Jacek Kaczmarski
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
singer, songwriter, poet and author.
Kaczmarski was a voice of the Solidarity trade union movement in 1980s Poland, for his commitment to a free Poland, independent of Soviet rule. His songs criticized the ruling communist regime and appealed to the tradition of patriotic resistance within Poles. He remains best known for his protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
s on social and political subjects ("Mury
Mury (song)
Mury was a sung poetry protest song written by Polish singer Jacek Kaczmarski in 1978. In People's Republic of Poland, in the early eighties of 20th century it became a symbol of the opposition to the communist regime...
" (Walls) based on "L'estaca" by Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...
, "Obława" (Wolf hunt (lit. Raid))). However, he was more a poet than a political singer, and his texts have not lost their relevance with the demise of the Soviet union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and its communist bloc.
He made his debut in 1977 at the Student Song Festival, where he was awarded first
prize for his work "Obława" (Wolf hunt (lit. Raid)) based on song "Охота на волков" by Vladimir Vysotsky. In 1980 he won Second prize at the Opole Song Festival for "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" (Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
).
Kaczmarski was on tour in France when the martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
was declared in Poland in December 1981. He lived in exile until 1990. During these intervening years he gave concerts in western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Israel. From 1982 he worked as an editor and journalist with Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
and hosted his own radio program, "Kwadrans Jacka Kaczmarskiego" (A Quarter with Jacek Kaczmarski).
After his return to Poland (following the Round Table
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
negotiations that brought an end to communist rule) he toured the country with his friend and artist Zbigniew Łapiński. The tour was recorded and released as Live, and it achieved Gold album status in 2001. His other albums included "Mury" (Walls), "Nasza klasa" (Our Class), "Raj" (Paradise), "Muzeum" (Museum), "Pochwała łotrostwa" (In Praise of Villainy), "Wojna postu z karnawałem" (The War between Carnival and Lent). However, Kaczmarski was soon disillusioned by the developments in Poland after 1989 and eventually emigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Kaczmarski was known not only for his politically motivated lyrics but also for his characteristically dynamic — even aggressive — classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
playing, and expressive performance style. His deep knowledge of not only his nation's history but also of classical literature gave his songs a particularly deep and multi-layered resonance (e.g. "Powtórka z Odysei," recalled Homer's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, and "Lalka," was a masterful strike at the heart of a riveting Polish novel). He often performed before contrastingly different audiences: groups of friends in their homes, campus venues, and large concert halls in Poland, the rest of Europe and America.
Kaczmarski was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
of the larynx
Larynx
The larynx , commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the neck of amphibians, reptiles and mammals involved in breathing, sound production, and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. It manipulates pitch and volume...
in 2002. He died in a hospital in Gdańsk 2004.
See also
- Vladimir VysotskyVladimir VysotskyVladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
- Georges BrassensGeorges BrassensGeorges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...
- Leszek Długosz
- Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- Przemysław GintrowskiPrzemysław GintrowskiPrzemysław Gintrowski is a Polish composer and musician.Gintrowski debuted in 1976 on a review of the Warsaw Riviera with the song “Epitaph for Sergei Yesenin”. Shortly afterwards, in 1979, he formed a trio with Jacek Kaczmarski and Zbigniew Łapiński, and initiated a poetic programme “Mury”...
- Jean Michel JarreJean Michel JarreJean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
- Lluís LlachLluís LlachLluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...
- Zbigniew Łapiński
- Bulat OkudzhavaBulat OkudzhavaBulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author song"...
- Andrés SegoviaAndrés SegoviaAndrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
- Jaromir NohavicaJaromír NohavicaJaromír Nohavica or Jarek Nohavica is a Czech songwriter, lyricist, and poet.He was born in Ostrava and has played guitar since he was 13. He began studying at the Technical University of Ostrava but eventually left the school. He tried various jobs and eventually ended up working as a freelance...
- Karel KrylKarel KrylKarel Kryl was a popular Czech singer-songwriter and performer of many protest songs in which he strongly criticized and identified the shortcomings and inhumanity of the Communist and later post-communist regime in his home country.-Biography:Kryl was born on April 12, 1944, in Kroměříž, in...
- Jan Krzysztof KelusJan Krzysztof KelusJan Krzysztof Kelus, also known by his initials JKK, is a Polish singer, poet, composer and a member of the democratic opposition in Poland between the 1960s and 1980s...