Singer Markéta Foukalová and composer and pianist Martin Brunner present a new album of poems by Jan Zábrana set to music, marking the first musical tribute to this prominent writer, poet, and translator, whose work serves as an important testimony to life in communist Czechoslovakia. For the album, Martin Brunner selected a total of eleven poems from various periods of Zábrana’s life, spanning from the 1950s to the late 1970s, in which he reflects on both personal themes and the political situation and life during the oppressive era under Communist regime. The project had its concert premiere in New York in May 2025 as part of the Rehearsal for Truth, Festival Honoring Václav Havel.

The album Zábrana loosely follows on the previous project “Svou chvíli” from in 2022 when Martin and Markéta first collaborated on a cycle of poems-songs for piano, keyboards, and symphony orchestra. Its live recording with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra was released on a CD and was subsequently successfully performed in concert, most often in a chamber ensemble with keyboardist Vít Křišťan. Martin Brunner also invited Křišťan to participate in the recording of the album *Zábrana*, along with guitarist Tomáš Fuchs, his bandmate from the Martin Brunner Band. Brunner’s original compositional style, combined with outstanding musicians who contributed equally to the overall sound and atmosphere of the songs, highlights the emotional power of Zábrana’s poems and his masterful use of language.