The recordings of the band Błękitni are mostly covers of songs by well-known bands of the 1960s; they are authentic and almost 50 years old. The quality is very poor, because they were made in a very amateur way, with no regard for any rules of electroacoustics, on equipment available in the shops (a Tesla tape recorder - 4.75 cm/sec). "Magnetic dropouts" make it all worse.

Listening today to live concert recordings of some bands.. they are not far off... and that is comforting.

This recording has documentary value and should be looked at in that light, but I also believe that the atmosphere of those days - through the sound - is preserved very faithfully. It is one of the few surviving music recordings of an amateur 1960s band from Kraków.

Many thanks to Janusz Cholewa for greatly improving the quality of recordings 7, 9, 10 and 11

The recordings of the band Krak 5 include covers of songs by well-known bands of the 1960s as well as the band's own compositions; they are authentic and almost 50 years old. The quality is not too bad.

The recordings were made on 1/4" analogue tape at 38 cm/sec, and then a copy was made at 9.5 cm/sec so that they could be played at home. It was from that tape that a copy was made to hard disk and a CD burned, with no interference in the material, after which the material was compressed for the internet.

These are further recordings of an excellent amateur Kraków band which have miraculously survived to this day. They were processed and lent by Jacek Mastykarz - the band's lead guitarist and vocalist - see him today.

Thank you very much, Jacek, for your major contribution - and not only in this case - to recreating the Kraków music scene of the 1960s.

Listen to the recordings with the echo mixer built by Jacek Mastykarz in the 1960s from a Piosenka tape recorder (1963 model). The sound is not far from the Watkins echo - an effect which The Shadows were among the first to use in recordings.

Recordings 2-8 were made at the Zaścianek club in the Student Campus (Miasteczko Studenckie) in Kraków, and 9-12 at the TV Kraków studio on Krzemionki Street. All the recordings were engineered by Marek Adamczyk.

"Live" recordings of the band The Lessers from 1967 - first an introduction of the band, then the songs and an interview with Antoni Krupa conducted by the concert's presenter; the concert took place in Częstochowa.

Studio recordings of the vocal group Margaretki from the early 1970s. Only early recordings survive, from the time when the group was still "getting polished", but they are worth a listen.

The first record by the Kraków beat band Szwagry, containing the songs:

The record I obtained is in very poor condition. The recordings were transferred from the record to digital form without any correction. The conversion was done at STUDIO MASTYKARZ, for which I thank you very much, Jacek.

Thanks to the kindness of Adam Ćwikliński of Warsaw, Janusz Sadłowski of Kraków and Mieczysław Suder of Skoczów, this page includes recordings they have shared, of decidedly better quality than those on my record, as well as non-album versions of other recordings.

Line-up on the recordings: Wiśniewska Irena, Koster Marian, Tarsiński Jerzy, Zieliński Zygmunt (Bobby), Sztyc Zbigniew, Wójcik Tadeusz, Perelmuter Wiktor.

Recordings by the beat band Szwagry made for the television show "Przepraszam, że zraszam", broadcast in 1969 on TVP 1. The words of the show were by J.Sztaudynger, with music by Szwagry. Because of its character, the music never entered the band's repertoire.

Line-up in the show: Bocheński Kazimierz, Czeczel Ryszard, Dura Jerzy, Gogulski Zdzisław, Jakóbiec Andrzej, Michalak Marek, Piwowarski Jerzy.

Recordings of the band Szwagry from 1980 - vocalists Marek Kulisiewicz / Bogdan Dijuk

Surviving recordings of the band Zdrój Jana - radio version.

Kraków - Dworek Białoprądnicki - live concert, 12 Dec 2004 - see the photos

Ela Żakowicz began her singing career as early as 1963. She sang in many Kraków beat bands. This page includes a recording she made with the band Wiślanie 69 (a record release) at the end of the 1960s. Later she sang abroad for many years. The song "Maby she, maby you" was in the Radio Luxembourg chart.

Marek Pawlak - today a "one-man band", lives permanently in Sweden (Stockholm). He visits Poland once a year, usually in April.

The video clip (watch) above is a dedication to Witek Robotycki on his 60th birthday from Paulina Caine-Balicka (Australia).

A recording from the demo CD of the band The Comeback - vocals: Kazik Bocheński

Blues o poranku

Demo CD, November 2005

A recording from the demo CD of Gabor Band, 2004 - vocals: Aniceta and Marlena Florek

Chanson Da Mour

A recording from the demo CD of the band RELAX, 2004 - on pan flute: Janusz Gajec - see also here

Time to say goodbye (A.Bocelli)

Literary and cabaret songs by Leszek Walicki, arranged by Tadeusz Mitka - recordings from 2 CDs from 2004 - sung by Zofia Pilarz