Lirnik i Tłum

Renata

My mother used to say that when I was born, I had eyes like big black buttons, looking around at every wall of the hospital room.

My childhood? When I look back, there are moments that make me laugh, and a few tears too. I went to primary school in a small village, Olszyn, where the mischief never ended. By the time secondary school came around, I felt like I’d both gained something and lost something.

When I was 10, I told my mother I wanted a guitar, and that one day I’d sing like those great, famous poets. Then came music school, and art college. Who I am today, I owe to the remarkable people I’ve met along the way. I believe in fate — though a little luck helps too.

See you on stage…

— Renata

Patrycja Skoruch

One of my first, youthful poems (original Polish):

Już czas podejść do
konfesjonału życia
i na oku trumny
położyć kukiełkę
żegnając dzieciństwo.

Poskładać twarze
i zdjąć oczy ze ścian.
Oczy tych żywych i umarłych.
Przeczytać gazetę, ale może od tyłu
żyjąc w nieświadomości

21.12.1998

Music has been with me since I was very young. I always loved singing and wanted badly to play guitar. When I went to audition for music school, I was offered cello lessons instead — I said yes without a second thought, since I honestly had no idea what the instrument even was. It turned out the cello is a remarkable instrument, and playing it has brought me more and more pleasure over time, right up to today.

Singing has been much the same. My public performances so far have been limited to inter-school competitions, where I’ve managed to win a few prizes. More recently I’ve become interested in sung poetry — I’ve even had the chance to compose music for poems.

I hope that through music, and through the poetry I sometimes write, I can share some positive energy and feeling with others.

— Pati

Jerzy Dołżyk

A poem (original Polish):

Ogrodnik, czuły i troskliwy,
słowny, dojrzały i wrażliwy…
Dbał o Ciebie, różo,
byś płatki piękne miała
i twarz swoją cudowną
słońcem oświetlała,
lecz pewnego dnia…
niedaleko Ciebie wyrósł inny kwiat…
ogrodnika na próżno wyglądałaś,
płakałaś, wołałaś, czekałaś…
…Byłaś niewidzialna, omijał cię,
tak minęły trzy noce, przeleciały trzy dnie,
opadły Ci płatki, ku ziemi się skłoniłaś
i jego imię szepcząc żywot swój skończyłaś…

Music, like painting, is my passion. In my younger years I dreamed of playing guitar, and despite a rough start — especially for my patient listeners — I got there in the end. Those were also the years I first encountered Jacek Kaczmarski’s work, not yet knowing it would become, in a way, an inseparable part of my life.

Today I manage to combine both passions, which is exactly what this band with Renata and Patrycja is. We’re working on a repertoire of Kaczmarski’s songs paired with “multimedia variations” on the paintings I made inspired by those very songs.

I can only hope to share with others the joy I get from all these painting-and-music projects of mine.

— Jerzy