We Want to Be Different: Music Under Martial Law

koncert_tarkowski_1-f-3831-9-1500x.jpg, default, 'The Concert' directed by Michał Tarkowski, 1982, photo: Krzysztof Wellman / WFDiF / Filmoteka Narodowa / fototeka.fn.org.pl, We Want to Be Different: Music Under Martial Law

#music

#heritage

The Martial Law period brought about a boom for Polish rock. It also was a time that saw alternative and underground music develop in new directions. Here we explore some of the unexpected popular trends of the early 1980s.

The music of the Martial Law years (13th December 1981 to 22nd July 1983) was not limited to pathetic protest songs aimed at challenging the regime. Grzegorz Markowski from the band Perfect wanted to be himself at last. Grzegorz Stróżniak and Małgorzata Ostrowska, with their band Lombard, urged everyone to experience life for themselves. Jan Pietrzak insisted Poland be Poland. The band Lady Pank sang of an emergency fiancée who sent postcards from who knows where.

It was also a period in which new and different sounds reverberated. Paradoxically, it was during the period of Martial Law that the Polish People’s Republic opened itself further to the influence of Western music. An underground music industry independent from state-owned record labels bloomed, and a desire for a different life was conveyed through fanciful artistic visions and fantasies.

A belated explosion of Polish rock

Though the boom in Polish rock coincided with the declaration of martial law by General Wojciech Jaruzelski in 1981, it was by no means entirely a reaction to the political decision. It only happened by chance that the epitome of rock music’s popularity in Poland corresponded to the period of Martial Law, which was both a curse and a blessing for the genre. Given the tense political atmosphere, rebellious music strongly resonated with the public mood. Listening to popular music, people heard much more in lyrics than just their surface meaning. It wasn’t by accident that Lombard’s song Live It Yourself was taken off the air by censors just two days after its release on Polish Radio Three.

On the other hand, rock became hostage to the socio-political situation, stuck in a rut of exhausted images and metaphors. Eventually, having squandered the cultural capital of individual artists, the entertainment industry crashed and led to resentment that success had born no fruit. Symptomatic of this was the dissolution of the blues band Kasa Chorych in 1982 at the stage where the band was touring intensively and receiving praise from audiences and critics.

Kasa Chorych, "Blues bez pieniędzy"

Earlier, before the Martial Law period, the formula of Muzyka Młodej Generacji (Music of the Young Generation) was exhausted. Music of the Young Generation was a project by Jacek Sylwin, Wojciech Korzeniowski, Walter Chełstowski, and Marcin Jacobson, managers who in 1973 decided to endorse a group of relatively new bands playing what was broadly defined as rock music. Music of the Young Generation, called jokingly by punk youth ‘young degeneration’s music’, strongly contributed to the revival of rock’s popularity at the beginning of the 1980s. A similar role was supposed to be fulfilled by punk rock and new wave bands forming independent scenes in Warsaw, Wrocław, Łódź, Tricity (Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot), and Poznań from 1978 to 1979. One may guess that if not for martial law, the popularity of Polish rock would have rapidly declined at the end of 1981.

The critics’ taste, the audience’s choices

Paradoxically, rock as the music of protest was endorsed under martial law by state-owned companies. Their aim was obviously to provide entertainment, which constituted a source of income for state show agencies and record labels, particularly in a time when the entertainment industry’s financial state was miserable. For instance, one of the popular foreign artists whose songs were often played on the radio and on TV under martial law was Leonard Cohen. Interestingly, Cohen used to be one of the democratic opposition’s favourite songwriters, and there was gossip circulating about Maciej Zembaty’s attempt to bring him to I Przegląd Piosenki Prawdziwej (First True Song Review) in Olivia Hall in Gdańsk in August 1981.

Jacek Kleyff śpiewa "Błekitny prochowiec" Cohena

Cohen was one of the numerous Western artists whose songs were suddenly aired on the radio. Along with the return to normal, the programme format of Polish Radio was renewed. It applied especially in the case of Radio Three, where, after broadcasting was resumed, plenty of young journalists appeared. They used light, colloquial language (quite unlike the language of official announcements) and often reached for pop and rock pieces. The most important broadcast that appeared back then was probably Programme Three Music Charts, run by Marek Niedźwiecki. At the same time, Programme One Music Charts debuted, run by Bogdan Fabiański. The show was split into two sections: one devoted to Polish artists, the other to foreign ones (they were divided according to language, so Krzysztof Krawczyk’s English songs were placed in the foreign chart).

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Polish rock band Turbo, Poznań, 1983, pictured from the left: guitarist Andrzej Łysów, guitarist Wojciech Hoffmann, bassist Piotr Przybylski, frontman Grzegorz Kupczyk, photo: Longin Wawrynkiewicz/PAP

Picture image

zespol_turbo_pap_19830101_09l.jpg

These two famous radio charts seem to be the best source of knowledge about what Poles listened to at that time. They also pointed to the democratisation of pop music occurring behind the veil of martial law. For the first time, the broadcasters asked their listeners what they liked and what they wanted to listen to, instead of being led, as they had been in the previous years, solely by their connoisseur preferences.

Film dokumentalny "Koncert"

What both charts revealed was, above all, the widespread popularity of hard rock, progressive rock, and heavy metal. Popular foreign bands included Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Nazereth, and Scorpions. Among Polish bands, TSA and Turbo were especially well-liked, as were Krzak, Cytrus, Mech, Perfect, and Budka Suflera.

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Rock in Poznań Arena, TSA on stage, Stefan Machel in the front, may 1983, Poznań, photo: Longin Wawrynkiewicz/PAP

Picture image

tsa_pap_19830520_005.jpg

The charts also included Italo disco, synth-pop, and New Romantic tracks, although nowadays Duran Duran, Soft Cell, Talk Talk, Claudia Mori, Al Bano, and Romina Power aren’t usually associated with tanks on Polish streets. While the popularity of dance music was universal at the time, the prevalence of rock and metal – as shown particularly by Radio Three Charts – was characteristic for Poland. Despite the somewhat grim political situation, the public craved fun, dancing, and exciting musical experiences, provided mainly by metal bands with their bold costumes and shows enriched by elements of light shows and pyrotechnics. One could say, without too much exaggeration, that the voice of martial law was TSA’s Marek Piekarczyk, rather than that of Kora, Markowski, Ostrowska or Panasewicz.

Foreign stars

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Maanam, photoshoot in the open air, first from the left: Kora, 1991, photo: Andrzej Świetlik / Forum

Picture image

swan_200513_05-2.jpg

With little financial means and limited understanding of the music industry, the popularity of heavy metal resulted in tours of specifically underrated stars. The Welsh band Budgie, for example, was a particular favourite among Poles, despite being otherwise little known outside their homeland. In August 1982, when the heavy metal band, commonly nicknamed ‘Parrots’ came to Poland, they played 16 concerts in 14 days, all of them in huge concert halls; it’s difficult to imagine a more telling sign of the popularity of the band endorsed by Piotr Kaczkowski on Radio Three. Budgie’s songs stayed on Programme Three Music Charts for weeks. A year later, UFO, a more recognisable British hard rock band came to Poland, playing concerts in Gdańsk, Łódź, Warsaw (twice), Katowice, and Poznań. For the icons of heavy metal, Iron Maiden and Nazareth, the Polish audience needed to wait until 1984.

Iron Maiden w Polsce

Another instance of the entertainment industry’s thinking in terms of gains rather than ideological correctness was UK Subs’ tour in February and March 1983. The famous punk rock band was joined on tour by the Polish band Republika, a group despised by Polish punks and stylistically mismatched with the British headliners, but extremely popular, hence ensuring a decent profit. In 1983, Poland was already being flooded with the second wave of punk rock bands, stylistically more uniform if compared with the previous one; it was also a period of Republika’s Grzegorz Ciechowski’s great popularity.

In Dekada Buntu (A Decade of Rebellion), Remigiusz Kasprzycki cites Dariusz Brzóska-Brzóskiewicz, the future poet, musician, and Totart performer reminiscing about a UK Subs concert in Włocławek:

The concert took place in a local cinema, where you were supposed to just sit. It looked like this: ZOMO stood on both sides of the rows. Each time someone tried to stand up, the cops pacified them. It was terrifying. It was also quite grotesque because UK Subs was singing about some damn capitalism and repressions while the guardians of socialism from ZOMO stood right there. I think that those Englishmen felt the mood regardless, though.

Trans. AP

Klaus Schulze w Polsce, 1983

Punk rock and new wave Yugoslavian bands, including Električni Orgazam and Laibach, also toured Poland without obstacles at that time, though the latter’s tour in November 1983 was technically after the end of martial law. Poland was visited by artists experimenting with electronic music, too: Kraftwerk came to give concerts right before martial law; Klaus Schulze performed in July 1983, immediately before its end; and in the same year Tangerine Dream dropped by to play a concert at Torwar, documented on their album Poland – The Warsaw Concert. It seems that Poland hadn’t been so open to foreign musicians since the famous shows by The Rolling Stones and The Animals in the 1960s.

Spending wartime

The Polish bands most affected by martial law were those most dependent on the music industry, specifically the pop-rock mainstream. The temporary shutdown of clubs, and suspension of the music press and broadcasts only added to the catastrophic financial situation of record labels, pressing plants, entertainment agencies and companies. The underground scene wasn’t quite as affected by the sudden changes with the possible exception of Brygada Kryzys, who broke up soon after winter 1982, when they refused to perform in Hala Gwardii in Warsaw under a shortened name Brygada K. and were then blocked from performing further concerts.

Numerous artists of the first wave of punk rock in 1978-1980 emigrated to the West, which was poignantly depicted by Henryk Gajewski a Polish émigré neo-avant-garde artist, director of Galeria Remont, later Post Remont, and a supporter of punk, in his film Passenger (Pasażer) in 1984. On the other hand, it was also as Paweł “Kelner” Rozwadowski, a Fortnite, Dexapolcort A, and Deuter musician depicted it in his memoir To Zupełnie Nieprawdopodobne (It’s Completely Unbelievable):

Reality is like black & white TV, as if someone switched the colour off. Maybe they did, just to put society down completely. For Joasia, it’s the opposite – a colour film. Young crewmen from Xenna drop by, Robert, Tomek and Michał, a photographer from Remont. We smoke weed, eat tons of carrot cakes because of the munchies, and Robi and I spend hours making collages, drawing comic strips… spending wartime.

Trans. AP

A similar contract between the outside reality of Warsaw and the colourful world of the alternative music community was grasped by Jacques de Koning in his documentary about Izrael band members I Could Live in Africa.

Dokument o zespole Izrael "I could live in Africa"

The alternative scene was developing quickly. ‘Paradoxically, martial law was fruitful in terms of charts, concerts and festivals where punk rock bands could play their music’, Kasprzycki wrote. As proof, he offers the impressive line-up of shows in 1982, including, the Słupsk Youth Music Review, Music Camping Rock in Brodnica, Open Rock Festival in Kraków, Rock Galicia (TZN Xenny’s joint tour with Dezerter and Deuter), Polrock in Poznań, Rockowisko in Łódź, and Music Confrontation in Malbork.

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Rock in Poznań Arena, Republika on stage, from the left: drummer Sławomir Ciesielski, bassist Paweł Kuczyński, guitarist Zbigniew Krzywański, frontman, vocals, musician Grzegorz Ciechowski, may 1983, Poznań, photo: Longin Wawrynkiewicz/PAP

Picture image

republika_pap_19830501_02f.jpg

In the same year, on the Young Generation’s Third Polish Music Festival in Jarocin, SS-20 (Dezerter) and WC mocked Zbigniew Hołdys and Perfect while on stage, and the punk rock audience became more visible at the event. Between the alternative music made by bands such as Dezerter and WC and the music establishment as represented by Hołdys, there were new wave bands Manaam and Republika, as well as blues vocalists Martyna Jakubowicz and Elżbieta Mielczarek.

Elżbieta Mielczarek, "Poczekalnia PKP"

It was their songs – often melancholic, personal, focused on feelings and human relationships – that dominated the Radio Three charts in 1982-1983.

Welcome to our fairy tale

Perfect’s Chcemy Być Sobą (We Want To Be Ourselves) was an undisputed hit of 1982. However, other popular songs indicate that the audience wanted, in fact, to be someone else. Some of them, like the members of the band Izrael, fantasised about living in Africa (as was picked up by de Koning in the title of his film). Others, like the audiences of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze, were passionate about the potential of electronic music and the machine world. Heavy metal fans submerged themselves in the dark realm of repressed desires, and soon Roman Kostrzewski along with his band Kat would throw in Satan and visions of hell. Elżbieta Mielczarek contemplated the melancholy of an empty train station, Martyna Jakubowicz made visions of passionate affairs clash with the reality of ‘concrete houses’, and Grzegorz Ciechowski completed the picture with his depictions of possessive, envious love.

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Martyna Jakubowicz, 1982, photo: Mirosław Stępniak/East News

Picture image

martyna_jakubowicz_en_00947802_3105.jpg

One could also add country, a genre promoted in that period by many, including Korneliusz Pacuda, a music journalist and the creator of Country Picnic, an event in Mrągowo first held in 1981. Country music allowed one to spend time pleasantly, in a surprisingly homey atmosphere of an outdoor party, while also dreaming about being someone else.

However, the most fascinating martial law music review is the film Akademia Pana Kleksa (Academy of Mr. Kleks) directed by Krzysztof Gradowski. Although it was only released in 1984, it was shot under martial law and interestingly corresponds to its atmosphere. The film, which was a financial and popular success, was a Polish-Soviet blockbuster production, with music composed by Andrzej Korzyński himself.

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

A still from "Academy of Mr. Kleks" directed by Krzysztof Gradowski, photo: Gdynia Film Festival

Picture image

full_akademia_pana_kleksa_2_770.jpg

Viewers find Piotr Fronczewski inviting them to the Bergamut Islands, Zdzisława Sośnicka as a sad princess, and TSA returning in a dramatic scene of a wolf march. All this seems to problematise the period when the film was created, presenting it as a time of universal dreaming and fantasising. The Chinese box structure of the film, in which various tales are interwoven, only contributes to this impression. It doesn’t matter that the story, as often happens in life, ends badly – after all, it was about a utopia, not about an illusion.

^{Originally written in Polish by Xawery Stańczyk, translated by AP, Nov 2021}

^Sources:

^{Karolina Bittner, "Partia z piosenką, piosenka z partią. PZPR wobec muzyki rozrywkowej", Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa 2017;}
^{Anna Idzikowska-Czubaj, "Rock w PRL-u. O paradoksach współistnienia", Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 2011;}
^{Remigiusz Kasprzycki, "Dekada buntu: Punk w Polsce i krajach sąsiednich w latach 1977–1989", Wydawnictwo Libron, Kraków 2013;}
^{Mirosław Makowski, Michał Szymański, Obok albo ile procent Babilonu?, Manufaktura Legenda, Katowice 2010;}
^{Ewa Mazierska (ed.) "Popular Music in Eastern Europe: Breaking the Cold War Paradigm", Palgrave Macmillan, London 2016;}
^{Paweł „Kelner” Rozwadowski, To zupełnie nieprawdopodobne, WUW, Warszawa 2012;}
^{Michał Wasążnik, Robert Jarosz, Generacja, Korporacja ha!art, Trasa W-Z, Warszawa 2010;}
^{Przemysław Zieliński, "Scena rockowa w PRL. Historia, organizacja, znaczenie", Trio, Warszawa 2005.}

Language English

martial law

martial law in poland

alternative music

alternative music scene in poland