Ewa Maria Demarczyk (16 January 1941 – 14 August 2020) was a Polish singer, generally associated with the

sung poetry Sung poetry is a broad and imprecise music genre widespread in European countries, such as Poland and the Baltic States, especially Poland and Lithuania, to describe songs consisting of a poem (most often a ballad) and music written especially ...

genre and the

Piwnica pod Baranami The Piwnica pod Baranami () is a Polish literary cabaret located in Kraków, Poland. For over thirty years, in the People's Republic of Poland, Piwnica pod Baranami served as the most renowned political cabaret in the country, until the end of (an ...

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

. Demarczyk was recognized as one of the most talented and charismatic singers in the history of Polish music. She was praised for her unique interpretations, expression, and unusual stage personality. In the 1960s, she drew comparisons with

Édith Piaf Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...

. In Poland, she was often referred to as "the Dark Angel".

Biography

She started her career in 1961, when she joined

Jagiellonian University Medical College Jagiellonian University Medical College is the medical school of Jagiellonian University, a public research institute in Kraków, Poland. It was established by King Casimir III of Poland in 1364, making it the 12th oldest medical school in the ...

's student cabaret Cyrulik. After a year she left Cyrulik for

, where she met Zygmunt Konieczny, with whom she would work for the next four years. Her first big success was a performance at the 1963

National Festival of Polish Song in Opole The National Festival of Polish Song in Opole (, KFPP), commonly known as the Opole Festival () is an annual music festival in Opole, Poland. Together with the Sopot Festival it is one of the two most important music festivals in Poland. The Op ...

, where she received an award for the songs "Karuzela z madonnami", "Taki pejzaż" and "Czarne anioły". Later the same year, she sang at the

Sopot International Song Festival The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in S ...

and was named the best artist of 1963 by Polish journalists. In 1964 she took second place in Sopot for "Grande Valse Brillante". She went on to perform at Olympia in Paris, at

Bruno Coquatrix Bruno Coquatrix (; 5 August 1910, Ronchin, Nord – 1 April 1979) was a French record producer, the owner and manager of Olympia in Paris from 1954 until his death in 1979. Career Coquatrix was first known as a song and music writer. He wrot ...

's invitation, as well as at a ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. In 1966, Demarczyk graduated from the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts (however, she never had any film roles). The same year she teamed up with another composer, Andrzej Zarycki. 1967 saw the release of her first album, ''Ewa Demarczyk śpiewa piosenki Zygmunta Koniecznego'', which proved to be a major success and was later certified platinum for selling over 100,000 copies. At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, she travelled extensively around the world to countries such as

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. She performed in numerous

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

s, including

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and the

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark Theater (structure), theater located on North State Street (Chicago), State Street in the Loop, Chicago, Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 19 ...

. Demarczyk left the Piwnica pod Baranami in 1972. Two years later her next album was issued, including some new Polish songs and four Russian-language versions of her previous hits. The album was released in Russia by the state-owned label Melodiya and sold several million copies. Later in the 1970s she was awarded an honorary award at Opole Festival and the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

. Her 1982 live album, simply titled ''Live'', turned out to be a big success, achieving gold certification in Poland. In the mid-1980s Demarczyk founded her own theatre in Kraków. In spite of formal difficulties, it was soon shut down, although it generated interest. In the 1990s her albums were re-released on CD and Demarczyk received a number of awards recognising her input to Polish culture. She continued to perform live until the late 1990s. She gave her last concert on 8 November 1999 at the Grand Theatre in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and afterwards she completely withdrew from public life. In 2001 a foundation, Teatr Ewy Demarczyk, was created. She died on 14 August 2020, aged 79.

Style

Demarczyk's repertoire consisted of demanding, not easily accessible interpretations of poems. Since her songs are often based on works by "classical" poets – both Polish such as

Julian Tuwim Julian Tuwim (13 September 1894 – 27 December 1953), known also under the pseudonym Oldlen as a lyricist, was a Jewish-Polish poet, born in Łódź, then part of the Russian Partition. He was educated in Łódź and in Warsaw where he studied ...

and

Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, (; nom de guerre: Jan Bugaj; 22 January 1921 – 4 August 1944) was a Polish poet and Home Army soldier, one of the most well known of the Generation of Columbuses, the young generation of Polish poets, of whom several ...

and international like

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, Mandelstam,

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

, as well as

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

writers such as Miron Białoszewski – the genre that Demarczyk is associated with is called

. In her performances, she united both dramatic theatrical expression and vocal art (she was a graduate of both a

drama school A drama school, stage school, or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or Academic department, department at a college or university, or a free-standing institution (such as the drama section at the Juilliard School) that ...

and conservatory, where she studied the piano). The songs she performed were essentially short, intense musical dramas.

Awards and honours

* 1962: 2nd Prize at the National Students' Song Festival for the song ''Karuzela z madonnami'' * 1963: 1st Prize at the

for the song ''Czarne anioły'' ("Black Angels") * 1963: Special Award at the

for the song ''Czarne anioły'' * 1964: 2nd Prize at the

for the song ''Grande Valse Brillante'' * 1967: Prize at the World Theatre Festival in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

* 1969: 1st Prize at the Mondial du Theatre Festival in Nancy,

* 1971: Gold Cross of Merit * 1977: Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, (France) * 1978: Prize of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

for "outstanding contributions to the promotion of Polish culture abroad" * 1978: City of Kraków Award * 1979: Special Journalists' Award at the XVII

* 1979:

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

's Cross of the

* 1990: Special Award at the XXVII

for "outstanding achievements in the art of song interpretation" * 1993: Special Award of the

Polish Television Television in Poland was Timeline of the introduction of television in countries, introduced on an experimental basis in 1937. It was state owned, and was interrupted by the Second World War in 1939. Television returned to Poland in 1952 and for ...

* 1997: Prize of the Kraków Voivodeship for "great artistic achievements as well as contributions to shaping the musical image of Poland" * 2000:

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

's Cross of the

* 2005: Gold Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis * 2010: Gold Fryderyk Award for Lifetime Achievements * 2011: Special Award of the

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...

Channel for "a distinguished figure in the Polish culture" * 2012: The Annual Award of the

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage () is a Ministries of Poland, ministry within Polish government led by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage responsible for national heritage preservation and Culture of Poland, Polish cult ...

for Lifetime Achievements * 2017:

's Cross with Star of the

Discography

Albums: * 1967: ''Ewa Demarczyk śpiewa piosenki Zygmunta Koniecznego'' * 1974: ''Ewa Demarczyk'' * 1982: ''Live'' Singles: * 1963: ''Karuzela z madonnami'' / ''Czarne anioły'' / ''Taki pejzaż'' * 1964: ''Grande Valse Brillante'' * 1968: ''Grande Valse Brillante'' / ''Tomaszów'' * 1974: ''Groszki i róże'' / ''Sur le pont d’Avignon'' / ''Jaki śmieszny'' / ''Cyganka'' / ''Zmory wiosenne''

List of songs

The list presents the songs sung by Ewa Demarczyk arranged in alphabetical order:

References

External links

WebsiteThe Polish Edith Piaf: A Love Letter to Ewa Demarczyk
at Culture.pl
Discography on poezja-spiewana.plProfile of Ewa Demarczyk
a
Culture.pl
* *

Bibliography

* Angelika Kuźniak, Ewelina Karpacz-Oboładze: ''Czarny Anioł. Opowieść o Ewie Demarczyk'' : Znak, Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Sp.z o.o. : 2015 : {{DEFAULTSORT:Demarczyk, Ewa 1941 births 2020 deaths Musicians from Kraków Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1944–1989) Sung poetry of Poland Polish cabaret singers Polish cabaret performers 20th-century Polish women singers