Czesław Niemen
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Czesław Niemen ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; born Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), occasionally credited mononymously as Niemen, was a Polish singer-songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Singing primarily in Polish, he is regarded as one of the most important and innovative Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the 20th century, representing one of the main pillars of the countercultural big-beat genre of the Eastern Bloc.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=tvp090118>Template:Cite news</ref> He possessed an atypically wide vocal range and equally rich intonation.<ref name="Czesław Niemen">Template:Cite news</ref>
As his career developed throughout the early 1970s, his discography gradually became more instrumentally complex, falling under the influence of the progressive rock of Western Europe, avant-garde jazz, and free improvisation. His 1970 record Enigmatic is considered by many contemporary critics to be the greatest Polish rock album ever released,<ref name=epr>Leszek Gnoiński, Jan Skaradziński "Encyklopedia polskiego rocka" (Encyclopedia of Polish Rock), Template:ISBN</ref> with many others of this era, including his self-titled "Red" album, considered classics in the then-nascent Polish jazz fusion scene. Lyrically, he would either provide his own material or adapt the poetry of revered Polish writers like Cyprian Norwid or Adam Asnyk.
Biography
Early life
Niemen was born in Stare Wasiliszki in the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic (now in the Grodno Region of Belarus), to parents Antoni Wydrzycki (1896–1960) and Anna (née Markiewicz; 1897–1986). Niemen belonged to a community of Poles living outside the eastern borders of contemporary Poland, on the eastern lands of the historical Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (called 'Kresy' – 'borderlands' – in Polish).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Czesław's father, Antoni, was a piano tuner, which had an impact on the young Niemen. From the age of 10, he was involved in both school and church choirs, sometimes playing organ accompaniment. Niemen briefly studied piano in Grodno at the pedagogical State College for one year, after which he was expelled for truancy. Aside from music, he also showed an interest in drawing and painting from an early age.
In 1959, at the age of 19, the family were forcibly migrated to Northwest Poland along the Baltic Sea during the second repatriation of Poles,Template:Sfnp frequently moving between various cities, including Kołobrzeg, Świebodzin and Białogard.
1960s
In the early 1960s, Niemen began performing in student cabarets at local clubs in Gdańsk, first singing in foreign languages and later in his native Polish. Niemen found himself in the first group of Polish musicians who were identified with the burgeoning big-beat style of Eastern Europe, thanks to being among 15 winners of a festival for young performers in Szczecin in 1962.Template:Sfnp This victory allowed him to join the band Niebiesko-Czarni (The Blue-Blacks), one of the first professional pop-rock bands in Poland, with a number of leading vocalists performing one after another during concerts. He made his commercial debut in the following years, singing Polish rock and soul music.
In 1964 at Congress Hall, Warsaw, Niemen, together with his group, played as a support act to Marlene Dietrich during her concert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She heard his song "Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz" ("Do you still remember me?") there. She enjoyed it so much that she soon wrote her own lyrics for the song and recorded "Mutter, Hast du Mir Vergeben" ("Mother, have you forgiven me?").<ref name="plus">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>
Soon after his first successful concerts in France, he began to use the pseudonym Niemen instead of his real name, gaining wider notoriety in Poland and making it easier to pronounce by foreigners (Niemen is a Polish pronunciation of the Neman River, which flows in close proximity to his place of birth). His 1967 song "Dziwny jest ten świat" (Strange Is This World) is commonly acknowledged to be the most important Polish protest song of that era; an English version was also recorded in 1972. The song was influenced by the American blues tradition. [1] He was one of the first Polish performers to wear long hair and colourful clothes and introduced the style of psychedelia to communist Poland, which displeased officials.
1970s
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The first three LP album's Niemen recorded with his band "Akwarele" (Watercolours). Subsequently, he recorded with his other new bands: "Enigmatic", "Grupa Niemen" and "Aerolit". In 1969 he changed his musical style to progressive rock while recording the monumental album Enigmatic. That album's most notable song was "Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod" (A Mournful Rhapsody in Memory of Józef Bem), based on the 19th-century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The rest of Enigmatic's songs were also in sung poetry form.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Niemen played the Hammond organ on his records, later moving to the mellotron and the Moog synthesizer.
In the early 1970s, Niemen recorded three English language albums under the CBS label, two of them (and three more in Poland) with the Silesian band SBB. With SBB Niemen performed at the Rock & Jazz Now! opening show for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich sharing the stage with Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin and Charles Mingus and subsequently toured with Jack Bruce's band.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1972 he also performed a song he wrote in Andrzej Wajda's film Wesele (The Wedding).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1974 he recorded Mourner's Rhapsody with Jan Hammer and Rick Laird from Mahavishnu Orchestra. In the seventies, Niemen turned to jazz fusion and electronic music, recording the album Katharsis.<ref name="Czesław Niemen"/> In an interview from this era, he said, "One thing I know is that I'm a composer. I want to concentrate on writing music for film, for theater. I don't know for how long I will continue singing. I am just bored by singing. This form of artistic expression seems quite exhausted for me. At least it does not excite me like it used to."Template:Sfnp
Later years and death
Niemen went on to compose film soundtracks and theater music, and in the 1990s he showed interest in art, painting and computer graphics.
He died after a long battle with cancerous lymphomas on January 17, 2004, in Warsaw. His remains were cremated and placed in a columbarium niche on Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw on January 30, 2004.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The funeral was attended by over 3,000 people.
Awards and recognitions
Niemen won the Intervision Song Contest in 1979.
Remembrance
A number of documentaries on the life of Niemen were filmed, including Marek Piwowski's 1968 film Sukces,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Krzysztof Rogulski's 1976 film Niemen,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Eugeniusz Szpakowski's 2007 film Czesław Niemen,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Krzysztof Magowski's 2014 film Sen o Warszawie (A Dream About Warsaw).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Since March 12, 2004, Czesław Niemen's song Sen o Warszawie has been performed before each match of Legia Warsaw at the Stadion Wojska Polskiego and is considered the club fans' anthem.
In 2009, National Bank of Poland presented three coins dedicated to Niemen: issued on June 19 two silver 10-zloty coins, one of which of square shape, and issued on June 17, 2-zloty coin of Nordic Gold alloy.<ref name="kultura">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref name="nbp">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On February 20, 2011, a museum devoted to Niemen and his musical legacy was opened in the artist's birthplace in Stare Wasiliszki, present-day Belarus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Niemen's support bands
Niemen cooperated with the following bands; some of them were support musicians, while others were independent bands: "Akwarele" ("Watercolours") (1967–1969),<ref>"Akwarele" – History, by Template:Ill (retrieved December 15, 2017)</ref> "I Niemen" ("And Niemen") (1969–1970), also under the name "Niemen Enigmatic"), "Grupa Niemen" (made of the members of Silesian Blues Band), Niebiesko-Czarni, "Aerolit", and female vocal band Alibabki. "Aerolit" accompanied Czesław Niemen in 1974–1978. Initially it was formed from young musicians of the rock band Krzak: Jacek Gazda, Jan Błędowski, Maciej Radziejewski, Piotr Dziemski.<ref name="onet">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The word means "aerolite" in Polish.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Dziwny jest ten świat |
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| Sukces |
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| Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz? |
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| Enigmatic |
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| Niemen |
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| Niemen Vol. 1 |
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| Niemen Vol. 2 |
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| Niemen Aerolit |
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| Katharsis |
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| Idée Fixe |
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| Postscriptum |
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| Przeprowadzka |
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| Terra Deflorata |
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| spodchmurykapelusza |
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English-language albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Strange Is This World |
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| Ode to Venus |
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| Mourner's Rhapsody |
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Russian-language albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Russische Lieder |
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Live albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POL <ref name="olis"/> | |||||||||
| 41 Potencjometrów Pana Jana |
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27 | ||||||
| Kattorna/Pamflet na ludzkość |
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24 | ||||||
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Compilation albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POL <ref name="olis"/> | |||||||||
| The Best of Niemen |
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| Gwiazdy mocnego uderzenia: Czesław Niemen |
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| Sen o Warszawie |
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| Czas jak rzeka: Złota kolekcja |
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1 |
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| od początku I |
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7 |
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| od początku II |
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14 | |||||||
| Spiżowy krzyk |
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20 | ||||||
| Nasz Niemen |
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| Pamiętam ten dzień |
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4 |
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Further reading
- Roman Radoszewski, Czesław Niemen: Kiedy się dziwić przestanę. Monografia artystyczna. Iskry, 2004. Template:ISBN.
- Marek Gaszyński, Czas jak rzeka. Prószyński i S-ka, 2004. Template:ISBN.
- Dariusz Michalski, Niemen o sobie. Warszawa: Twój Styl, 2005. Template:ISBN.
- Tadeusz Skliński, Niemen: dyskografia, fakty, twórczość. Nemunas, 2006. Template:ISBN.
- Dariusz Michalski, Czesław Niemen: Czy go jeszcze pamiętasz?. Warszawa: MG, 2009. Template:ISBN.
- Jan Edward Czachor, Czesław Niemen w Świebodzinie. Stowarzyszenie Pamięci Czesława Niemena w Świebodzinie, 2010.
References
Citations
Sources
External links
- Czesław Niemen at ProgArchives.com – photographs, reviews, music, discography
- Template:In lang Niemen, partial dyscography incl. singles
- Forum Template:Webarchive
- Czesław Niemen at culture.pl
- Did James Brown Inspire the Beat Generation in Poland?
Template:S-start Template:S-ach Template:Succession box Template:Succession box Template:S-end
Template:Czesław Niemen Template:Polish Academy Award for Best Film Score
- 1939 births
- 2004 deaths
- 20th-century Polish male singers
- Ballad musicians
- Deaths from cancer in Poland
- English-language singers from Poland
- People from Shchuchyn district
- People from Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939)
- Jazz organists
- Polish organists
- Polish keyboardists
- Polish male jazz musicians
- Polish people of Belarusian descent
- Polish pop singers
- Polish rock singers
- Progressive rock keyboardists
- Recipients of the Meritorious Activist of Culture badge
- Sopot International Song Festival winners
- Soviet emigrants to Poland
- Sung poetry of Poland