SMAR SW Jarocin 93 - This is the way of the world - gazeta wyborcza

Such is the world

The Festival of Rock Musicians in Jarocin has fulfilled various functions in its several-year history. For young people it was an oasis of several days of freedom, for scientists and journalists - a place where sociological surveys and sensational articles were written, and for the authorities - according to a theory popular in the domestic music industry - this largest rock event in Poland was treated from its inception as a safety valve. The Jarocin event was created by Walter Chełstowski. When he passed away in 1987, lean years followed for the festival. Four years later, Chełstowski's return, supported by Owsiak, was greeted by the rock industry with hopes of a Jarocin revival. However, there was no shortage of biting comments stirred up by the megalomania of the artistic chief: "Chełstowski during the festival has a rented room with two beds. On one he sleeps, on the other his legend." Chełstowski, an efficient organizer, was never an expert in rock music, he considered the verbal message to be the most important, hence the Jarocin program was dominated by punk rock bands singing lyrics with anarchist messages.

These tendencies were decided to change by Kuba Wojewódzki, a music journalist chosen this year by the festival organizer ROK Corporation to be the artistic head of the Jarocin event. "Let Jarocin stop being identified with a rock and roll skansen, with a mental parochialism under the sign of booty cup," Wojewódzki announced in his credo. - If we want to invite musical Europe to Jarocin, we have to create a piece of it in the organizational and artistic standard at home." The day after the festival ended, we can conclude that this ambitious intention to aesthetically re-evaluate Jarocin has succeeded half-heartedly. Voivod rightly wants to discard ideological baggage and turn the Jarocin festival into a musical event. Contracts with sponsors Marlboro Music and PepsiCo are conducive to this intention. Thanks to their presence, well-known foreign bands will start coming to Jarocin. This year Marlboro poured several hundred million into bringing the New Model Army band from the UK. However, changing the tastes of the Jarocin audience accustomed to punk rock aesthetics requires several years of promotion of bands offering a different sound.

What was played

Day one on the Big Stage was mostly filled with bands deriving from the traditions of punk and reggae, genres present in Jarocin almost from the beginning of the event. The audience enthusiastically welcomed the punk block and concert certainties - Lech Janerka and Dżem. The Small Stage dedicated that day to metal groups brought together fans of this direction, judging from their reactions, fully satisfied with such a large dose of strong music.

Day two was to be decisive in confirming Voivod's intentions to open the festival to bands hitherto underrated or overlooked. On the Big Stage appeared bands singing in English, which Chełstowski disliked, bands inspired by the modern sound of American groups such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More or Soundgarden. Lesser-known groups like Human, Incrowd and Agency were received coolly. Without intensive promotion and the introduction of Polish songs into the repertoire, these bands may not live to see the next Jarocin.

On that day, the "Promotion" concert, stretched over two evenings, was to begin on the Small Stage, where Wojewódzki had scheduled more than twenty bands to perform, most of them just after their record debuts. The demolition of sound equipment during Friday's riots and fear of a repeat led to the unprecedented decision to cancel the concerts on the Small Stage.

Saturday's concert on the Big Stage became the festival's effective closure. Bands favored by the Voivodeship's center rock bands such as T. Love, Oddział Zamknięty and Ira performed, as well as bands awarded in the competition.

Winning pluralism

450 bands entered the competition, from which a jury of musicians and journalists selected 40 groups competing for five record contracts. As expected, the model for many young bands became American formations originating from Seattle. Fortunately, awards were given to bands presenting a variety of rock trends. Among the awardees, the folk-rock playing group Ankh, which includes a violinist who is employed by the Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra on a daily basis, sounded interesting. A very proficient band is the Kr'shna Brothers from Poznań, playing a progressive variety of metal. The alternative environment is represented by Warsaw's Paraphrenia, which comes from the hard core trend. Among the winners were bands as stylistically diverse as punk band Włochaty, artist Futurobnia and metal band Alastor. Thus, the jury's verdict reflected the entire diversity of styles and sounds of Polish rock.

The plebiscite flop

Most of the 250 journalists accredited to the Jarocin festival remained immune to the music. The band Ankh only needed 8 votes to become the winner of the journalists' award. Of the 16,000 spectators, only a few hundred took part in the poll for the best band. Perhaps this is a signal that next year these awards can be dispensed with by betting on the taste of the representatives of record labels, which showed an unusual interest in Jarocin this year by funding the aforementioned 5 contracts.

The end of the Chelstowski era

At a press conference convened the day after the riots on the Small Stage, several journalists in emotional statements cited Chelstowski as a model organizer and artistic director. Yet the course of Jarocin '93, despite its organizational shortcomings and unfulfilled stylistic breakthrough, shows that Chełstowski's time has definitely passed. The protests of several hundred punks, who rioted on the Small Stage protesting the commercialization of Jarocin and the participation of Marlboro, remain the voice of a noisy minority that will eventually cease to have any influence on the organizers. The festival is becoming a commercial event, as it cannot be otherwise with organizational costs reaching 4 billion zlotys. The 16 thousand passes sold, which is a record, allows us to conclude that the young audience comes primarily to listen to music, and ideology or charitable actions have become ballast for Jarocin, rightly rejected by this year's organizers.

by Grzegorz Brzozowicz, Maciej Chmiel, Gazeta Wyborcza no. 184, 09.08.1993

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