On the one hand, death is a topic we often run away from; we don’t want to think about it, talk about it, we pretend to ourselves that there is no death. On the other hand, death accompanies us at every step – we observe the effects of diseases, wars, climate catastrophe and often spread our hands with the words: “it’s hard, come what may, we’re all going to die soon anyway”. On the one hand, we balance together between fear and acceptance of our fragility, on the other – it’s an extremely individual matter. Three musicians – Radek Łukasiewicz, Jarek Ważny and Janusz Zdunek – tackled these and other aspects of thinking about death, mourning and the passing of time as part of the Polish Signs project. Together, they decided to save a collection of old Polish songs from oblivion, so that we would not forget what awaits us all – and at least they got used to this idea a bit.
Polish Signs and the Undiscovered World of Mourning Songs. “The average person knows at most ‘Angel’s retinue'”
Jarek Ważny sowed the seed for the Polish Signs project nearly a decade ago, when he shared his unusual passion with Radek Łukasiewicz and Janusz Zdunek. In his hometown, in the Lublin region, the musician collects old songbooks and archives local songs. – It turned out that in his collections there were a lot of texts about mourning, farewell, death. At that time, I did not know that folk art had changed this theme so much. After all, the average person knows only “The Angel’s Procession”, the most popular funeral song – recalls Łukasiewicz. – I was captivated by the accuracy of these texts, the depth of thoughts, while maintaining simplicity. Besides, I feel that in our space there is a taboo related to death, it is presented in comic book form in films, or reduced to strings of numbers in news reports. Mourning, processing the pain of loss, fear of death – we are silent about it. And it affects absolutely everyone.
In order to make the album Rzeczy Last, the members of Polskie Znak decided to go beyond the Lublin region. Equipped with a dictaphone, Jarek Ważny visited various towns, e.g. in the Zamość region, Podkarpacie and Mazowsze, and asked the inhabitants to sing funeral songs that they remembered from the old days. – Our collections, compared to the query of academics, were certainly amateur and unrepresentative, but we noticed that texts hardly differ between regions.
– The same text found in the Lublin and Mazovia regions differed in a few words, two versions, or was supplemented with another stanza – reveals Radek Łukasiewicz. – The melodies were completely different; in our examples, the singers interpreted them freely. But I would like to point out that our research is a hobby and our conclusions concern only a fragment of this reality.
What of the found texts did Radek keep for himself for the future? These are not revealed truths. Rather, everything that common sense and decency suggests: that one should remember about good deeds, about loved ones, that everything is ephemeral and one should not get attached to corporeality. And that everyone is equal before death: the poor, the rich, the power, and the subjects. What impresses me most of all is the boldness and directness of expressing these contents, for example: “The world promises a lot, sweet delights, and in the end prepares a dark grave for everyone” or “Even if I love carnal beauty / And it will change into ugliness in time / Ah! The impermanent beauty of the body, yesterday it shone, today it rotted. These are true lyric gems.
Touching double dedication. “We agreed to record a live session. We didn’t make it in time”
The aforementioned “Angel retinue” was included in “Rzeczy Last” next to such songs as “Farewell you, my cheerful world”, “Oh, how false everything” and “Let the monarchs”. On the album they are performed by Matylda Damięcka, Michał Szpak, sanah and Vito Bambino. – I tried to approach the matter in a non-obvious way, guided primarily by the artistic sensitivity of the performers. All the invited guests have in their voices that element of depth and melancholy necessary to sound credible in this repertoire – explains Radek Łukasiewicz. – I think that for fans of sanah, such a poignant song about death must be a surprise. Our connection to Vito may also surprise many.
When the tracklist of “Rzeczy Drugie” was published, next to Polish titles, attention was drawn to the English “Oh Angel” with the mysterious note “ML”. Just before the premiere of the album, the creators revealed that Mark Lanegan was among the performers. One of the pioneers of the grunge scene, the singer of Screaming Trees and Mad Season, died on February 22 at the age of 57. – Contact with Marek is the aftermath of my trips abroad with Pustki. In the past, we traveled a lot to foreign festivals, held talks with the cult American label Sub Pop, for which Mark used to publish. He was one of the first people that came to my mind when I thought about the cast – says Łukasiewicz and adds:
It’s hard to imagine a better voice to sing about death. Our cooperation was incredibly smooth. He really liked the demo and the idea of the album. He even expressed concern whether he would be up to the task of conveying this depth and timelessness. Completely unnecessary. Within two weeks of first contact, I got a vocal version from him that blew me away. We agreed that we would record another live session together. We didn’t make it.
Mark Lanegan is one of the two people whose memory is dedicated to the Polish Signs album. First, the musicians bowed to Bart Sosnowski. Endowed with an extremely characteristic blues vocal, the artist died unexpectedly in September last year. He was only 38 years old. – It was a huge blow, Bart was to be an indispensable part of our touring line-up. The album was actually ready when he left. He managed to take part in the music video “Goodbye, my cheerful world”, but two days later he did not appear on the set of the documentary about the album. In fact, this situation was a practice of taming death – emphasizes Radek Łukasiewicz.
– I will speak for myself: working on this album changed me as a person. As a music producer, I worked on the material for over a year, recording vocalists, creating the sound of this album. In addition, it works during a pandemic, which is probably also important – says the artist. “I have imagined my death many times, and today I think of it more calmly.
Finally, I ask Radek a question that, according to him, is “nearly impossible” to answer: imagine that the hourglass is about to run out of sand and you have the last song to listen to before you die. What do you choose and why? – Songs are actually my life, so there are a lot of songs that I could ask for at the end. Depends on what mood the moment would catch me in. Right now I’d like to hear “Murderer” by Low, “We Found Love” by Rihanna, “Seneca” by Tortoise or “Hold My Liquor” by Kanye West. But this list is endless.
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Source: Gazeta
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
