Polish Scottish Mini Festival 2026: Kazik

Polish Scottish Mini Festival 2026: KAZIK

Kazik Staszewski

KAZIK. This is the name used by Kazik Staszewski, lead singer of Kult, who decided to forge a new path for his artistic endeavors. He first turned to rap music, which he had been listening to since the early 1980s. But it wasn’t until he met Jacek Kufirski, a teacher and advertising executive, that he began composing in this style. Initially, he created three tracks: “Nowy kontroświatowy,” “Piosenka trepa,” and “Spalam się.” Then, in 1991, Zic Zac released their first album, “Spalam się.” Producer Wojtek Przybylski, as well as Shpenyagah, who played in the Warsaw band Zgoda, played a significant role in the recording of the album. It was the first album on the Polish market to so seriously reference rap music, and Kazik was quickly hailed as the “First Rapper of the Republic.” Kazik recited his sharp, morally and politically charged lyrics, backed by sampled sounds, scratches, and a drum machine. There were also live musicians, including Wojtek Waglewski on guitar and Jacek Rodziewicz on saxophone. The most popular song was the frivolous song “Spalam się” about getting excited over an attractive English teacher. “It’s a true story,” Kazik Staszewski said in interviews. An equally big hit was “Dziewczyny” (Girls), with its brilliant chorus, in which Kazik sings: “I know that sometimes there are downs and ups / Girls are nothing more than trouble.” However, the song that resonated most was “Jeszcze Polska…” (More Poland…), a continuation of the iconic anthem “Polska” In it, Kazik brilliantly portrayed the grim Polish reality of the early 1990s and the contrasts of emerging capitalism. This displeased Jan Szafraniec, a senator from the Christian National Union (ZChN), who found the song offensive to the Polish nation and reported the matter to the prosecutor’s office. Kazik was forced to provide an explanation, and he also responded to the senator in “Gazeta Wyborcza,” accusing him of wasting taxpayers’ money and demanding an apology, which he never received. He also performed the song at the Sopot ’91 festival, where he sang using a lip sync and a hairdryer as a microphone. Kazik was uncomfortable with the festival format, so a year later he appeared at the festival with a rock band and sang “Piosenka trepa” (The Trep’s Song) and “100,000,000.” The latter song, in particular, with the chorus “Wałęsa, give me one hundred million,” sparked a near-national debate. The story made the front page of “Gazeta Wyborcza” and was a top story in “Wiadomości.” Even Wałęsa, then President of the Republic of Poland, commented. Kazik put it his way: “I could never afford such advertising.”

The song appeared on Kazik’s second album, “Spalaj się!” (“Flame!” ), released in 1993. It was a double-cassette release, and likely because of this, it sold less well than “Spalam się,” which was a hit. The songs were similar in theme, with a lot of social observation and political commentary. In the title track, Kazik shouts, “Burn, burn parliament / Let the fire burn you at the turn of history.” But in others, he plays a murderer observing his victim (“Wampir z Bytomia”), a boy recruited for the Balkan War (“Pocztówka z Chorwacji”), or a boy describing the hopelessness of the street where he grew up (“Na mojej ulicy”). This album marked the end of Kazik’s collaboration with Kufirski.

The next album, “Oddalenie,” was the singer’s most personal project. It was released in May 1995 and contained seventeen songs created on a sampler. Kazik recorded them in his home studio, located in the basement of the house where he lived. Once again, Kazik proved himself a master at describing the world of his time. The best examples were the songs “Czy wy nas macie za idiotów?” (as is the case with parliamentarians and the clergy), “Wewnętrzne Spraw” (Internal Affairs), describing repression in some countries, “Błagam Was” (I’m Begging You), about a brutal murder, and “Komisariat 63 Brooklyn,” telling the story of a Pole arrested and tortured to death in a New York jail. The most successful recording was “Łysy jedzie do Moskwy,” describing the visit of then-Prime Minister of Poland Józef Oleksy to Russia, which was then in a state of aggression against Chechnya. After the album was released, Kazik played one concert at the Remont club in Warsaw, where he performed with the accompaniment of backing tracks recorded on tape and a film specially edited by Kazik.

However, the biggest success was the June 1997 album “12 groszy ,” which sold over 200,000 copies. For the next dozen or so months, the title track became one of the most frequently sung songs in Poland, remaining on the charts for many months despite being over seven minutes long and containing several profanities in the lyrics. Sławek Pietrzak, Kazik’s publisher and former Kult musician, played a significant role in the album. He co-wrote the music for four songs. Two of them became hits from the album: the humorous “Maciek ja tylko żartowałem” (I Only Joked) and “Sztos,” which was featured on the soundtrack of Olaf Lubaszenko’s film of the same name. The entire album was surprisingly fresh and featured many great songs. Among the most interesting were “Nie mam nogi” (I Don’t Have a Leg), inspired by Topor’s short story “Bez nogi” (No Leg), “Przesłuchałem Cała noc” (I Listened All Night), “W obliczu końca” (I’m Facing the End), and “Idę tam gdzie idę.” Songs from the album were presented at two concerts in Sopot and Warsaw, which promoted Lubaszenko’s film and the book “Sztos”.

The band and the album featured clarinetist Jerzy Mazzoll, a pillar of Bydgoszcz’s jass scene at the Mózg club. The instrument beautifully enriched the sound of several songs from “12 groszy.” A few weeks after “12 groszy,” the album “Rozmowy s catem” was released, signed by Mazzoll, Kazik & Arhythmic Perfection. This was the result of several sessions conducted by the Mózg musicians with Kazik. Some of the songs are cohesive song elements, others are unrestricted and often abstract musical forms.

Three years after “12 groszy, ” “Melassa” appeared . Kazik’s main collaborator was Olaf Deriglasoff, former leader of the band Dzieci Kapitana Klossa, and later a musician with bands like Apteka, Pudelsi, and Homo Twist. Piotr Wieteska, once a co-founder of Kult and its manager since 1995, was also an important figure. Their biggest hit was the song “Cztery pokoje,” co-composed by Wieteska. Edyta Bartosiewicz guested on “Cztery pokoje.” Another former Kult musician, Jacek Szymoniak (who goes by the pseudonym Shoovar), participated in the recordings. “Melassa” yielded two more big hits – the ballad “Gdybym wiedział to, co wiem” (If I Knew What I Know), featuring a beautiful piano solo by Leszek Możdżer (the famous pianist can also be heard on “Każdy potrzebuje przyjaciela” and “Do You Remember”), and “Mars napada” (Mars Attacks), which featured Maciej Maleńczuk, Muniek Staszczyk, and Kazik’s family. Other guests included Sławek Pietrzak and DJMAB, aka Piotr Waglewski (scratching).

In 2000, Kazik was invited by Leszek Kołakowski, then director of the Stage Song Review in Wrocław, to prepare a program featuring songs by Kurt Weill for the festival. He invited musicians from Kult – Janek Grudziński (keyboards) and Banan (horn), Kazik Na Żywo – Kwiatek (bass) and Burza (guitar), and drummer Tomek Goehs from both bands to join the group, preparing songs from the famous musical composer’s repertoire. In March, the group performed at the festival, and a year later, they released the album “Melodie Kurta Wiell’a i coś ponadto” (Kurt Weill’s Melodie and Something More) . The most popular songs were “Singapur” and “Ballada o kobiecie żołnierza” (Ballad with a Soldier’s Woman), and in addition to the composer’s songs, they also released a cover of Nick Cave’s song “Krzesło łaski” (The Chair of Grace). Kazik’s collaboration with Kołakowski also resulted in a program featuring songs by Tom Waits, which was presented during the Stage Song Review, which coincidentally marked Kazik’s 40th birthday (the lyrics were translated by Kołakowski, who was the first to be allowed to translate by Waits). The same year, the album “Tom Waits’ Songs” was released . The album was promoted with two concerts at Warsaw’s Congress Hall and on Radio 3, and Kazik was once again accompanied by musicians normally associated with Kult (Banan, Goehs, Grudziński, Janusz Zdunek, Morawiec, saxophonist Tomasz Glazik) and KNŻ (Burza and Kwiatek), as well as Deriglasoff (guitars), Wojciech Jabłoński (guitars, drums), Andrzej Izdebski (guitar), and both of Kazik’s sons, Kazio and Jan.

Kazik’s next solo release appeared in 2004. “Czterdziesty Pierwszy” turned out to be the longest album in his solo discography, a double-disc album. Originally, the album was supposed to be released on Kazik’s fortieth birthday and was to be titled “40.” Therefore, some of the songs were already known, such as “Idol” – a joke from a popular television program. The most popular, however, was “Polska płonie” (Poland is Burning), full of interesting observations about Poland at the time. Kazik wrote “Stalingrad (Adam und Klara)” under the influence of Wojciech Kuczok’s novel “Gnój” (Dung), and “Anarchia w WC” (Anarchy in the Toilet) remembered Kazik’s first band, Poland.

Just a year later, the album “Los się musi odmienić” was released . The impetus for this album was Leszek Wosiewicz’s film “Rozdroże Cafe,” in which Kazik had a cameo and wrote several songs. The album also included “W Polskę idziemy,” a standard by Jerzy Wasowski and Wojciech Młynarski (the single even included eight different versions), and a dance version of Dąbrowski’s Mazurka. This time, Staszewski was joined on the recordings by Izdebski, Jabłoński, Glazik, Zdunek, Banasik, and Paweł Nazimek, bassist for T. Love.

In 2005, Kazik also began singing in the band Buldog, founded by Piotr Wieteska. Initially, Buldog was intended to be just a studio project (the album was released in 2006). Over time, it evolved into a live band called Kazik & Buldog, performing songs from both Buldog’s repertoire and Kazik’s solo albums. Besides Kazik and Wieteska, the lineup consisted primarily of musicians associated with Kult (Zdunek, Glazik, Jabłoński), as well as Adam Swędera, former drummer for Róż Europy and also Kult’s longtime bodyguard. The group debuted at Warsaw’s Hybrydy in January 2007, performed in Jarocin six months later, and went on two tours in the following months, also performing in London and at the Union Rock Festival in Węgorzewo. Kazik stopped singing with Buldog in mid-2009.

Kazik’s next solo album, “Silny Kazik pod wezwaniem” (Silny Kazik pod wiadomom) , from 2008, proved to be the most playful and festive project, featuring songs by Kazimierz Grześkowiak and his Silna Grupa Pod Wezwaniem (Silna Grupa Pod Wezwaniem), active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some versions were reminiscent of Kult’s style (e.g., “Odmieniec”), but most retained the cabaret-like, mischievous tone of the originals (such as the most famous “Chłop żywemu nie przepuści”). Kazik successfully attempted to revive songs from decades past. The songs “Anusia” and “Piwko” were a success. The project was co-created by multi-instrumentalist Andrzej Izdebski, and the recordings also included Glazik, drummer Roman Ślefarski, clarinetist Michał Górczyński, guitarist Mirosław Jędras, and vocalist Anna Stępniewska. Kazik and Izdebski performed songs from “Silny Kazik pod wezwaniem” only once – they performed as a duet in September 2009 at the Centralny Basen Artystyczny in Warsaw during the Fe Fighters 2 charity event.

Since 1998, Kazik has also sung in the band El Dupa, founded by Krzysztof “Dr Yry” Redzimski, with whom he has recorded the albums “A pudle?” (2000) and “Gra” (2007). Kazik has also toured with El Dupa, and one of their performances was featured on the DVD “El Concerto In Duppa” (2011). He has participated in recordings of other artists many times: Acid Drinkers (“Consument” on the album “Infernal Connection” from ’94), Piersi (“Jedziemy autostopem” from the album “Piersi 60/70”, ’94), Voo Voo (“Strategia śrubokręta” on the album “Flota zjednoczonech Sił; najlepszyi śpiewają Voo Voo”, ’97), Nosowska (“Zoil” on the album “Milena”, ’96), Speca (“„Chcę być raperem”, “Najwolniejszy raper w mieście” from “Spec”, ’04), Kasia and Wojtek (“Biegnę”, “Inna piosenka o miłości” and “Paskuda” from “Kasia and Wojtek” from ’08; he also produced the album), The Syntetic (“James Brown” and “Wielki Karlito” and saxophone in “Słodka bejbi” from “Tchnienie moc”, ’09), Zaciera (saxophone in “Żona przewrotna” from “Masakra na Wałbrzyskiej, czyli zbioru wesołych piosenek o miłości, tolerancji i wzajemnym poszanowaniu”, 09), Plagiat 199 (“Czarne loki” from “Do przodu”, 10).

He also contributed to the success of “Yugoton” (01), singing “Black and White World,” “Electric Orgasm,” and the smash hit “Malcziki” (the music video won the Grand Prix at the Yach Film Festival in 2001). He also composed the music for Patryk Vega’s film “Pitbull” (05), and sang “Balladę o Janku Wiśniewskim” for Antoni Krauze’s film “Czarny czwartek. Janek Wiśniewski padł” (11). He also performed “Piosenkę Członka” and “Piosenkę Milipantów” promoting Jacek Dukaj’s novel “Wroniec” (09) and used them in the animated film based on the book (the songs were also included in Newsweek on the anniversary of the imposition of martial law as part of the “Pamiętaj o 13 grudnia” campaign).

Leszek Gnoiński

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAaW1BUSPP8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7VykCTXX7M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gGFL0vb8cg