#republika

Second half of my lost vision. One more spy/republika related post is on the way im sorry its gonna be the last one im sorry

Drew Harry Du Bois as the cover art for Obywatel GC's album Tak Tak for a grand audience of one (my humble self)

Throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, rock music was huge in Poland, much like everywhere else in the world. Hundreds of bands came and went. And, as expected, a lot of them overlapped - causing rivalries to form.

And today I'll be writing about one, special rivalry in particular - Lady Pank and Republika.

Being active mostly in the same years, though their music couldn't be more different, both bands were in the same business, of course. Fans of both are, after all these years, known to be troublesome, to say the least, often getting into fight with each other.

Though i don't recall any actual chart battles between the two bands, there is evidence of debates about the quality of their music as far back as the mid 80s.

I did find more interesting stuff though; passed down for more than four decades, with an unknown origin, a mock chant against Republika.

"Biała flaga, czarne pasy, Republika to kutasy"

~losing the rhyme, roughly translated to...

"White flag, black stripes, Republika are dicks"

Couldn't get more direct than that, i'd say. The chant in question refers to Republika's signature white flag with black stripes, appearing on almost every album cover of theirs. Apparently, the chant was mostly used by Lady Pank fans.

Where things actually get interesting, is the relationship between the actual members of the two bands. Because it seems like Grzegorz Ciechowski, leader of Republika was close friends with both Jan Borysewicz and Janusz Panasewicz - frontmen of Lady Pank.

Not only Panasewicz himself called Ciechowski a close friend, referring to him affectionately as Grzesiu, both bands often shared gigs, parties and took photos together - not for the press, but for the sole memories.

What actually solidifies it for me, is Lady Pank's album Tacy Sami. After a rough comeback in 1987, after Ciechowski not only offered support through media, he actually wrote four songs for the album, as a gesture of help for Borysewicz, who just lost his songwriter.

Oglądamy film

Ratuj tylko mnie

Zostawcie Titanica

And, as a bonus track,

Zasypiam nad ranem

Jan Borysewicz, Janusz Panasewicz & Grzegorz Ciechowski

+Republika & Jan Borysewicz!