My favorite musical discovery of the year

Following the bluesy yet abstract sounding rock-organ lick, the glorious voice entered somewhere between a pulsating baritone and a rollicking tenor:

"Strange is this world."

Only, he was singing in Polish: "Dziwny jest swiat..."

I'm embarrassed to say that I've only recently discovered the music of Czeslaw Niemen. Since then, I've listened to numerous works by him, and I've grown convinced that he is one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 20th century.

Perhaps the term "singer-songwriter" is a bit weak, as he comes across as more of a warrior-poet with a mean blues-organ. His songs move effortlessly between the deep folk sentiments of the Slavs, to a more gritty American blues, to gestures and textures any Western Prog outfit would be quite happy to have written. His voice is sonorous, expansive, and bearing an expressive quality that few -- if any -- in any pop genre today could even hope to imitate.

I will hesitantly compare him to Prince... but only after you add expression, take away pop-pandering, increase the depth of lyrical meaning, and mercifully replace the asexual posturing with some genuinely manly musicianship.

Most importantly, Niemen's music and lyrics came from deep within the Polish poetic tradition, ensuring him an artistic immortality impossible for the average pop writer. Poetry is the language of God and truth, and Niemen spoke it well.

If this man had only spoken clean English, he would have gone down as one of the greatest popular musicians in history. Instead, American companies rejected his style and his accent, and his Canadian English-language effort fell predictably flat.

Thanks to the internet, you can now discover yet another bypassed musical talent, regardless of what the floundering labels might want you to think.

A youtube link follows, then, from which you can also access a live performance. The song, "Dziwny jest ten swiat," speaks of the strangeness of any world in which one man can work to harm another, claiming that the challenge of our times is to rid ourselves of hate.

Enjoy, my friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzACDJCfQvs&feature=related