Jacek Kaczmarski

Jacek Kaczmarski was born in Warsaw in 1957 to a family of artists. He graduated from Polish Philology at the University of Warsaw and made his debut as a singer and songwriter in 1977 at the Student Song Festival, where he won the first prize for his song "Obława" based on Vladimir Vysotsky's "Охота на волков". He became known as a voice of the anti-communist Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s, with his songs that criticized the regime and appealed to the patriotic resistance of the Poles. Some of his most famous songs include "Mury" (Walls), "Nasza klasa" (Our Class), "Raj" (Paradise), and "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" (Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky). He was also influenced by the classical literature and history of Poland and other nations, and often used allegory and allusion in his lyrics. He lived in exile from 1981 to 1990, touring in Western Europe, America, and other countries, and working as a journalist for Radio Free Europe. He returned to Poland after the fall of communism and continued to perform and record albums, but he was disillusioned by the political and social changes in his country. He eventually emigrated to Australia, where he died of laryngeal cancer in 2004 at the age of 47. He was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential Polish artists of his generation, and his songs and poems are still widely popular and relevant in Polish culture.