Voo Voo

Voo Voo

Published: October 23, 2016

Voo Voo is a Polish rock and jazz band founded in Warsaw in 1986 and still going strong today. Its original members were Wojciech Waglewski (vocals, guitar), Andrzej Nowicki (bass guitar), Wojciech Morawski (drums), and Milo Kurtis (percussion, trumpet). Most of them came from the band Morawski Waglewski Nowicki Hołdys, which existed only from 1984 to 1985.

According to the band itself, their goal is not widespread popularity but just to keep making the kind of music they love, and this has allowed them to gain a small cult following. Beyond their alternative rock—they got their start at the Jarocin alternative music festival in Poland—they also write music for films and theater. They constantly strive to expand their creativity, saying that their music contains “various musical worlds.” They cite theater as one of their main roots and inspirations.

They’ve released some 30 albums—an astonishing 25 studio albums and a handful of live recordings—sometimes more than one per year. Waglewski has also recorded several solo albums and written film scores. Voo Voo’s early albums were metaphysical and, according to some reviewers, almost bizarre. They’ve changed a lot over the years, always trying new things and experimenting with their music. They’ve collaborated with scores of other Polish artists in many genres and mediums. Their current members are Wojciech Waglewski (vocals, guitar), Mateusz Pospieszalski (vocals, keyboards, woodwinds), Piotr “Stopa” Żyżylewicz (drums), and Karim Martusewicz (bass).

Waglewski is the father of Bartosz Waglewski, or Fisz, a Polish rapper, and Piotr Waglewski, or Emade, a hip-hop producer. The brothers also have a band, Kim Nowak (the Polish spelling of Kim Novak).

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“Visit 1” (“Wizyta 1”), 1986:

 

Lyrics for “Wizyta 1”:

Kiedyś byłem tak zupełnie sobie obojętny
Życie zastygło i czas płynął niemal poza mną
I dopiero niedawno nagle stał się cud
Tak wyraźnie zobaczyłem, że jestem większy od siebie

Rosłem z dnia na dzień, a ciało moje jakby się kurczyło,
W końcu zrzuciłem je – teraz unoszę się do gwiazd
Tak jak one malutki kryję się wśród chmur
Tylko chwilę byłem wielki teraz lecę coraz niżej − znikam.

 

“Overtime” (“Po godzinach”), 2014:

 

Lyrics for “Po godzinach”:

Po całej nocy spadania głową w dół
Czuję że poczułem
Jakbym jeszcze coś czuł
Potykam się o resztki
Wczorajszego dnia
I choć dawno nie spałem
To nie chce mi się spać
O nie!

Gołębie chcą zagłuszyć ulicy szum
Ja też nocą chciałem być głośniej niż tłum
By dotarło do ciebie choć kilka słów
Nie udało się raczej
lecz spróbuję jutro znów

Niby mnie wkurza to trzaskanie drzwiami bycze
Te twarze tak stęsknione za robotą
To niczego mi nie trzeba
Nie rozglądam się za niczym
I lubię te poranne powroty

W hotelu mnie usypia sprzątaczek ble ble
W opakowaniu czekam na nienadchodzący sen
Zjem śniadanie i wyjdę zanim znów się ściemni
By zrobić coś starego po nowemu zupełnie

 

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About the author

Julie Hersh

Julie studied Russian as a Second Language in Irkutsk and before that, Bishkek, with SRAS's Home and Abroad Scholarship program, with the goal of someday having some sort of Russia/Eurasia-related career. She recently got her master’s degree from the University of Glasgow and the University of Tartu, where she studied women’s dissent in Soviet Russia. She also has a bachelor’s degree in literature from Yale. Some of her favorite Russian authors are Sorokin, Shishkin, Il’f and Petrov, and Akhmatova. In her spare time Julie cautiously practices martial arts, reads feminist websites, and taste-tests instant coffee for her blog.

Program attended: Home and Abroad Scholar

View all posts by: Julie Hersh