different environment, different energy, another life programme. In Brno it is completely the opposite. I live in the suburb with my family. There is a community there. It is peaceful there. And that I have to commute doesn´t matter. I would commute from Prague, or another city, too. Although I thought that my profession is to be a singer - I thought so at the beginning, in the early years. Well I had no idea that I would become a delivery service (laughs). Nowadays I just deliver stuff. Taking stock in all the time. (laughter)
So we can assume that you are also an excellent driver?
One cannot even express it. I have really been driving for many years. I drive everywhere myself. Imagine what a driver I must be.
Well, the best!
But I cannot say that myself, can I?
That is why I say so.
Thank you. I was expecting it a bit that you would say that (laughs). Of course that I had sometimes turned the car on its roof or finished up in a ditch. So I have done quite a lot of things behind the wheel.
If you should choose to life abroad. Is there some place where you would enjoy to live?
I haven´t got a clue. No idea. Perhaps I would not care about whether the climate is warm, but rather whether it is strategically a good location, the safest. I do not know if there is such a place in the world.
The most secure location could be here, in this country.
It is said so.
It is also said that “East or West, home is best”.
That is true, because "so many countries, so many customs". We understand each other here. We speak our mother tongue. There is a family, your foundations. Yes, perhaps it is so. Although a young person isn´t held back so much. He has more courage. And it is better if you don´t have children, because you don´t have so much responsibility and such fears. When I was twenty I was able also to imagine that would go abroad to make a career. For example to Las Vegas or some cruise ship. But today I cannot imagine it at all.
Why didn´t you do it in those days, when you could have done it?
Every time I decided that would leave the band Laura earlier, because I had a feeling of stagnation, I got other offers straight away. So it didn´t work out. Well and then everything happened as it should have done. Otherwise we wouldn´t be talking here today. If I went abroad and fought my way through there and became such a mega star, we would not now be sitting here. I really don´t have such ambitions any longer. I am modest. I enjoy travelling around the Czech Republic and Slovakia and sing at concerts, where the fans communicate and react to what I say.
This year you will show up not only in the Czech Republic, but in Slovakia, too. And do so as part of the upcoming tour for your new album. Where will we be able to see you?
Which cities I will visit in particular is still to be seen. But of course you will find out in time.
Such performances go hand-in-hand with more intensive preparations. How do you actually get the costumes and buy new clothes in general?
I mostly have custom-made costumes, because I don´t have entirely standard measures. My husband many times commented that with words that I had acquired yet another terrible cowl. But I do not have just cowls. It was simply a period in my life. Same as before I had children I showing my navel with hipster trousers and large décolletages. I am more modest now. But I could get away with a large décolletage even now (laughs). But I don´t at all enjoy dealing with my wardrobe. I don´t like going into shops, search for and choose clothes.
So you are not one of those women who hold a credit card always at the ready?
No, not at all.
Do you still have stage fright even after all those years?
I do. I even have the feeling that it gets worse with advancing age. When I learn a new text, on stage I then mustn´t look people in the eye. As soon as I get stuck somewhere or see some grimace, and it´s not quite what I would like to see, I start to be afraid that it will throw me off balance because the text is not ingrained. So on stage I look through the people. And now, as we are talking it is the same. I must look away time to time to focus on what I want to say.
