A look into the past..

       I have been trying to recall how it all began. Well, from early childhood I was taught and prepared to play the piano - classical music. I remember that when we lived in Rzeszów my piano teacher was the gentleman who had taught a later prize-winner of the Chopin Competition - Adam Harasiewicz. And everything was heading towards classical music until the move to Nowa Huta. I have to say that the teachers engaged once we were in Nowa Huta were, to put it briefly, too weak, and after each successive music teacher my Parents gave up and looked for the next one.       Those were the years 1955, 1956. There were "teachers" who simply fell asleep during my exercises. That, frankly, put me off classical music - I stopped learning and closed the piano. No pleas or threats from my Parents helped - that was the end of the piano.

      At secondary school I found myself in the class with German, and it was there that my (brief) adventure with music began anew. One day Rysiek Borowiecki, whom I mentioned in my previous letter to you, brought an accordion to a Russian lesson and, to the accompaniment of the accordion (a 120-bass Weltmeister), the class sang in Russian. Rysiek also had a piano at home, and one day, when I was at his place, we talked about combining accordion and piano.

      We started timidly, but something was working out. True, I had not dealt with popular music before, but it was enough for me to hear a piece to play it (without sheet music - although reading music for both hands was no problem at all) and there were no problems tuning in to the accordion. I did not like playing from sheet music - that was a leftover from classical music - exercises, fingerings, études and so on.. Then came the scout camps and "dances" to the accordion. To give Rysiek a bit of a break from his "work" I played along myself with the right hand (without the basses), and castanets made up the rhythm section. And I must say it went somehow. After coming back from one of the camps we met at Rysiek's, and just for fun a few girls and a few boys we knew turned up there too. As you would expect - accordion + piano + - exactly - here one of them had drumsticks from heaven knows where. Andrzej Sojka - for it was he who brought the sticks - became the first drummer.

       Wherever there were drums and a piano we could now play. Nobody thought seriously about a name, because it was all done, as young people say nowadays, for a laugh. And there were "performances" in Wersalik - on the Ogrodowe estate, at the Scouts' House, and since we did not really take it seriously we attached no importance to the band's name. One day Krzysiek Partyka turned up with a saxophone, and it was he who also brought in Tadek Gogosz. So in fact there was a quiet little band at the 11th Secondary School.

      At the scout camps we were joined by Zdzisław Nazarko and Piotrek Pałamar. Later there appeared Maniuś Plutecki (drums and later guitar), Adaś Komenda and Andrzej Kunz - piano, and for a moment Bala - that is, Zbyszek Balicki - sat behind the drums. Most of them were pupils of the 11th (for a certain period it was the 16th Secondary School). So we played in various line-ups and in various places right up to the end of 1960 - in May 1961 we had our school-leaving exams. The regular line-up was Rysiek Borowiecki, Krzysiek Partyka, Maniuś Plutecki, Tadek Gogosz, with the rest taking turns.

      I remember our last performance, when we played at the end-of-carnival party in the Teachers' House in Nowa Huta - Rysiek Borowiecki, Andrzej Sojka, Krzysiek Partyka and I - and how the headmaster of our school came up to us, amazed that he knew nothing about his pupils playing at dances while he was hunting for bands to play at the school's own dances. But unfortunately we never played again, not even at school, because new faces had appeared and Krzysiek Partyka, together with Tadek Gogosz and Maniuś Plutecki, had begun "scheming" around AMETYŚCI. We knew about it, as it happens, but we did not make a tragedy of it, because Rysiek with his accordion was not fashionable at that time - although Staszek Karpierz (I know Staszek too and we meet from time to time) was belting it out on the squeezebox in those days and a joy it was. I had other interests as well - football (my Father was the coach of Hutnik), basketball - but when my friends needed help I played the piano, and when they had a full line-up I did not push in.

      We also knew Jurek Ochoński very well, and later (after our exams) we watched the rivalry between AMETYŚCI and BIAŁA GWIAZDA. Naturally, because "our lads" were playing in Ametyści, our sympathy was on their side. I do not remember whether the line-up of Biała Gwiazda ever included the name Witek Robotycki. He was, if I am not mistaken, the first trumpeter of that band. Zygmunt Schorstein - how familiar that name is to me, but unfortunately I cannot place the man - his picture does not come back to my mind - and yet we certainly knew each other very well.

      And so, in brief - that was my playing. Nowadays only occasionally - most often at Christmas - I sit down at the keyboard and play carols, and the one who enjoys it most is my 6-year-old granddaughter.

      That is how I remember that "playing", truly quite amateur, with no importance attached to the band's name; besides, electric guitars were all the rage then, not some heavy keyboard instruments, which on top of that were not to be found everywhere. Back in the days of our youth, did anyone imagine that in 2003 there would turn up an enthusiast, a certain Rycho, who would sort it all out, piece it together and make it available to posterity? It really is very pleasant to read the entries in the guest book saying that some people did not believe something like this had come about in Nowa Huta and that it was right here that well-known big-beat bands were formed. From this website about Ryszardy our kids - young men today - learn that their parents were pretty good at making music and that they can be proud of them. That is precisely the result of your painstaking work.

      Coming back to the names once more: I mentioned to you Józek Krzeczek and the Sajdak brothers. Janusz and Andrzej I knew very well on account of our parents' close acquaintance. The parents used to meet, so inevitably the children knew each other. In Zabierzów, during a walk along the walking trail, a gentleman stopped me and to my surprise it turned out to be Janusz Sajdak - he recognised me after so many years. We had a chat and promised each other a meeting - I gave Janusz my phone number and I am waiting. Perhaps Janusz is on the road somewhere again, although he said he was done with travelling and had settled down. Now, thanks to your website and to "chats" on GG with Jacek Romiszewski, memories of those years have come alive again. Just recently Jacek and I exchanged e-mails about sport, also from those years, and it turned out that together we recalled a great deal.

      Not long ago, near the Medical Centre, I ran into Krzysiek Partyka. We talked about your website, the distant old days and making music. It was then that I learned that the two of you had worked together at the Tube Rolling Mill. As Krzysiek and I parted we promised each other that we would meet, all the more so as in our young days we used to see each other, our wives knew each other and we often met either in Viola, famous in those days, or on the Szkolne estate in Próżniak! Who remembers Próżniak - the former TPPR Club! Now, unfortunately, with age we have less and less time, and social life looks quite different from how it did long, long ago.