Jacek Kaczmarski - biography.

While I was sitting in my room last weekend I was listening music. I was looking for some old rock lyrics and then I met a song of one of my favorite Polish singer, songwriter and poet Jacek Kaczmarki. His life was full of patriotism and huge ideas which allowed him to be one of the most famous and respected artist in times of communism. That is why I decided to present you his life.

Jacek Kaczmarski was born in March 22. 1957 in Warsaw.  He made his debut in 1977 at the Student Song Festival, where he was awarded first prize for his work "Obława" (Wolf hunt). In 1980 he won Second prize at the Opole Song Festival for "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" (Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky). Kaczmarski was on tour in France when the martial law 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. Kaczmarski was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx in 2002. He could be operated but he didn’t give the agreement because of the risk of losing his voice (he couldn’t realize his life without music and giving concerts). He died in a hospital in Gdańsk 2004.

This short biography shows that Jacek Kaczmarski was the person who was devoted to his patriotic ideas what we can hear in his song “Bajka o głupim Jasiu” (Story about stupid Jon). He was the romanticist who didn’t care about being famous and having money. More important for him was to show the truth about history of Poland, her current situation (state of communism) and injustice which resulted from it. Some people claim that he his time in exile was the sign of cowardice but this he gave plenty of concerts in many countries realizing public opinion abroad what was the situation of Poles that time. Making up the new songs he had to take under consideration the censorship which didn’t allow to release the lyrics which could include anti-Soviet contents. He was also the poet, that is why creating a lyric he could interlace abandoned slogans without the threat of being arrested by militia. Amazing lyrics, full of ambiguities and sarcasm, concerning the true life and the ability to build the climate by playing guitar, allow to say that Jacek Kaczmarski was the master.