Prominent Poles
Ewa Demarczyk, singer, actress.
Born: January 16, 1941, Cracow, Poland
Summary. Ewa Demarczyk is an renowned artist. In her performances, she unites both dramatic theatrical expression and vocal art . Every song she performs is in fact a short musical drama of enormous intensity. Perhaps because her performances are so demanding, Demarczyk has produced relatively few songs, but every one of them is considered a masterpiece. Her voice ranges from an intimate whisper to a fortissimo roar of passionate intensity. No matter if the audience doesn't understand her songs in Polish - the performance is always gripping - stunning and subtle, portraying pain and rage as well as love, tenderness and pray. Nevertheless she sings also in German, French, Spanish, Russian and English.
Early days. In 1961 Demarczyk performed in the student cabaret �Cyrulik�at the Medical Academy in Cracow. In 1962 she went to the "Piwnica pod Baranami", where she started cooperating, till 1966, with the composer Zygmunt Konieczny. In 1963, her performane at the Song Festival in Opole where she sung Karuzela z madonnami, Czarne anioły and Taki pejzaż which was enthusiastically received by both the public and the critics. In 1964 she received the second prize at the International Festival of Song in Sopot, Poland for her performance of Grande Valse Brillante (poem by Julian Tuwim). She also performed abroad among others in Olympia in Paris, France, in Geneva, Switzerland, in Sweden, in Belgium and in the Carnegie Hall, New York, USA.. In 1966 she graduated from the Academy of the Dramatic Arts in Cracow ( Panstwowa Wyzsza Szkola Teatralna). She also graduated from the conservatory where she studied piano. In 1966 she had her first independent spectacle- with a musical ensemble- in Teatr Kameralny in Cracow. In 1966 she began to work also with Andrzej Zarycki and in the same year the form of her performances spread from a part of cabaret appearance or a short song recital to the independent music spectacle with the backing group of two pianos, two violins, cello, bass, guitar and percussion. In 1972 she ended her cooperation with �Piwnica pod Baranami.
Career. Her songs convey strong emotions, partly associated with the counter-culture movement in Poland during the 1970s and 1980's, when the country was under communist rule. Because of censorship, her songs were not ostentatiously anti-communist or political. Nevertheless, through subtle means of imagery, symbolism and metaphors that implicitly refer to concepts of freedom, in some of the songs she has expressed the general discontent with the authoritarian rule of the period. Many other of her songs deal with existential topics. Since her songs are often based on poems of greatly appreciated "classical" poets like the Polish poets Tuwim and Baczynski or non-Polish poets like Goethe, or those of avant-garde writers like Bialoszewski, the genre that Demarczyk is associated with is sometimes called sung poetry. She has influenced many artists, including Faun Fables who has recorded covers of her songs "Carousel With Madonnas" and "Taki Pejzaz". In 1985 in Cracow a State Theater Of Music and Poetry was founded by Ewa Demarczyk.
Awards and prizes. 1969 � I prize at the Festival Mondial du Theatre, Nancy, France; 1971 � Gold Cross of Merit; 1977 � Krzyż Oficerski Legii Francuskiej; 1979 � Knight�s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; 1987 � Zasłużony dla Kultury Narodowej; 1993 � Special prize of Polish TV; 2000 � Commander�s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
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Other sources:
Ewa Demarczyk website
Ewa Demarczyk live: Rebeka
Ewa Demarczyk live: Sur le pont d'Avignon
Ewa Demarczyk live: Grande Valse Brillante
Ewa Demarczyk live: Karuzela z madonnami
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