You may not know him by his face, but you know his voice for sure – Filip Kosior is one of the most popular and appreciated Polish teachers who, despite his young age, has already won numerous industry awards for professional achievements. As a talented actor, he can even read a washing machine manual so that the text becomes fascinating. There is also a chance that many people will hear his voice when he sees it because it was Filip Kosior who read the controversial autobiography “The Second One”. And that’s where we started our conversation, which you can watch in its entirety in the video below. At the end you can also hear an outstanding interpretation of the song by him:
What does a lector with “the sexiest voice in Poland” sound like on a daily basis?
How does it feel to step into Prince Harry’s shoes? – I approached the character of Prince Harry with a lot of skepticism. However, it was a great pleasure, although he is a controversial person. I felt a certain weight of the past and what was next. (…) When I was called with a proposal to read this book, I was very happy, because I would not have read it myself. What I liked after reading the whole thing – I understood his motivation much better and actually empathy appeared in me. An image of a man whom I am able to understand was born in my head – he reported his feelings after reading.
Filip Kosior reads a lot of audiobooks, but it doesn’t affect his everyday life: – It’s not like people recognize me through my voice. There are situations when people are surprised that it’s me, the gentleman who reads books. Because they rather associate my voice with a person much older, at least a decade – he told our studio.
He even gave an example of such a situation. He is an actor of the independent Teatr Potem-o-tem, which has a specific formula assuming that the performers let the spectators into the performance. When it was his turn, a lady accosted him:
She comes with a leaflet, I ask for a ticket, and she asks: Excuse me, I read that Mr. Filip Kosior plays here, because he is my favorite voice-over. Will he be here? I say: Well, that’s me. The lady was absolutely shocked.
Why this surprise? – I don’t speak live like in the books. This is obviously a close voice, but I try to sound normal. And in the book it modulates, it also sounds completely different through the microphone – he explained.
Does he use his abilities and when he is called by someone he does not want to talk to, he replies in a business voice “Subscription temporarily unavailable”? As it turns out:
Rather jokingly towards my colleagues, I happen to say: Here five one and so on. It is absolutely one hundred percent screws. It always works, I’ve never had it fail, even with my closest friends. It’s a subtle change, a slightly less natural tone, but it works.
Filip Kosior works a lot with his voice, so the question naturally arises, does he have an insured voice? – Well, no. I even checked it, but it turned out that there are no such services in Poland. Only foreign insurance companies provide this type of service, and it is similarly extremely expensive, so I did not go into details further. I haven’t insured my voice yet, but if the insurance companies listen to us: I’m open to suggestions, he laughs.
As part of his professional duties, Kosior reads eight to ten books a month, which definitely exceeds the reading standard in Poland. Does he remember what he read? As he says – reading them aloud requires more concentration from him, so he remembers them better than if he read them silently “for himself”. There are of course some exceptions:
Of course, if I read seven detective stories in one month, I won’t be able to summarize them for you from beginning to end. Unless it was a really fantastic book. If it’s an average or moderately good book, it slips my mind.
And what book will you probably never forget? – The most difficult thing I’ve read is “Ice” by Jacek Dukaj. It was a huge challenge. First, an extremely complicated mix of languages, two, word formation, three, the length of sentences is absolutely nightmarish, four, that after the hundredth page out of a thousand, the narrative changes and everything is conducted in such a way that the hero says ‘sit down’, ‘ you went’, ‘you came’, ‘you ran’. And it’s quite complicated not to get lost in it: so that I don’t get lost and the audience doesn’t get lost,’ he said. He also emphasized:
I’ve had a few people tell me that they’ve had this book on their shelf for years, read to a certain point and put it away. It was only thanks to the audio that they listened to it to the end, which is the greatest compliment for me – for me and my work. That means it makes sense.
So it’s hard not to ask in such a situation whether, when he reads something that is particularly embarrassing, he wants to put the author in front of the microphone and make him read aloud what he wrote as punishment?
Very often this is the case, but this does not apply to the level of complexity. In the case of Mr. Dukaj, I wouldn’t make him do it, although I suppose it would be quite amusing. If someone has a weak style, I would like to do this: Oh, how many times do you repeat this word, see – on one page, do you hear what it sounds like? It does not make sense. Or why do you write these dialogues in such a way when you can write once who is saying it.
It would be easier for me to understand who is saying it, and for the reader too, because there are four characters in dialogue, and you don’t even write ‘Marcin answers’ or ‘Maria asks’. But it’s more to torment the authors.
It is no exaggeration to write about his professional successes. For example, in 2021, Filip Kosior came first in the “Best Polish Audiobook Readers” ranking. And the competition here was serious – the list also includes e.g. Piotr Fronczewski and Krzysztof Gosztyla. He also reads a lot and effectively – he laughs himself that he has a reputation as a robot in the industry. But the fact that it works efficiently does not mean that it affects the quality of the text you read. It’s quite the opposite: during the first Best Audio Awards, Empik Go became a record holder and won three statuettes: for “A Matter of Price” by Zygmunt Miłoszewski, “The Hidden Network Vol. Rafał Collins.
Kosior, however, remains endearingly modest: – I hide awards so as not to fall into some exaggerated self-admiration. I am aware that what I do, I do rather well, but I hide these awards. It’s very subjective who likes what voice and what interpretations suit him. I really don’t think I have the best voice in Poland or anything like that. There are many great-reading male and female teachers, and it’s a matter of taste. And the fact that I am nominated many times for some awards is simply due to the fact that I read a lot of things. And I do it quite efficiently,” he explained.
When talking to one of the most well-read people in the country – if only for professional reasons – it would be a sin not to take the opportunity to ask what books made the greatest impression on him? – Recently I read the second part of “Drelich” by Kuba Ćwiek. I got it to read, and I think I stayed up from nine in the morning until eleven at night. I read seven hours of material in one day because I just got into it. It was a lot of fun, I had time and I thought: Okay, I’m going. Will I lose my voice? It’s hard, I want to know what’s next. It was very enjoyable. Anyway, I was also very into Harry – despite this initially skeptical attitude – he noted.
Filip Kosior was born in 1992 in Chorzów and graduated from the Acting Department of the Warsaw Theater Academy. He plays in the theater (he is a co-founder of the independent Teatr Potem-o-tem), television and cinema, and also deals with dubbing. He performed, among others in “Colors of Happiness”, films such as “Piłsudski”, “Zołza” or “Where the Devil Can’t, He Will Send Baby”.
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.
