28 FEBRUARY 2014 - VARIETE /PL/

A journalist, Rafał Księżyk, called Variete a favourite band of Polish intellectuals, and quite frankly he made his point. The band is the forerunner and one of the finest exponents of Coldwave music genre. They were also a music legend of Jarocin Festival.

Unlike many other crews of that time Variete keeps up with the times and is not a slave to its own legend. The band surprises with the novelty of sound and a constant trawl for a new mode of artistic expression. Within that trawl we should mention trip-hop minimalism, elements of Nu Jazz, modern clubbing music, trance and guitar wall of sound. The focal point of Variete`s work is a blend of that mesmerizing music and terrific lyrics written by Grzegorz Kazimierczak. The result of that blend strikes with relevance and originality.

Numerous well-known Polish artists claim to be inspired by the band. Their repertoire was exploited by, among others, Renata Przemyk, Strachy na Lachy and Biff.

Variete has released seven albums to date. The latest one, ‘Piosenki Kolonistów’ has just been released – on 12 of November 2013.

Variete was formed in the city of Bydgoszcz and their stage debut was made at Jarocin Festival, where they were given a honourable mention, in 1984. Again, the crew turned up on the Jarocin stage in 1985 (the main award - Top Ten), 1986 (as a star), 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 (Mayor, Public and Journalists awards). The band was hailed as the forerunner of Coldwave in Poland, and a vocalist and an author of lyrics, Grzegorz Kazimierczak, was recognized as one of the best composers. In 1985, Variete released a single ‘I znowu ktoś przestawił kamienie’, which hit the 8th of Radio 3 programme.

On 1992 album - ‘Variete’ - a renowned deceased trumpeter, Andrzej Przybielski, made his guest appearance. Another album, concert live recorded in the STU theatre in Cracow, featured an outstanding jazz musician – saxophonist Mikołaj Trzaska.

2005 album ‘Nowy Materiał’ (Pomaton EMI) revealed the new face of Variete being drawn to new sounds such as electronic and club music.

The next album, ‘Zapach Wyjścia’, was recorded in New York along with American rhythm section crew – Donald Dixon, bass guitar, and Luigi Franceschini, drums (the album of the year 2008 in the categories New Wave/Synth Pop/Cold Wave).

The last album, ‘Piosenki Kolonistów’, was released in November 2013. The album received glowing reviews and gave rise to another wave of interest.

Variete line-up 2014: Grzegorz Kaźmierczak - vocals, electronics Marek Maciejewski – baritone guitar, guitars Marcin Karnowski – percussion Bartek Gasiul – rhodes piano, keyboards