THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,106) Czerwone Gitary/Red Guitars — “Czekam na twój przyjazd”/”I Am Looking Forward to Your Arrival”
The “Polish Beatles” give us a “brilliant” (thelarch, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/czerwone-gitary/na-fujarce.p/) song from their ’70 album Na fujarce (On the Folk Flute) — featuring the classic combination of upbeat, effervescent, horn-infused music and despairing lyrics (about a man waiting at a train station for a woman he knows might never arrive, waiting so long that “a bird has even managed to build a nest in my hat”, vowing to wait forever, knowing “I probably won’t live to see you arrive”). (courtesy of Google Translate).
As to the LP, thelarch writes:
One reason for the dramatic 1969 [Krzysztof] Klenczon – [Seweryn] Krajewski split was the latter’s urge to try some more experimental and free approach. Indeed, the first post-Klenczon release by Czerwone Gitary is their most ambitious project, though only in parts – some tracks seem pretty conventional, even by the standards of the groups first three albums. . . . Unfortunately, the general public in Poland was less tolerant (the band got booed with the new material at the festival in Opole), and to avoid the adverse publicity Czerwone Gitary never took risks again reverting to plough the not-so-dangerous pop burrow. Which is sad for me.
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/czerwone-gitary/na-fujarce.p/
Maciej Sienkiewicz tells us of Czerwone Gitary (courtesy of Google Translate):
Czerwone Gitary was one of the most popular and enduring Polish bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Formed in Gdańsk in January 1965, the original members included Krzysztof Klenczon (vocals, guitar), Jerzy Kossela (vocals, guitar), Jerzy Skrzypczyk (drums), Bernard Dornowski (vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and Henryk Zomerski (bass guitar, vocals, electric organs). Their first concerts took place in the Sopot Club “Non-Stop”, and they released their first single “Bo Ty się boisz myszy” (Because Your Afraid of Mice) shortly after. In 1965, after making their debut on Polish Radio, Czerwone Gitary went on a highly successful Autumn tour claiming, “We play and sing the loudest in Poland!”. In December 1965, Seweryn Krajewski replaced Henryk Zomerski. For their first months Krajewski and Skrzypczyk performed under the stage aliases “Robert Marczak” and “Jerzy Geret” – as music students they were at risk of being expelled for playing in a “bigbit” band. Their first album To właśnie my (Its Us) was recorded at the end of 1966 in only two days. The record sold 160,000 copies, but soon after its release Jerzy Kossela left the group. His duties as a frontman were taken over by Krzysztof Klenczon. The latter part of the 1960’s saw the group reach the apex of their popularity. Their next records (2 from June 1967 and 3 from 1968) both reached the top of the Polish charts. In 1969, Czerwone Gitary received a “Marble Record” at the MIDEM music fair in Cannes for the most popular band in the country. In June of the same year, the group also won first prize at the Opole Festival with their piece “Biały krzyż” (White Cross). In 1970 Krzysztof Klenczon left the band, and formed his own group, Trzy Korony. . . . Seweryn Krajewski became the principal composer, with Dornowski and Skrzypczyk continuing in their earlier roles joined by the guitar player and singer Dominik Konrad. However, Dominik Konrad would only stay with the band to record Na fujarce, considered by many to be their finest album. After the departure of Konrad the band continued as a trio and in 1971 recorded two more albums: Spokój serca and Consuela (in German, released in East Germany). Later the band would collaborate with the all-vocal band Alibabki . . . . This led to three albums . . . . The band also performed and toured extensively in the USSR and many Eastern Block countries effectively disappearing from the Polish scene.
Wikipedia elaborates (courtesy of Google Translate):
They achieved their greatest successes in the first five years of their existence, and the press sometimes referred to them as the “Polish Beatles” (or “Beatles of Eastern Europe”) due to their similarities – including their original playing style and stage expression – with the British group. The band was founded on January 3, 1965 . . . . From the very beginning, the band worked on its own style of composition, arrangement, and performance, which was intended to distinguish it from other artists, and for this reason, it rejected attempts to imitate foreign groups. Their work was aimed primarily at teenage audiences, but Krajewski and Klenczon – chosen as the group’s main songwriters as the band developed – also created songs for the older generation. . . . In December 1965, Henryk Zomerski left the band and was replaced by Seweryn Krajewski, who had previously performed as a guest in the band. . . . In the years 1965–1966 they performed seasonally, among others, at the “Non-Stop” club in Sopot, and also played during carnival balls. After a dozen or so weeks of work, they received an offer to record for the music department of Polish Radio, which they completed in February and June 1965 . . . . They also went on their first concert tour around Poland; for three months they often gave two concerts a day, usually in primitive halls with terrible sound systems, yet they gathered a group of admirers. Also in 1965, they received an invitation to audition for the 3rd National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, but they did not participate due to a lack of adequate financial resources. The following year, they performed outside the competition in the “Afternoon with Youth” concert during the 4th . . . Festival in Opole. Also in 1966, they released their debut album, To taki my” (That’s Us) , for which they received a silver record certificate in Poland for selling 160,000 copies. . . . In December of the same year, they participated in the first edition of the “Gitariada” competition in Warsaw, and their performance received positive reviews in the press, radio and television. As the popularity of Czerwone Gitary grew, the first conflicts began to arise between the band members, which led to Jerzy Kossela’s resignation from further cooperation in December 1966, and in April 1967 he formally left the band. In May 1967, the remaining musicians recorded an album entitled Czerwone Gitary 2 , which sold 250,000 copies. The following month they performed at the 5th [Festival in Opole] . . . for which Krajewski received the Polish Jazz Federation Award for his compositional debut. In 1968 they released the album Czerwone Gitary 3, for which they received a gold record certificate in Poland for sales of over 300,000 copies. . . . In the same year . . . they received the first prize of the Chairman of the Radio and Television Committee at the 6th [Festival in Opole] . . . . In the winter of 1968, they went on a three-month tour of the USSR, and in the same year they performed for the first time in the GDR [the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)], where they became a sensation. In January 1969, they received a trophy at the International Record Fair (MIDEM) in Cannes, awarded for the highest number of records sold in the artist’s country of origin . . . . They received an award for the most popular youth band in Poland from the editors of the weekly music magazine “Billboard”. In June . . . they received the Award of the Minister of Culture and Art at the 7th [Festival in Opole] . . . . Also in 1969, they received the Golden Microphone from the Polish-American Art Agency for “outstanding musical achievements” and the Golden Anchor of the Sopot Summer of ’69, i.e., first prize at the Festival of Youth Bands in Sopot. That same year, they released several more hits . . . and were hailed as the most popular youth band of the year. . . . In January 1970, they performed in the revue Our Madness at the Syrena Theatre in Warsaw . . . . In the same year, Krzystof Klenczon left Czerwone Gitary , disliking the idea of changing the band’s sound – Seweryn Krajewski wanted the group to start playing music bordering on jazz, soul and classical music. The remaining musicians, now without their former leader and musical director, recorded and released an LP entitled Na fujarce (On the Folk Flute) (1970), which is considered by some music critics to be the band’s best, but was rather lukewarmly received by fans. They also continued their career in the GDR, releasing there . . . in 1970 a single . . . and in 1971 – a longplay entitled Warszawa, which was an extended version of the album Czerwone Gitary 3.
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