The second described character from the 'Eternally Alive Stars' series is Czesław Niemen, (Italian: Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki). Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer, who is remembered in the history of Polish music, among others. such songs as "Sen o Warszawie" or "Dziwny jest ten przed".
Czesław Niemen - musician and poet
Czesław Niemen is not only a composer of music at the highest level, accompanied by always elegant craftsmanship and presence. He is also a sensitive, unlimitedly talented poet, whose art represented the values that we miss to this day. From birth, attention, music and adversities never left him.
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Looking at the figure of Czesław, we must take into account his history as well as the situation and environment in which he was when creating. He was born on February 16, 1939 in Stare Wasyliszki, in today's Belarus, just 7 months before the start of the Second World War.
Czesław Niemen loved music since he was a child
From an early age he was fascinated by music and with a maniacal persistence he constantly explored it. Czesław Niemen, who came from a musical family, attracted the local inhabitants of his village to him like a magnet, and made his home a special place for rehearsals and musical meetings. At the age of 10, he performed alongside his mother and sister in the church choir. His father used to say that "a new Kiepura is growing," Niemen recalled with a smile.
The idyll did not last long, however, the future Stalinist times - churches were closed, and land and property were taken away from people.
quote: 'The school was Russian. There was no mention of the Belarusian language, much less Polish.
Czesław Niemen owes his knowledge of the Polish language to his uncle, a teacher who went to Poland after the war, leaving his family with textbooks. It was only in Poland that he learned the poetry of Polish national bards. He said - "Even though we had "Pan Tadeusz" on the shelf at home, at that time I could only admire the beautiful illustrations." The Wydrzycki family was resettled to Poland in the last wave of displacement of Poles from the Eastern Borderlands.
The times in which he grew up did not allow for much, but this did not limit the sound virtuoso. When, due to his age (even though he was only 20 at the time), he was "too old" for piano lessons, which he played very well, even though he was self-taught. He then decided not to interrupt his adventure with learning music and, as an alternative, took up bassoon lessons. He earned money by tuning pianos. The world was not immediately ready for Wydrzycki's talent, he encountered criticism that seemed to fail to keep up with his ever-growing skills.
The blacksmith of his own destiny, the pride of our nation
Czesław Niemen had his work ethic, which is shrouded in legend, almost everyone who had the opportunity to work with him paid attention to his accuracy, diligence and diligence. He was very demanding and firm, and at the same time people around him always remember him as a warm and helpful person.
Such a description builds a kind of respect and willingness to view Czesław as a man in general. The non-declining level that he represented from the beginning of his road to the very death makes us, Poles, feel proud to have such an impeccable figure in the canons of our art. The more that, as he said himself, it survived thanks to being Polish.
Stanisław Soyka, Tomasz Jaśkiewicz and Tadeusz Woźniak, as guests of "Muzyczna One" of Polish Radio, said - quote:
S. – “Niemen was an unrivaled singer, but also a composer, and fortunately he left behind scores.”
J.- “…I stood on the stage listening intently and almost didn't play the guitar. I didn't want to interfere where Czesław was practicing his craft."
W.- “I was a modest part of Czesław's recital.”
Also, Dariusz Michalski in an interview for the above-mentioned radio states: – “He was above everything and everyone. I looked at him with great admiration... Let's remember Czesław Niemen. Let us love and respect him.” Most people remember him with great respect and - not infrequently - with a tremble in his voice.
Soul of the company
Everyone remembers him as the life of the party, an incredibly colorful and expressive personality. Apparently, in his youth, in dormitories, he had access to all rooms, where he was offered refreshments and board even for a moment of playing and singing. The most charming situation seems to be the story described by one of the choir singers, when Czesław Niemen delicately knocks on the hotel door of his female singers at dawn, without waiting for an answer, he enters the room with a guitar, sits on the edge of the bed and politely invites you to sing. The sleepy girls wrapped in quilts begin their rehearsal.
Even though he was extremely popular with women, he did not take advantage of it and did not support promiscuity. As he sings in the beautiful song "Hey girl, hey", quote.
“…you know that not,
You can not convince me,
anyway, a husband would be bad for me.
I know the price of my freedom
I'd rather be alone.
You can not convince me,
pity your words. "
The women of his life
Czesław's first wife was Maria Klauzunik, a local beauty whose heart was won by Wydrzycki by painting her portrait. After the church wedding, their daughter, Maria, was soon born. However, the financial problems and Niemen's focus on music were not conducive to the flourishing of the marriage. When it was too late for them to save them, the artist realized the loss he had suffered, and in Opole 1963 he sang recalling his lost love:
“I feel bad being without you, the days are gray, there's no sun in them, where are you, where are you?”
Still, women adored him, were even crazy about him.
Unfulfilled Italian love
A beautiful, rebellious singer from Italy - Farida, despite recommendations not to go to Poland due to the uncertain situation in our country, decided to visit the Sopot Festival in 1970. There she fell in love with Niemen without memory, with reciprocity. However, it was a utopian, unfulfilled love, so soon their relationship became just a memory.
The muse came third
However, he fully gave his heart to his second wife - Małgorzata, his muse, as he called her. It was a great duo, hailed as the most beautiful couple in Polish show business. The fruits of this marriage are two daughters - Natalia and Eleanor. Both inherited talent from their father. This relationship was connected by shared passions oscillating around broadly understood art. Their love lasted to the very end.
Always in spite of it
Wydrzycki seemed to make the rungs of a ladder to his humanity from the logs thrown at his feet. The best example of this is the situation in which, in an act of great kindness, he refrained from suing the editor, the author of a perfidious provocation directed against Niemen. Especially that it was an openly false attack, for which Czesław Niemen could demand huge compensation due to the negative impact of the released material on the artist's career and image.
Explorer and Conqueror
Czesław Niemen gained musical genres in which his talent and personality reigned supreme. After reaching the next musical peak, he quickly descended from it in order to find and take over a new one, often light years away from the previous one. It is impossible to describe in words the work that is so sublime and diverse in general, because each piece separately is material for a separate in-depth analysis and interpretation.
Have creativity
It is in vain to enumerate how many works he has created, with what mass of outstanding (and not only) artists he has worked, how many albums he has released, or how much his work has been distributed, because these are huge numbers. In this case, quality and quantity went hand in hand.
Czesław Niemen loved art in all its forms: he wrote poems, painted (he created the lion's share of his album covers himself), interpreted poetry, among others: Mickiewicz, Tuwim, Brzechwa, and his favorites - Kamil Cyprian Norwid, whose "Bem of Memory, a Funeral Rhapsody" performed by Niemen is undoubtedly one of his greatest works.
The musician's favorite poets also included Zbigniew Herbert, as he recalls: - “At my concerts in the 70s, in the presence of a crazy crowd of young people, I would pick up the volume of "Pan Cogito" and start reading and singing. There was consternation, but that's how it was."
To this day, the largest international festival of Czesław Niemen - Niemen Non Stop takes place in Słupsk.
A man full of values
He used to say that Poland was the only place where he could stay. Six years before his death, he was asked the question - what is the absolute and absolute value for him, he replied: “Undoubtedly the Creator, because everything that surrounds me is so incomprehensible that it is impossible not to notice it. This is something that triggers wonder.”
The album, which he never had time to release, was supposed to include the song 'Beautiful is this world'
One of the most outstanding Polish artists left us on January 17, 2004, in his beloved Warsaw. Had he been alive, he would have been celebrating his 80th birthday at the beginning of the year.
