Maria Peszek, photo by Mystic Production
One of Poland’s most rebellious entertainers brings her skills to shock and thrill across the Channel. Peszek performs in Dublin on the 16th of May at the Button Factory and in London on the 19th of May at the Scala
She’s on tour with her recent album, Jezus Maria Peszek, which takes its title from the Polish language’s go-to expression for being startled – "Jezus, Maria!" – and which elicited scandal and lively discussions about contemporary patriotism. Maria Peszek – equal parts singer, actress and poetess – questions human responsibilities in her lyrics – toward God, country, history. On the bittersweet ballad Nie wiem czy chcę / I Don’t Know if I Want to, she won’t succumb to the model of the Polish mother, refusing to have children and devote her life to raising them. Peszek refuses to devote her life to anything, in fact – Poland, Christianity, men. On the spare, furious anthem Sorry Polsko, she proclaims "I’m tired of Poland, I don’t care about the cross", declaring "Poland, I wouldn't give you even one drop of blood". She won’t die for her country – it’s already tough enough to live in Poland, Peszek sings.
The album’s political message met with both enthusiasm and hatred when it hit in late 2012, dividing the audience between those who share Peszek’s approach to life and those who condemn her for egoism. Sorry Polsko stormed the Polish radio charts, and Peszek was widely interviewed, with cover articles for major newspapers and magazines including the influential liberal weekly Polityka. Many were irritated by her open discussions about an emotional crisis that ended in deep depression, before she created Jezus Maria Peszek.
Such shocking openness has been Peszek’s trademark from the beginning of her singing career. She had established a theatre career – her father is the leading actor Jan Peszek – when she recorded her debut album, Miasto mania, released in collaboration with Wojtek Waglewski in 2005.
It captured the audience’s attention with exactly this utmost honesty. The album was accompanied by a theatrical staging in Fabryka Trzciny in Warsaw. It told the story of a complicated love affair toward a man and toward a city, and garnered Peszek effusive praise for her innovative, playful approach to language, subtle and compulsive music, and her distinctive movement and presence on stage.
Her impact on audiences and on the music industry continued with her second album, Maria Awaria, released in September 2009. It proved one of the biggest events on the Polish music scene in recent years, and extensive touring followed throughout Poland, with invitations to perform at international music festivals including Heineken Open’er in Gdynia and the Sopot, Jarocin and OFF festivals.
Acclaimed as a transporting performer, appreciated for her daring, uncompromising approach, she released Jezus Maria Peszek in October 2012. Critics praised it as her best work, and in one interview, Peszek says:
We knew that the new material had fantastic potential, but it turned out that Jezus is a live firecracker! It’s an amazing feeling when you’re standing on the stage, it’s exhilarating when people sing louder than you. Such emotional audiences show that what I do makes sense. If you get such a huge response from the other side, I know it was worth it to expose my music, to be attacked and go my own way.
She believes that, thanks to the album, she is a freer, happier person. For the London and Dublin gigs, she performs selections from the new disc and earlier songs – and will persuade old and new fans that this is a show not to be missed.
Author: Paulina Reiter, edited by Alan Lockwood