JACEK

Stories From The Eastern West

How a banned singer-songwriter became an unwilling musical hero through his home-copied cassettes.

Jacek Kleyff was an increasingly popular topical songwriter in 1970s Poland. But he was unwilling to bend to the demands of the communist state's censorship, so the authorities reacted by banning him from appearing in public, including radio and TV. But he didn't stop recording, and his songs, circulated through the underground on home-made cassettes, became anthems for the Polish democratic opposition.

What did Jacek do when he was blacklisted by the communist authorities? How did he become a cult figure within the Polish opposition? What did he do when the regime fell? Find out in the latest episode of The Final Curtain.

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Time stamps

[01:25] Coming of age during the grim 1970s in Poland
[03:56] Jacek founds the Salon of Independents and becomes an oppositionist
[06:23] Salon gets banned, Jacek goes on to play solo
[09:57] Jacek writes a song which... starts a revolution
[15:22] Jacek gets banned for life and casts himself away...
[18:15] ... but still makes some noise from the underground
[20:35] The system's gone. What does it mean for Jacek?

Further reading

• Jacek Kleyff // biography on Culture.pl

• 9 Politically Influential Singer-Songwriters from Europe under Communism // on Culture.pl

• Solidarność: Poland, Word by Word // on Culture.pl

• A Long Way To Freedom: Banned Photos From Poland's 1980s // on Culture.pl

• Rock Music and the Fall of Communism // on Wikipedia.org

• The Walls Must Tumble: 10 Polish Songs about Freedom // on Culture.pl

Credits

Written & produced by Wojciech Oleksiak
Edited by Adam Zulawski
Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak
Hosted by Nitzan Reisner & Adam Zulawski
Special thanks to Lauren Dubowski for her brilliant translation of 'Sejm'