IRA

IRA

Published: October 7, 2016

IRA is a Polish rock band that was founded in 1987 and still exists today. Its original members were Kuba Płucisz (guitar), Artur Gadowski (vocals), Wojtek Owczarek (drums), Darek Grudzień (bass), and Grzegorz Wawrzeńczyk (keyboards), who on one fine day agreed that they would become rock stars, according to the band’s website. In fact, that is exactly what they did. The band’s name comes from the Latin word for “anger,” but the band’s name has caused some problems when people assumed they were named for the Irish Republican Army.

The band’s career started on the Polish festival circuit, including in Opole, where they were awarded a prize for distinction. They also toured several Soviet cities on the International Youth Festival of Artists of the Socialist Countries in 1988. Over the next couple of years they continued touring, mainly in the USSR, had their first few changes of membership, and began to sing in English in addition to Polish. They released their first album, Ira, in 1989, and their second, My House (Mój dom), in 1992. The next few years saw more albums and more tours.

In 1997, the band decided to suspend activities because they had lost too many necessary members. Vocalist Artur Gadowski started performing as a soloist and released an album in 1998. He was immediately successful, touring as far away as the US. In 2000, though, he began to think about reviving IRA, and he, Peter Suyka (bass; he had participated in Gadowski’s solo project), and original member Owczarek began performing again as IRA the next year. Fans responded positively to the revival. The band’s current composition is the previously mentioned three, plus guitarists Marcin Bracichowicz and Piotr Konca. They’ve now released just as many albums in the band’s second life as in the first, for a total of ten.

Find IRA on Amazon

 

“My House” (“Mój dom”), 1992:

Lyrics for “Mój dom”:

Mógłbym być teraz w USA
W pocie czoła zbijać gruby szmal
Bawić starsze panie i mieć credit card
Ale nie, nie, nie, nie ucieknę stąd

Lubię nosić buty z wielkim czubem
Moje długie włosy to jest coś co lubię
Lubię pić piwo i palić skręty
Ale nie, nie ucieknę stąd

Mój dom to te szare ulice
Mój dom to kolejka po pracę
Mój dom to ci smutni ludzie
Mój dom to ty i ja /x2

Mój dom to te szare ulice
Mój dom to kolejka po darmowy szmal
Mój dom to ci smutni ludzie
Mój dom to ty i ja

To mój dom!

 

“Repeat This” (“Powtarzaj to”), 2016:

Lyrics for “Powtarzaj to”:

Nie ma takiej siły, która nas rozdzieli
Przełamie los
Nie ma takiej siły, która nas odmieni
Powtarzaj to

Żaden cień w nas rzucony,
Gorzkich łez wodospady,
Nagły strach tuż nad ranem po złym śnie.
Żaden gest nieprzyjazny,
Ani plan zbyt odważny
Nie ma szans chociaż krew gorąca jest.

Powtarzaj to
Nie ma takiej siły, która nas rozdzieli.
Przełamie los
Nie ma takiej siły, która nas odmieni.
Powtarzaj to
Nie ma takiej mocy, nie ma szans
Póki w to wierzymy, będzie tak
I już nigdy nic nas nie rozdzieli.

Żaden gniew bez kontroli,
Ani szlak zagubiony
Nigdy już nie odbierze siebie nam.
Nawet, gdy coś się stanie,
Będzie w nas ciągle pamięć
Jak to jest, kiedy nagle staje czas.

Powtarzaj to
Nie ma takiej siły, która nas rozdzieli.
Przełamie los
Nie ma takiej siły, która nas odmieni.
Powtarzaj to
Nie ma takiej mocy, nie ma szans
Póki w to wierzymy, będzie tak
I już nigdy nic nas nie rozdzieli.
Powtarzaj to

 

Find IRA on Amazon

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