Polish Estrada Music: Organisation, Stars, and Representation

One of the chapters of Ewa Mazierska's book is titled “The Song Won't Let You Forget (Piosenka przypomni ci),” referencing a popular song originally performed by Marta Mirska in 1948. This title aptly serves as a guiding theme for Mazierska's book, which narrates the story of postwar Poland through the songs and performers of the influential genre of so-called estrada music. In addition to being an impressive piece of scholarship, it stands as a tribute to Polish estrada songs and performers from the mid-1940s to the late 1980s. Far from being a dry scholarly narrative, it vividly evokes an important element of East European communist history—a distinct model of popular culture and entertainment. To fully understand and appreciate this book, I recommend reading it while simultaneously watching YouTube videos of the original songs discussed in the book.Mazierska, a distinguished scholar of film studies, starts by exploring the complex definition of estrada music, which originated in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and later spread to postwar Eastern Europe, including Poland. This genre, to some extent comparable to French chanson or Western pop music, derives its name from the French estrade and Spanish estrado, which means stage or platform. In the Eastern bloc, estrada music denoted live music, performed for an audience, often accompanied by other types of performance such as “humorous sketches, dances, and productions of illusionists” (p. 1).Mazierska situates estrada music within the complex context of communist Poland. Her analytical framework builds on recent historical literature that highlights the “negotiated” nature of the communist system rather than viewing it as a top-down imposition. Indeed, estrada music showcases the boundary between state and society as ambiguous and shifting rather than clear-cut and rigid. While the communist regime approved and promoted estrada music, it was not a component of state political propaganda. On the contrary, Mazierska demonstrates that the songs, largely devoid of political content, were embraced by most of society. As a product of the communist era, the genre disappeared after the fall of communism but remains an important object of nostalgia.The book is divided into three parts. The first addresses the political and institutional framework of estrada music, with particular attention paid to the functioning of popular music within a state socialist context. The second part focuses on individual personalities who made their career in estrada music. The bulk of the discussion is devoted to performers ranging from the elegant and sentimental Mieczysław Fogg, who built on the interwar tradition, to the defiant Izabela Trojanowska, who redefined the genre in the early 1980s. Important lyricists and composers, such as Agnieszka Osiecka, Katarzyna Gartner, and Andrzej Korzyński, are also included in this part of the book to highlight their pivotal contributions. The closing part of the book examines estrada music as represented in Polish media, especially television, and at the song festivals in Opole and Sopot, both of which began in the early 1960s.The book offers fascinating insights into how the music industry operated in a Polish communist context, where market rules applied only to a limited extent. Rather, state institutions facilitated and managed music. In accordance with communist commitment to quality entertainment over commercialization, professionalism was one of the key markers of the music scene. For example, artists were expected to be graduates of music schools or to pass an examination in front of the “verification committee” (p. 44). Mazierska analyzes the distinct features of “stardom” in Poland, where gossip on private lives was limited because of the absence of a western-style tabloid press. Nevertheless, audiences were captivated by estrada music personalities, and some stars like Violetta Villas and Maryla Rodowicz “strove for the star lifestyle, showing a penchant for excess and scandals” (p. 77).The discussion of individual figures and their contributions to estrada music follows a chronological order to show the political, cultural, and generational change. The first stars of estrada music included Mieczysław Fogg and Marta Mirska, who were both war survivors, and who served as a bridge between the two eras, linking different generations and evoking nostalgic memories of interwar Poland. In addition, Fogg firmly established the genre as “apolitical.” His songs were always “about love, roses and painful separations, with a voice which sounded as if coming from an old, worn-out record” (p. 81). Popular female singers Maria Koterbska and Sława Przybylska, who made their careers in the 1960s, still built on the interwar tradition but introduced new elements. For example, Koterbska was “the first postwar estrada star who moved from nostalgia for one's youth and lost love to celebration of life here and now, in contemporary Poland, especially leisure” (p. 89). At the same time, new stars like Irena Santor, representing the first generation educated under state socialism, emerged. Indeed, the 1960s emerge from the book as a dynamic era that produced new types of stars such as Maryla Rodowicz, Violetta Villas, and Urszula Sipińska, who adopted a more daring style than their predecessors. As Mazierska notes, “Whatever songs Rodowicz performed, her fashion style was unique. Most of the time she wore colorful, richly decorated dresses with plenty of jewelry and other accessories” (p. 125). Rodowicz exemplified the agency of stars to influence and transform estrada music, continually pushing the boundaries of traditional estrada performance.Estrada music declined by the 1980s, overshadowed by the rise of rock music. However, several estrada singers still enjoyed popularity. Among them was Zdzisława Sośnicka, “perhaps, the first Polish female popular musician who dabbled in electronic instruments” (p. 141). This period marked a significant transformation of estrada music as it evolved into popular music. Sośnicka symbolized this shift by introducing new elements into her performance and style such as “the replacement of acoustic instruments by electronic ones and a change in the behaviors of singers on stage, from static performances in front of the microphone, which, when shown in television, encouraged the cameramen to focus on the singer's face, to dynamic dancing, which required the performer to move away from the microphone” (p. 141). The transformation was accomplished by Izabela Trojanowska, a new kind of star, who entered the scene “not only as a singer, but a complete persona” (p. 142). In her performances, Trojanowska “came across as cynical, selfish and hedonistic, a kind of anti-Polish Mother type” (p. 142).Mazierska's contribution is not only to illuminate how the music industry operated under Polish state socialism, but to highlight an important aspect of the socialist experience where entertainment became an important element of the system in the post-Stalinist era. While Mazierska's ability to situate the discussion within the broader political and cultural context is a clear strength, it also leaves room for a more fully developed interpretation. Rather than accommodating her findings to established political narratives, Mazierska could have leveraged them to challenge and modify those narratives. The book offers insights that reveal unexpected developments, such as the prominence of rock music and state support for it during the martial law of the early 1980s, a period typically described as dominated by omnipresent gloom and economic crisis. In a similar way, the discussion of the 1960s with unconventional female stars such as Rodowicz and Villas calls for moving beyond the outdated trope of “small stabilization” as a metaphor for the era. It is clear from Mazierska's discussion that Rodowicz proposed new and transgressive roles for women, while Villas embodied a prototype of queer style. One can imagine how a more thorough gender analysis could have pushed the narrative into more original directions.Nevertheless, the book is a pioneering endeavor that paves the way for further research and reflection on what David Crowley and Susan E. Reid once called “pleasures in socialism.”1 Mazierska's achievement lies in bringing estrada music and popular culture from the margins into the center of Polish postwar history. Indeed, the genre was a vital part of the daily lives of Polish citizens as it was a constant presence on radio, television, and record players, forming a prominent backdrop to everyday experiences under communism.