Although Anna Jantar’s career was unfortunately not long – at the time of her death, the artist was less than 29 years old – she left a lasting mark. Debuting at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, the singer managed to record nearly 160 songs in her lifetime in cooperation with leading Polish musicians and promote unforgettable hits. To this day, she is considered one of the most important figures of Polish culture and enchants with her voice from the recordings that she left behind. After her death, a mourning period lasting two days was announced, and up to 40,000 people were to attend the funeral of the star.
Anna Jantar was doomed to the stage since she was a child
Anna Jantar was born on June 10, 1950 in Poznań as Anna Szmeterling. She was involved in music from an early age. It is said that she inherited her beautiful voice (she sang mezzospray) from her grandmother, and her passion for playing the piano from her grandfather. Even when she was a child, she was found to have perfect pitch – which, according to research, is a matter of the right genes. Researchers suppose that Mozart and Beethoven also had absolute pitch.
The future star of the stage studied in a music kindergarten, a primary music school, and apart from a standard high school, she was also a student of a secondary music school in the piano and rhythm class. Surprisingly, she was not admitted to the PWST in Warsaw. Here the matter was related to too noble origin, priority was given to people from working-class and rural families.
The stage was her natural environment. At the age of 14, she started singing in the big beat group Szafiry, she performed in student clubs and theaters in Poznań. As a teenager, she won awards at various (and prestigious!) student and youth song festivals. In 1969, she joined the band Waganci, founded by Jarosław Kukulski – her future husband and author of the greatest hits. Natalia Kukulska ” said:
Dad was a manager, he fought for mom at festivals, on the radio, but he was also dominant. He still had an idea of how she should do something, which was a nuisance for Mom.
While still with Wagantami, the singer recorded the hit “What I saw in you”, but soon decided to pursue a solo career. In 1972, she passed the relevant exam and gained the title of professional singer. It was then that she started using the stage name – Anna Jantar.
Already at the 11th National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, she managed to win the hearts of the audience – then she sang “The hardest first step”. The song became her first solo hit and quickly established her as one of the most popular and recognizable Polish singers. The debut album of the artist “So much sun in the whole city” was released in 1974 (it was certified gold), and the title single received the audience award in Opole. The list of Jantar’s greatest hits also includes such songs as: “Nothing can last forever”, “Old man the world”, “For every smile”, “Baju-baj please sir (Jambalaya)”, “Joy of the most beautiful years”, “My only mine”, “Don’t believe me, don’t trust me”, “The great lady dances alone” (supposedly she cried when she sang it in the recording studio) or “My only dream”.
In addition to working closely with Jarosław Kukulski, Anna Jantar has also recorded and performed concerts in, among others, with Zbigniew Holdys, Stanisław Soyka and the bands Budka Suflera and Perfect. It was with Perfect that she played concerts in Polish clubs during her last concert tour in her life. Zbigniew Holdys in an interview with “Zwierciadło” recalled:
She was distinguished by her voice, beauty and grace. Everyone loved her. When a policeman stopped the car in which she was traveling, he bowed and let her go. (…) I composed a piece for her, to which Bogdan Olewicz wrote: ‘Why don’t we just rest, go into the shadows’. It was the last song Ania recorded in her life. Significant, because she really wanted to change her life and her career. And she really left, just in a way no one expected.
Romuald Lipko, in turn, in a memory program hosted by Andrzej Jaroszewski on the radio, said:
We only recorded three songs. The first, titled “Nothing Can Last Forever”, became a huge hit. It was the first song I wrote for someone outside of Budka Suflera.
When this accident happened, we were just finishing work on a song for which Ania Jantar made a vocal recording three days before flying to the United States. It turned out to be her last song. It’s weird to rip a song from a girl who’s already dead. But it was.
Tragic landing
Anna Jantar was less than 29 years old at the time of her death and had just returned from a short concert tour in Chicago and New Jersey, which she played, among others, in with the Perfect team. On March 14, 1980, she boarded an Il-62 plane named Mikołaj Kopernik at the New York airport. In addition to her, there were 77 other passengers on board (including boxers from the US amateur national team, American ethnomusicologist Alan Parkhurst Merriam) and 10 crew members. According to the accounts of people who had contact with her in the last days before the disaster, the singer really wanted to go home to meet her daughter, whom she missed very much – Natalia Kukulska turned 4 on March 3 this year.
Another popular Polish singer, Ada Rusowicz, was also supposed to return to Poland on the same plane that day. However, she decided to postpone her departure. On one of the anniversaries of the tragedy, her daughter – also a popular singer Ania Rusowicz – turned to Natalia Kukulska:
She stayed because she still wanted to shop around, and yours was in a hurry to get to you… Like in the movie >>Final Destination<< my mother died in a car accident in 1991 on New Year's Eve, rushing to me. Memory remains, songs remain.
The author of Anna Jantar’s biography and family friend, Father Andrzej Witko, in an interview with “Zwierciadło” also told:
The forensic doctor, who was present at the examination of the effects of the plane crash, later gave Ania’s mother a small rosary, which she held in her clenched hand. In those last seconds, she must have been aware of what lay ahead, and she must have believed that she was entering a new area of life.
In addition to the rosary, a letter from the wreckage of the plane was also recovered from Anna Jantar by her husband, Jarosław Kukulski. “I love you with all my heart and you can count on me in every situation, and whether you will read my confession as weakness or as love that needs help, it depends only on you. Our happiness, Anusia, depends only on ourselves. however, it was possible, we must both want it. I kiss you hard, your Jarek. PS. Such a letter to you is the only and last one. If I had to write it a second time, you will probably have to finish it yourself, “he wrote to his wife.
Perhaps it was really about Anna Jantar wanting to follow a new musical path and trying to gain more autonomy in her relationship with her husband-manager. Natalia Kukulska firmly cuts off all rumors that her parents’ relationship was in crisis – she emphasizes that they loved each other until the very end, and all the rest is press speculation.
How did the catastrophe that killed Anna Jantar come about?
The IL-62, flying from JFK airport in New York, crashed on approach to landing at Okecie airport around 11.15. – They were at an altitude of 250 meters, they had less than a minute of flight to the runway. Adding gas to go to the second lap caused the engine to fall apart and cut the steering – said former pilot Marian Nowotnik in an interview with “.
“Number two engine failed. It practically exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Neighboring engine number one, tail control systems and black box power supply were destroyed. Engine number three on the other side of the fuselage was also damaged. In a fraction of a second the crew was with one efficient engine, flying slowly at an altitude of 250 meters. There was no chance of rescue” – Maciej Kucharczyk analyzes the course of events for Gazeta.pl.
“I remember it like a fog, I was four years old at the time. I saw that there was some confusion, panic that something bad was happening. However, I did not understand what happened,” Natalia Kukulska described her memories of that day years later in a radio broadcast hosted by Maria Szabłowska.
After the plane crash at Okęcie, a two-day national mourning was announced. Anna Jantar’s funeral is scheduled for March 25 – it was decided that she will rest at the Wawrzyszew Cemetery. As we read in the reports from the event, about 40,000 people came to say goodbye to the singer. The crowd was so dense that neighboring streets were blocked, and tram traffic was reportedly stopped. People climbed trees and poles to see anything. From the gate above the heads of the gathered wreaths were handed over to the artist’s grave. Daniel Olbrychski spoke during the ceremony. “I’m not saying goodbye, I’m saying see you later,” he shouted.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
