Cellar Under the Rams – Mieczysław Święcicki

After WWII, Poland found itself behind the Iron Curtain, becoming part of the Eastern Bloc, and joined the states under Soviet control. Until 1989, communism was the order of the day and it decreed a unified, top-down template that applied to all activities, including arts and culture. Back then, the primary function of cultural institutions was to sing the praises of the communist state. But even during these hard times there were places, organisations, movements that provided enclaves of - admittedly, limited - freedom, of respite from the oppressive and bleak reality of the Polish People’s Republic. The Cellar under the Rams, a literary cabaret housed in the basement of Potocki Palace in the Old Town’s Main Square in Kraków, was one of such distinctive phenomena. Founded in 1956 by the then students, among others its artistic director Piotr Skrzynecki, visual artist Bronisław Chromy, and composer Krzysztof Penderecki, it soon skyrocketed to fame. This unassuming basement became the stamping ground for Kraków intellectual and artistic circles: physicians, lawyers, painters, photographers, writers, musicians, sculptors, actors, film and theatre directors. It was a magnet both for celebrity scientists and for bohemians. Performances staged in The Cellar, song lyrics, outdoor events, and zany jubilee bashes laid bare the absurdities of the system. To artists and audiences alike, they served as a counteraction to the complex and hypocritical lived experience of communist Poland. In the 1960s, jazz music, which the state authorities did not endorse, also found a safe haven there. Soon, Piotr Skrzynecki (1930-1997) became the driving force of The Cellar. A living legend in his lifetime, Skrzynecki was an eccentric compere, an unparalleled improvisor, an all-round artist, and a mover and shaker behind events organised on-site. In 1989, artists associated with The Cellar - not unlike the majority of Polish society - rejoiced at the fall of communism in Central Europe.
Skrzynecki died in 1997, closing behind the original chapter in the history of the most notable late twentieth-century Polish cabaret. Countless esteemed artists graced The Cellar’s stage, including pianist Krzysztof Komeda, trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, singer Ewa Demarczyk, and film score composer Zbigniew Preisner. In its heyday, the club enjoyed a wide network of high-profile friends and well-wishers, such as film director Andrzej Wajda, writer and Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz, playwright Sławomir Mrożek, and journalist Jerzy Turowicz. The cabaret remains active to this day: some of the old-time artists are still around, just as they were thirty or forty years ago; seasoned audience members still frequent the club, introducing new generations to the legendary haunt.
Mieczysław Święcicki in performance at the Cellar Under the Rams. Straw hats, garish ties, jabots, a number of suits, changed even three times a day. A lyrical baritone and a 7-string guitar. That is how Święcicki introduced himself to the Cellar milieu as early as in 1956, when he left his hometown of Jarosław to pursue studies in Kraków. This young and ambitious student of vocal arts quickly partnered with Zygmunt Konieczny, a fellow undergraduate enrolled in the music programme. “Groszki i róże” (Peas and Roses), one of the first compositions by Konieczny, was successfully performed by Święcicki at the Music Festival in Opole in 1963. But in the end this as well as other songs were handed over to Demarczyk and became her staples, while Święcicki discovered the charm of Romani romances recorded by Alexander Vertinsky, the most famous Russian bard of the interwar period (1918–1939). Thanks to his repertoire consisting of these nostalgic oldies but goldies, Święcicki was dubbed “The Prince of Mood”. As an artist, he collaborated with numerous cabaret troupes and with the Old Theatre. Alongside Piotr Skrzynecki and fellow Cellar regulars, he frequented the Kolorowa Cafe in Kraków’s Gołębia Street, where he even founded his own cabaret in 1969.