The REAL Warsaw :-) Video clip.

Discuss :-)

Oh, Varsovians have a horrible reputation here. Fast gum-chewing pieces of turd that are worth crapping on. Silesians tend to dislike them and their slick prat ways.

Once I met Varsovians when I had holiday at Solina Lake(Podkarpacie). Sun, clear water, mountains, silence... and 4 Varsovians talking how rich and powerful they are. Also one of them was making photos using digital camera as huge as my will to kick them in their asses:) Luckily it was just 30 minutes meeting in bar.

Seanus, most of the people that turn up in their WAW registration cars are not of the original mould, they are imported models, from lesser regions, therefore they are tarred with a different brush. The original Warszawiacy, are descent people and they laugh and joke about the remoulds as well.

I was just wheeling out a stereotype, warsz. Regional identity is a big thing here. Varsovians are goroly and will never truly be hanysy here.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O4WzZGV0szk

lol

I'm beginning to think you have to be born and bred (or at least bred) in Warsaw to really understand and appreciate "projekt warszawiak". Every single image and stereotype in this clip rings 100% true and authentic :-) Also, I really love the way they'd taken an old-fashioned song set to sentimental music and shown its real potential and ferocious lyrics (with which, by the way, any true warszawiak will agree completely!).

it would be nice to see a translation of the lyrics, please.

otherwise they mean nothing to many members of the Forum.

Short comment from my side:

The real Warsaw ended with the Warsaw Uprising 1944. The city, razed down to the ground by the Nazi was destined to not exist anymore. Initial postwar plans assumed setting the country's capital city in £ódź. Only the enormous strength of surviving Warsawers resulted in rebuilding the city. During the Stalinist era, the stay permission in Warsaw was granted by the Communist Party. This had created a caste of "warszawka", arrogant newcomers hated all around the country. The concept of "warszawka" is pre-war, still the true first post-war "warszawka" was the product of the administrative acts as described by Leopold Tyrmand in his "Dziennik 1954".

The current "warszawka" are also posh newcomers, upstarts. No wonder "warszawka" as caste is despised. "Warszawka" has nothing to do with Warsawers.

For me, the "projekt warszawiak" is untrue, and it seems to be a product of "warszawka" themselves.

Listen to some of real Warsaw music, although I must apologize for poor quality:

youtu.be/dJU7gX_8LoQ

Contemporary "Warsaw" music, true to life:

youtu.be/YiyCNVD05jM

Said I, a son of a Warsawer born in 1919.

Honestly, the whole "projekt warszawiak" looks fake to me. Watch those people, they look and behave as if they have come straight from the Woronicza street (where TVP1 is located) or from TVN.

The true Warsaw types are here. A band called Menele.

Mariusz Kuczewski (Qcza)
Dariusz Wołosewicz (Grzywa) and Qcza
Piotr Walewski
It would be very scary to meet him in a backyard ;-)
A Warsaw pre-war drinking place might not look so much different than that one

And those young people of "projekt warszawiak"? No wonder "warszawka" is not popular ;-)

That is definitely a tad harsh. Do you mean to tell me that the last 67 years of the lives of the millions of people who call Warszawa home are somehow fake or not "varsovian" enough? You are a snob, dear sir. I also see that you have not understood "projekt warszawiak" at all.


The original is an iconic post-war song about how Warsaw and its people were and are defiant and undefeated, to quote "if you wish to pick a fight with us, buy yourself a coffin first". ;-)

..which will get stolen during the fight.

I guess that's a risk we must all be prepared to take ;-p

Dear Magdalena,

My Grandpa settled in Warsaw in 1905, starting as illiterate industrial worker, then becoming a successful farmer and gardener in Wawrzyszew and paying back his bank credits before 1939, the only of all neigbours. My Dad was born in 1919 in Warsaw and got educated there. He was taken for forced labour to Germany from Kercelak in 1942. I was born in Warsaw in 1961. My both daughters were born in Warsaw, one in 1987, the other in 2000. Taking all into account, you should avoid teaching me what is Warsaw and what is not.

I say: "projekt warszawiak" is fake for me. You simply cannot tell me what I feel belongs to Warsaw genre and what does not. Anybody in the world can take any song and make it. Will it be genuine? I doubt. "Star Spangled Banner" version by Jimi Hendrix was authentic because he was authentic. The people of the "projekt warszawiak" are not genuine at all, even if you like the project.

The songs that are genuinely Warsaw style and were written in the modern era are, for example:
1. "Warszawa" by T-Love although Muniek Staszczyk and the band are from Częstochowa
2. "Małgośka" by Maryla Rodowicz, although she was born in Zielona Góra
3. "Sen o Warszawie" by Czesław Niemen, although he was born in Belarus
4. "Warszawa jest smutna bez Ciebie" by Jacek Lech, although he was born in Bielsko-Biała

I perceive all those singers as Warsawers, regardless wherever they were born.

Of modern Warsaw acts, Szwagierkolaska is of great artistic merit. Do you know Szwagierkolaska's music?

I do not deny the post-war Warsaw in which most of great artistic acts were created by the newcomers who became Warsawers. I only say two things:

a. You refer to the song "Nie masz cwaniaka nad warszawiaka" by Stanisław Grzesiuk who was a pre-war Warsawer since he was two-years of age. The era of such songs ended really with the Warsaw Uprising

b. The "projekt warszawiak" smells fake and holds no artistic value or message -- at least for me.

Thank you for your attention.

P.S. Since you appear to understand Polish perfectly, note these lyrics of "Bal na Gnojnej", a pre-war Warsaw song:

"Kto zna Antka, czuje mojrę
Ale jeden nie znał jej
I napotkał na dintojrę
Skończył się z ręki mej" ;-)

Dear Antek,

my father settled in Warszawa in 1960, and I came to live there around 1972 as a toddler and left as an adult in 1992. My childhood, youth, and early adulthood are all connected to this city. I went to primary and secondary school there, as well as to university. My father spent all his life teaching at Warsaw University and still lives in Warszawa today. Oh yeah - one of my children was born in Warszawa, as well. "Taking all into account, you should avoid teaching me what is Warsaw and what is not." ;->

My Warszawa is very much the city portrayed by "projekt warszawiak". The places and types of people it portrays sum up the spirit of present-day Warszawa to me in a way that nobody has done in a long time. I don't like "Warszawa" by Muniek Staszczyk BTW. I think it's fake and artistically mediocre ;-p


...are you threatening me...? ;-p

You said something about the coffin, and as you used to be a Warsawer, I should be extremely solemn with you, Magdalena ;-)

It's OK you like "projekt warszawiak" but I have yet to hear what artistic merit you find in their music.

Here is Szwagierkolaska in Stanisław Grzesiuk song "Antek"

Here is the Grzesiuk's original:
[kla12ma.wrzuta.pl/audio/0TThU8p819g/stanislaw_grzesiuk_-_antek_oryg.los_bandyty] - Antek by Grzesiuk

How can anybody say "projekt warszawiak" is of any artistic merit compared to Szwagierkolaska's arrangement?

This song is close to my heart. For readers not fluent in Polish, here's rough translation:

Antek (The Fate of A Bandit)
Here, in the city of Mermaid I was born, and our Mother worked hard
She had two sons, that is, Feliks and of course me; she wanted raise us decent men
Feliks was good at studying, and I wanted to work at a factory
My brother became a lawyer soon, and it took me couple of years to become a bandit.
The Mother was crying and worrying, and brother was telling me off in those words:

"Antek, Antek, oh you poor boy, go straight or shame on you
Remember, Brother, you'll end up badly, your talent and shrewdness will be wasted".

I ran away from home, I set off with a Browning in my hand
I became a boss of a gang in a couple of years
And my brother Feliks became an attorney.
I attack some Mister once at night, it was raining terribly, terrible it was
I point my Browning at his forehead and suddenly a familiar voice shouts: STOP!
I recognized my brother, I got scared. My brother was telling me off in those words:

"Antek, Antek, hold on, it's Feliks, brother of yours
Go straight, you still got time, the world will be yours"
I answered him:
"Get away from here! Don't waste your words!"
My brother wept tears and went away.
And I was a bandit again.

Several years had passed since that moment, and finally I was caught together with my gang
And then I recollected the words of my brother when I was led to the Court's hall
My brother was standing among the judges, he was the one to sentence me to death.

"Antek, Antek, you poor one, you'll fade like a flower
You didn't want to listen to your own brother's words;
the hangman is awaiting".

(I cried but wiped my tears and my heart lost its power;
Brother said "HANG HIM!" and then he died since his own heart broke)
Neither tears of our Mother helped nor the brother's voice
An the scaffolding's awaiting me
That the bandit's fate.
---
There is depth in these lyrics. There is a story behind it. Grzesiuk was genuine with his banjo and throat destroyed by five years of a concentration camp and by abuse of alcohol. There's music in Szwagierkolaska's version, something missing totally in "projekt warszawiak".

Now I see these "warszawka" people in suits, trying to convince me no-one is smarter than a Warsawer. If I met one of those people, I'd really punch them in face to see how much Warsawer they are ;)))

With regards, to you, Magdalena.
P.S. Living for the same duration of time in Brwinów/Podkowa Leśna as you were living in Warsaw, I do not feel myself a Brwinower or Podkower, OK?

You also said


The fact you do not live here anymore Magdalena limits your perception and causes your statements somewhat risky. You want a present-day Warszawa song, don't you?

Here you are: [w220.wrzuta.pl/audio/8hdtWyc896L/mordewind_-_mordewind_-_defaac_to_-_11_-_syrenka] - Mordewind - Syrenka (Original song)

All guys of Mordewind live at the right bank of Vistula ( Warszawa Praga) and this is why they sing:
"Mermaid, mermaid, the Warsaw maid
Your home's where the green river-bank is
I'm crazy with you, with your beauty
Visit sometimes my Praga side"

Mordewind is a band that often can be met at the folk stage of the Polish Woodstock Festival.

Regards,
Antek

I only regret I could not find a better video.

youtu.be/hHSOZnJyjU4

Oh no no no I didn't - I quoted the song! Don't you even remember its lyrics? ;->


It's a very modern (I might even say riskily modern) rendition of a song that was already (sorry Antek, but I have to say it like it is) languishing in the artistic graveyard of all old-fashioned and musically dated songs... I would never, ever listen to the original for pleasure. It was rammed down my throat too many times by too many "real" Warszawa snobs like yourself, and I find it boringly sentimental... ;-p Nevertheless, I gave this remake one chance and decided to see what it was like. And I loved it immediately - making me realise that the lyrics remain poweful and timeless, even youthful, but the original music was no longer doing them any favours. At all. It actually made me listen to the lyrics for once!


A guy getting a shave at a rather seedy barbershop; a Turkish kebab guy; lads from the Uprising; a devout Jew with two White Power henchmen; a University lecturer at a Bar Mleczny; a young guy at a night club; a cyclist; a workman with a cigarette hanging from his lip; two hooligan types; a guy in a frock coat and a taxi driver; a guy at a skating rink, a boxing club, a shopping mall (hanging out with the galerianki); a businessman; a bartender; some probably rich guy with three secretary types wearing bunny outfits; and my favourite, the Warsaw Mermaid in lovely gray tights at a night club, looking really threatening.

- Yeah, they are all wearing suits and looking official. Riiight. BTW, the main character in each scene is the same actor, I hope you noticed.

I absolutely love the way they have woven together a rich tapestry of Warsaw lives both past and present, including minorities and people you might tend to forget about, and shown them all as the people of Warszawa, always defiant in the face of the enemy. This is exactly Grzesiuk's message by the way, but he lived in a different time and that time is gone now and no amount of propaganda on your part, Antek, will bring it back. ;-p


I tend to think that one is forever the citizen of the place they grew up in. I have lived in London, Ełk, Toruń, and other place since leaving Warszawa, but I would not consider myself a Londoner or citizen of Ełk, for example. Believe you me, I come back often and I know my city well. I used to hate it once, but distance makes the heart grow fonder, or whatever.


Exactly; I had a go at your links; and what you are giving me is Warsaw folklore. Old songs sung the old way, or new songs sung the old way. I do not want old-style cutesy folksy tunes to hum along to. I want modern, youthful, different (in short: CONTEMPORARY) stuff that makes me think and reconsider stuff. I want outside the musical comfort zone, you want to sit inside it. To each their own.

One last piece of advice - don't mess with a Wola girl!

;-p

Sorry for late answer. Our project Psychodance spent the whole day on recording a new song. Soon, we plan making next new original song, in modern arrangement, telling an authentic story from Targówek on a woman killing several men by giving them methanol-polluted vodka ;-) The b*tch will eventually die because the last survivor -- getting blind from methanol -- has forced her to drink it herself ;-) It is dangerous to mess with grown up men of Bielany or Targówek; and even the ones of Saska Kępa or Piaseczno could be dangerous types, especially when they are mental :P


I had replied likewise. The words on Antek who should be feared of (mojra is a slang word for fear; dintojra is a slang word for bloody revenge, acquired from Hebrew) are the lyrics of "Bal na Gnojnej". A person understanding Warsaw should know a little bit about who the hangman Maciejewski was, where the Gnojna street was located, what the bar at Josek was, too. Getting some hold on the folklore always helps, especially if you refer to "Nie masz cwaniaka nad warszawiaka" that is not any new song as you are perfectly aware.

Discussing taste of somebody else should be avoided. You may like "projekt warszawiak" and it is getting hype now. Still, the project and the song can be criticized.

Musically, it is obvious the guy cannot sing. This is hidden behind the layer of electro. The very basic idea behind any cover song is the melody line shall be retained as the melody (not the lyrics!) define the song. I could tell you about extremely modified cover songs, such as "Satisfaction" done by Devo, Metallica's songs done by German a capella band Van Canto or by the bluegrass band Iron Horse, traditional "Friggin' in the Riggin'" by Sex Pistols and Anthrax; many other songs have been covered in the most weird way. Have you ever heard punk-rock played acoustic with ukuleles?

Any respected cover song however does not leave the listener in doubt what actual song we are talking about. "projekt warszawiak" makes the impression the people making this song miss musical ear and they had sacrificed the music in the favour of hype.

Visual layer of "Nie masz cwaniaka..." by p-w reminds me a cartoon, as authentic as the movie "Psy" treated as a documentary of everyday policemen work. This is how much the "warszawka" people -- especially those working close with the TV -- understand and feel about Warsaw.

Authenticity? My wife told me: "The vid seems to be made by people spending most of their time in the Ursynów district (only blocks of flats there), with occasional visits to the city centre on their way to the University; spending the rest of their time watching TV and clubbing".

That's what I want to tell you about my and my wife's sentiments regarding 'projekt warszawiak".


You've got the feeling from a true warszawiak. The song can be appreciated by "warszawka" not by warszawiaks. And it is.
--------
I daresay you have listened only to the first verse of Mordewind's "Syrenka". Saying that a folk band using a drum set and overdriven electric guitar combined with bag-pipe does the new song the old way is.... I give up.

"Warszawa" by T.Love is something you don't like. Yet the youth of Warsaw loves the song and identifies with it. Didn't you miss some phrases that make that song so artistically great?

-- "A Grochów się budzi z przepicia" - how much do you know on Grochów's everyday life? I spent great deal of my youth there.

-- "gdzie wiosna spaliną oddycha" - have you been to Warsaw in May, all the beautiful blooming trees and what you smell is the exhaust gas unless you live in Saska Kępa?

-- "zielony Żoliborz, pieprzony Żoliborz" - even leaving in that wonderful quarter is not that nice.

-- "Ściekami z rzeki kompletnie pijany" -- well, take a swim in the Vistula River

This song rings 100% true and authentic. Well if you say rock is obsolete, I let you live with that thought.

All the best.

And likewise.


And I asked you whether you were threatening me. Because whilst my quote was only to show what sentiment in general the song expressed, yours was directed specifically at me, and you cannot say I started it!

BTW - no need to educate me on the mojra and dintojra stuff, friend. Don't be so full of yourself.


There you got me. Or maybe not. The guy did not sing and was not supposed to be singing.


Why? Who makes the rules and why should anyone stick to them? What if it's not a cover but a remake, does that change anything?


Oh, so now only Ursynów has blocks of flats eh? How about Bemowo, Jelonki, Chomiczówka, Wawrzyszew, Bródno, etc. etc.? Do you really know the real Warszawa as it is today? BTW, there is lots more in the vid than blocks of flats, but then you would have to actually watch the clip all the way through.


It's a bunch of shallow observations it is. Of course I know Grochów, I spent many a merry night there in my day. Żoliborz is practically next door to where I used to live. And yes, I have seen the Wisła a couple of times as well (like probably almost every day), and imagine - I actually did get to see May in Warszawa (wow). I lived there, you see. So what? I listen to "Warszawa" and it does not move me in the slightest. Take into consideration that when it first came out I lived in Warszawa and was young, and I didn't like it then either. So there.

This thread was not meant to be a pissing contest about who is the more authentic warszawiak. Please realise that I know a bit about Warsaw folklore, have seen the sights, done the rounds, listened to the music, taken the night buses, drunk beer on the embankment, yada yada yada. If you wanna talk about music - fine. But please stop making condescending remarks to me about how you are the know-all and be-all of Warsaw and I am some humble upstart. It won't work.

Living in Wielkopolska I find inter-Varsovian squabbling about the 'real' Warsaw to be incredibly tedious.

I didn't find the original video tedious at all. I'm glad someone here gave it some publicity since I'd managed to miss it before. But ...traditional urban folklore meets Franek Kimono and a nice panorama of the modern Polish urban experience... what's not to love? Here's a version without the annoying watermark

To start with, you are not Polish Magdalena, and not a Warszawiak either. I've been greatly interested in Upper Silesian matters for last couple of years myself. Yet, I do not even attempt speak "ślonsko godka" since it would be phoney and extremely badly received by the Ślonzoki. So many gorols living there CAN "godoć", still ask them a direct question and they will instantly admit they are gorol. No sane gorol would ever say he or she were hanys.

Due to its history, Warsaw is somewhat different. The best Warsaw songs were made by people not born there. Once a person proves he/she is a Warsawer, that is, he or she can broadcast thoughts at real Warszawiak wavelength, such person is considered a Warszawiak. The fact of living in Warsaw regardless how long does not make one a Warszawiak. Besides, consider Easter time. Warsaw is left "dla warszawiaków", "warszawka" leaves the city.

I don't say you have no right to perceive yourself as a warszawianka. I do not say you're ignorant. Many of the remarks I made (such as ones on mojra and dintojra) are for other people reading this thread. Please do not take everything personally. You'd said "Discuss". You are getting the discussion; unless you'd just expected applause for p-w.

There is a kind of warszawiak talking (you can read it in Tyrmand's "Dziennik 1954"). Warsaw talk is fast, often smartly offending the other person without real offence. A warszawiak knows how to brilliantly answer the similar way. There is also local feature called "zaskok" (kind of Warsaw esprit). My quote from "Bal na Gnojnej" would be read as an excellent response by a person with "zaskok" since it:

1. Refers to Warsaw folklore
2. By chance it includes my own name
3. Is indirect reference to the "threats" expressed in the "Nie masz cwaniaka" song.

Understanding my response as a threat shows clearly you've been breathing the Warsaw air a little bit too short ;)

Have a nice day. I end rant.
---
EDIT: Mafketis: As I said, non-Warsawers will LOVE p-w. Can you also tell me: Don't you have quarrels who's real Poznaniak and who is not? I know you have that in the Greater Poland ;)

Well, that absolutely takes the cake then.


OK, great, point taken, but then it would be a good idea to make these asides outside text that is clearly directed at me. ;->


Yeah - about how I am not Varsovian enough and how terrible the Warszawka set is.


Not realising I first asked about the threat as a joke clearly shows that you cannot read emoticons ;-P


My thoughts exactly. :-)

Magdalena, the further rant is pointless. I have gone through numerous posts of yours under another thread and I'm impressed with your Polish capabilities. The only unfortunate point you've made about "authenticity" of p-w and your risky claim that specifically a person born/bred in Warsaw would really appreciate the trueness of the project made me over-react. Comments of my Warsaw friends related to p-w are like: "Słuchałam tego, z butów nie wyrywa". "Kaszana". "Kupa". That's it, although the project may be liked by many, and as I said, the hype is there.

My personal distaste results from the fact when I listen/watch the p-w, I feel as if I, a Warsawer, were threatened by those pathetic warszawka people. I nóż mi się w kieszeni otwiera. A oni śpiewają "możesz mi w mordę dać". Z przyjemnością bym to zrobił. Takie są moje osobiste uczucia i tyle.

Naprawdę serdecznie Panią pozdrawiam i nie kłóćmy się już.

Pod warunkiem, że mi Pan odda obywatelstwo, bo na razie to nie wiem - paszport spalić czy jak? ;->
(ostrzegam, że wg netykiety mówiąc sobie na pan/pani obrażamy się wzajemnie w lekko zawoalowany sposób)

chłe chłe

Maybe , it is your Warszawa , but definitely not mine . Don`t stereotype anything here because you offend decent people who live here in this city. I always find that people who come here for work hate the city and its people , but I always ask them why? If you are not happy - just leave. I also find that the biggest haters of Warszawa are from Śląsk . I could have sensed that from the way they treated me on the streets of Katowice ( having waw car plates ) , nothing like that ever happened to me here in Warszawa .

People here are busy, but not rude . Sometimes it is funny on the streets of Warszawa , but it is because of a heavy traffic and a lot of new construction going on these days .


Magdalena why are you so frustrated and put such title of your thread ,it seems to me that you have got some problems with your past .

:-)) They have the same reputation in Masuria
I think what we dislike most is that attitude:


:)) In what way those are lesser regions,warszawski? lol

But the clip is great and the thought that Warszawa of Stanisław Grzesiuk has not died yet is truly heart-warming :-)


Shallow songs have their audience too. Grzesiuk's attitude is still alive and not only in Warsaw - I've met people in their 20s who share his values although are not always conscious that what they say and what they value is nothing new :)

It looks like a rip-off to me. Anyone can call themselves Projekt Warszawiak on YouTube and post a song with no video. Interesting though. I'll monitor the situation ;-)

Source: projektwarszawiak.pl

Magda, you are Warszawianka?

Almost. Not by birth though. But definitely been there, felt the vibe ;-)

Warsaw, home of many potato heads