Post by hollister on Oct 26, 2006 15:35:09 GMT -7
This is from Radio Polonia -
Thanks to Bunjo who first posted about this remarkable man -
I only wish I had known more about Grechuta when I ate at the Pod Baranem this summer - alas another lost opportunity.
Farewell to the Artist of Three Eras
This HighNote is devoted to a music which many hold classic – the songs of Marek Grechuta, who died on Oct.9th 2006 in Kraków.
Marek Grechuta was one of the icons of the Polish music scene. A master of sung poetry, his own music, especially from his younger years, is classed as “a gentler form of progressive rock” or “jazz-rock”. He was born in December 1945 in the south-eastern city of Zamo?? where he went to school and where he first started to learn the piano, taught by the organist from a local church. Reportedly, the piano lessons at the tender age of seven went accompanied by an early interest in poetry. In Zamo?? he graduated from high school but did not pursue his artistic interests, deciding to study architecture instead. He completed his studies at the Department of Architecture of the University of Technology in Kraków, but dropped the profession when he realized that his designs had no chance of becoming reality.
Studying in Kraków, Marek Grechuta met Jan Kanty Pawlu?kiewicz and in December 1966 the two joined forces, forming the Architects’ Cabaret “Anawa”. The name was derived from the French en avant, meaning “forward”. Soon the cabaret transformed into Grechuta’s support group. In 1967 he made his first appearance before a wider public at the Students’ Song Festival and immediately became a celebrity. At the festival, Anawa received the Grand Prix and Grechuta himself was awarded with the second place as individual performer.
With Anawa, Grechuta made his first two records, published in 1970, and virtually every one of the songs was a hit in its own right. In 1971 he took by storm the Polish Song Festival in Opole and received the Main Prize of the Ministry for Culture and Art. Sadly, this was also the year when the group parted. Members set up their own bands: for instance Jacek Ostaszewski went on to form Ossjan, and Marek Jackowski: Maanam. Grechuta also set up a new formation of his own, calling it WIEM, from the first letters of the Polish phrase “in another musical epoch”. WIEM, which recorded two albums, lasted until 1975. Anawa reactivated, although with a different set of members.
In 1977 Grechuta again began working together with Jan Kanty Pawlu?kiewicz and writing music to texts by the early-20th century writer Stanis?aw Ignacy Witkiewicz. He co-authored the musical “Crazy Locomotive” and was awarded for one of its main songs. Grechuta recorded many of his songs at the STU Theatre in Kraków, where he also liked to give concerts. From the earliest he was also attached to the famous whimsical Kraków cabaret “Cellar Under the Rams” - or “At the Sign of the Rams”. Until 1989 he also had his own “Cellar” – “At the Sign of the Rose”. He frequently travelled with recitals through Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.
Marek Grechuta not only composed and sang – he published poetry, painted, worked as an actor (among others he appeared in an early film by Andrzej Wajda). In the year 2000 he was awarded a state distinction for his contribution to culture. He truly was a phenomenon in student culture. His concerts never failed to attract young people and his atmospheric, sublime songs were unforgettable to young and old alike. It seems that it is a shared Polish experience that one of the first records or cassettes you listened to featured Grechuta... One of his songs is the official anthem of the soccer club Korona Kielce. Piotr Skrzynecki, founder of the Cellar Under the Rams called him “Poland’s most brilliant artist”.
In 2003 Marek Grechuta together with the pop group Myslovitz recorded a cover of their song “Kraków”, featured on their double album “The Best of Myslovitz”. Though full of artistic plans for the future, for years he fought with a serious illness. Grechuta died on October 9th, 2006. He is buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków. Thousands of people, many holding white or red roses, came to the funeral of the man described by critics as “the artist of three eras: vinyl, cassette and compact disc.”
www.polskieradio.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=43800&j=2
Thanks to Bunjo who first posted about this remarkable man -
I only wish I had known more about Grechuta when I ate at the Pod Baranem this summer - alas another lost opportunity.
Farewell to the Artist of Three Eras
This HighNote is devoted to a music which many hold classic – the songs of Marek Grechuta, who died on Oct.9th 2006 in Kraków.
Marek Grechuta was one of the icons of the Polish music scene. A master of sung poetry, his own music, especially from his younger years, is classed as “a gentler form of progressive rock” or “jazz-rock”. He was born in December 1945 in the south-eastern city of Zamo?? where he went to school and where he first started to learn the piano, taught by the organist from a local church. Reportedly, the piano lessons at the tender age of seven went accompanied by an early interest in poetry. In Zamo?? he graduated from high school but did not pursue his artistic interests, deciding to study architecture instead. He completed his studies at the Department of Architecture of the University of Technology in Kraków, but dropped the profession when he realized that his designs had no chance of becoming reality.
Studying in Kraków, Marek Grechuta met Jan Kanty Pawlu?kiewicz and in December 1966 the two joined forces, forming the Architects’ Cabaret “Anawa”. The name was derived from the French en avant, meaning “forward”. Soon the cabaret transformed into Grechuta’s support group. In 1967 he made his first appearance before a wider public at the Students’ Song Festival and immediately became a celebrity. At the festival, Anawa received the Grand Prix and Grechuta himself was awarded with the second place as individual performer.
With Anawa, Grechuta made his first two records, published in 1970, and virtually every one of the songs was a hit in its own right. In 1971 he took by storm the Polish Song Festival in Opole and received the Main Prize of the Ministry for Culture and Art. Sadly, this was also the year when the group parted. Members set up their own bands: for instance Jacek Ostaszewski went on to form Ossjan, and Marek Jackowski: Maanam. Grechuta also set up a new formation of his own, calling it WIEM, from the first letters of the Polish phrase “in another musical epoch”. WIEM, which recorded two albums, lasted until 1975. Anawa reactivated, although with a different set of members.
In 1977 Grechuta again began working together with Jan Kanty Pawlu?kiewicz and writing music to texts by the early-20th century writer Stanis?aw Ignacy Witkiewicz. He co-authored the musical “Crazy Locomotive” and was awarded for one of its main songs. Grechuta recorded many of his songs at the STU Theatre in Kraków, where he also liked to give concerts. From the earliest he was also attached to the famous whimsical Kraków cabaret “Cellar Under the Rams” - or “At the Sign of the Rams”. Until 1989 he also had his own “Cellar” – “At the Sign of the Rose”. He frequently travelled with recitals through Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.
Marek Grechuta not only composed and sang – he published poetry, painted, worked as an actor (among others he appeared in an early film by Andrzej Wajda). In the year 2000 he was awarded a state distinction for his contribution to culture. He truly was a phenomenon in student culture. His concerts never failed to attract young people and his atmospheric, sublime songs were unforgettable to young and old alike. It seems that it is a shared Polish experience that one of the first records or cassettes you listened to featured Grechuta... One of his songs is the official anthem of the soccer club Korona Kielce. Piotr Skrzynecki, founder of the Cellar Under the Rams called him “Poland’s most brilliant artist”.
In 2003 Marek Grechuta together with the pop group Myslovitz recorded a cover of their song “Kraków”, featured on their double album “The Best of Myslovitz”. Though full of artistic plans for the future, for years he fought with a serious illness. Grechuta died on October 9th, 2006. He is buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków. Thousands of people, many holding white or red roses, came to the funeral of the man described by critics as “the artist of three eras: vinyl, cassette and compact disc.”
www.polskieradio.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=43800&j=2