Bluegrass music in Czechoslovakia became part of the Eastern European country’s counterculture during its years under communist rule. It is said that some Czechs discovered the traditional American acoustic art form on a radio station broadcast from a military base in Germany. Others first heard a banjo when folk singer Pete Seeger performed in Prague in 1964. The supposed first Czech banjo player, Marko Cermak, is said to have constructed his own instrument after studying photos of Seeger’s Prague performance.

Czech bluegrass and country groups like the popular act the Greenhorns sprouted up from among the many burgeoning bands facing obstacles from the communist government. Bluegrass instruments, songbooks and albums were mostly smuggled in from Western countries. In one instance, the communists forced the Greenhorns to change their name to The Green Ones, so that the band did not sound like those darned imperialist Westerners.

Though Jana Mougin-Dolakova of the contemporary Czech bluegrass outfit Fragment was young at this time, she remembers a little bit about the official reaction to the bluegrass scene before the fall of communism in 1989. “They didn’t like it very much,” she says. “It wasn’t forbidden to play that music, but it was discouraged. Playing it was kind of a protest against the communist regime.”

Mougin-Dolakova believes that bluegrass was popular in the country for more than just political reasons. The vocalist and bassist says the feel of the music resonated with the sizeable number of the country’s population that enjoyed heading outdoors and camping on days off from work.

While Fragment formed way back in 1983, Mougin-Dolakova didn’t join the group until 1993. A year later, the band released Sunday Afternoon, their first collection of songs with English lyrics.

Though some Czech bluegrass groups sing in Czech, Fragment currently does all of their numbers in English.

“I wanted to learn the original language, because I think it is connected to the style,” Mougin-Dolakova says.

The bluegrass group has won many accolades that have allowed Fragment to perform in the United States. “It was our big dream to play here,” Mougin-Dolakova says. “This is the home of bluegrass music.”

In 1995, Fragment was invited to the International Bluegrass Music Association Showcase in Owensboro, Kentucky. The band’s members saw sets by contemporary bluegrass legends including Bela Fleck, Sam Bush and Tony Rice.

“During that week, we saw so many musicians,” Mougin-Dolakova says. “I think I was overwhelmed with what I saw that week.”

A win at the European Bluegrass Band Championship in Vienna, Austria helped the group land a gig in Branson, Missouri’s Silver Dollar City, along with a three-week tour of this country in 1998. During a later US jaunt, Fragment played a set at the Grand Ole Opry.

Fragment performs traditional bluegrass songs including “Wayfaring Stranger” along with their originals. The band’s material, like the pop bluegrass of “If You Break My Heart,” and the galloping instrumental “Glogo and Gligo,” do nothing to reveal the band’s Eastern European roots – except for the latter number’s song title.

FRAGMENT play 7:30pm Wednesday, Aug. 22, at the East Village Coffee Lounge, 498 Washington St., Monterey. $5. 373-5601.