Variété


Variété – a new-wave band from Poland.

History

The band was founded in autumn 1983 as ZyZyZy which was later changed into Variété Est Morte and then shortened into Variété. The original lineup featured Grzegorz Kaźmierczak, Wojciech Woźniak, Jacek Buhl, Radosław Urbański and Sławomir Abramowicz. Variété made their debut at Jarocin Festival in 1984 where they received an award, presenting coldwave music enriched with Kaźmierczak's poetry. The group appeared again on the Jarocin stage in 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994.
In 1985, Variété went into the studio to record two tracks for their debut single "I znowu ktoś przestawił kamienie”. In 1986 the band recorded 10 songs for their first longplay with the working title Bydgoszcz. A day before the band was about to sign a contract with a record label, the master tape had been stolen from the car. It hasn't been found to this day. Only poor quality copies of the record circulated unofficially in Poland, one of which was released in 1992 by University Radio Pomorze. The album was officially released on compact disc as Bydgoszcz 1986 only in 2002 by Furia Musica.
The concert in Jarocin’86 was recorded by the BBC film crew who at that time was shooting a documentary My Blood, Your Blood. However, due to poor stage lighting the recorded scenes were not included in the final version of the film.
A year later the band suspended their activity to resume it after a few months in the following lineup: Kaźmierczak – Woźniak – Buhl. In 1988 Kaźmierczak and Woźniak formed a duo WINA to receive an award at the Stage Songs Review held at the Hybrydy Club in Warsaw. As winners they qualified to perform at the Student Songs Festival in Cracow, however, they decided not to take that opportunity as they didn't consider the festival a suitable event for them. Radek Urbański joined the band as guitarist a year later, and in 1990 he was replaced by Marek Maciejewski who has been playing guitar since. In 1989 Tomasz "Perełka” Dorn, known from Abaddon, took place of Jacek Buhl. That lineup recorded a self-titled album – Variété which brought a partial change in style. Some elements of jazz appeared on the record, mainly thanks to a legendary trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski whom the band had invited to the recording session. In the following years the band released two albums: Koncert Teatr STU – a live album recorded in Cracow in 1994, this time with participation of another eminent figure in the Polish Jazz scene – Mikołaj Trzaska, and a studio album entitled Wieczór przy balustradzie. In 2001 Variété started rehearsing with a new drummer – Jarek Hejmann, known from the band Dubska. Nowy Materiał was released in 2005. One of the co-founders of Variété – Wojtek Woźniak – left the band in 2006. He was replaced by Tomasz Krzemiński. In the fall of 2006 Kaźmierczak and Maciejewski went to New York. During their 6 months stay in USA, together with Luigi Franceschini on drums and Donald Dixon on bass guitar they recorded Zapach Wyjścia. The album was released in 2008 by independent Warsaw-based label Kuka Records. In 2011 Marcin Karnowski, a drummer known from 3moonboys and George Dorn Screams, joined Kaźmierczak and Maciejewski, and Variété started rehearsing as a trio. This lineup recorded Piosenki Kolonistów which enjoyed an enthusiastic reception. After release of the album, keyboardist Bartek Gasiul and bassist Grzegorz Korybalski joined the band.
In 2015, choreographer Jacek Gębura directed a dance and music performance entitled “The Ball, or Get-Together. Variété plays” which had its premiere at the Stage Songs Review in Wrocław. In the same year, an album which is a recording of that performance, entitled PPA Wrocław 2015, was released. The spectacle has been successfully staged until today, mainly at theatre festivals. A new studio album is planned for release in 2017.
In making of the last few albums Variété have developed their own approach to recording new material and further work on it. Musicians meet in a studio for a few hours’ sessions to record all tracks of all instruments. After that they choose the most interesting fragments and only based on those they build new songs.
Although Variété is considered by many as a leading representative of cold wave, in his current remarks Grzegorz Kaźmierczak emphasizes the necessity of departing from that genre as a prerequisite of progress. At the same time Variété is seen by a lot of musicians as a band that shaped their musical and literary awareness, a group that continues to inspire.

Discography

Albums

The discography is supplemented by a demo cassette Nothing, distributed by the band in 1984.