Posts tagged w/ tv

Jaka to melodia? - Name That Tune po polsku

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
4
2009

Do you ever have those days when you wake up with a song already stuck in your head? And you have no idea how it got there? And then you just hum that song all day long and can’t get rid of it? Regardless of whether you like it or not?

I’m having this kind of day today. And the song that’s stuck in my head, and I have no clue how on earth I managed to come up with it in the first place, is a really old (or at least it seems old) Polish number that, among many other things, mentions “złe czarne fortepiany” (bad black grandpianos), and something about “blues” and “pogoda dla bogaczy“.

Lately I’ve been having quite a few days like that. And I’m surprising even myself with the sheer volume of old Polish hits that I somehow manage to recall. Under normal circumstances this would be really scary, but I think I have a pretty good idea who’s (or rather - what’s) to blame for all this. And that’s “Jaka to melodia?” (Name that tune), which is wildly popular in Poland.

I wouldn’t last half a round on this show. These people are truly obsessed. They can identify almost any random song from just a couple of random notes. The only time I can get anywhere while playing along is if one of the categories is either “Queen” or “Eric Clapton” (which I guess shows my age again).

Why this game show is so popular I have no idea. Maybe people enjoy watching geeks trying to guess song titles from just one single note (po jednej)? Nah, I don’t think so. I think the fun is in listening to sometimes good, and sometimes frighteningly bad, renditions of old and new hits. The host of the show – Robert Janowski is a decent singer too and actually I like when he grabs a mic and belts out a tune or two. And the guy playing the piano is kinda cute, but that’s besides the point. We are talking strictly about music here, OK?

And so I’m pretty sure I must have heard the “złe czarne fortepiany nie chcą spać” song on “Jaka to melodia?”. Because how else would I even know that such a song at all existed? Until “Jaka to melodia?” I’ve never even heard of Halina Frąckowiak. And here I am now, stubbornly humming one of her greatest hits. And all because of this Robert Janowski fella and his singing girls…

OK, I just had to look it up. The title of the song is “Tin Pan Alley” and it was released in 1984 (or at least that’s what it says on the internet).

And here it is in its original Halina Frąckowiak’s version. Z napisami (with Polish lyrics) even:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjv-6ZHXRjg

 
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Subtitles: Yes or No?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Sep
27
2008

There’s been quite a discussion going on among my friends about this plan of TVP2 (one of the Polish TV channels, link sadly in Polish only) to start using Polish subtitles for some of its programming. And it’s about blerry time, I’d say!

You see, while most countries either use subtitles in their native language or dub foreign programs completely, in Poland the set-up is slightly different. There you have one person (normally a guy) reading the lines of all actors in Polish while the original soundtrack is still somewhat audible in the background. So let’s say, you have Dr. House going on one of his usual rants and you can just barely hear Hugh Laurie’s voice muffled by the sound of the Polish reader. Sounds weird? It is!
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Four Tankmen And a Dog

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jul
29
2008

I woke up this morning humming the theme song from “Czterej pancerni i pies” (Four Tankmen And a Dog). Don’t ask me why - I must have had some really wacky dreams last night. Mercifully, I remember nothing. So how did this song get stuck in my head this morning? A total mystery to me.

It’s an even greater mystery that I still remember all the words to it. And that is truly scary – the last time I heard this song was sometime in 1981.

Oh wait! You have no clue what I’m talking about, now do you?
Sorry, my bad! Let me explain.

“Czterej pancerni i pies” was a Polish TV series from the late 60s. It was based on a book by Janusz Przymanowski and was about, well, four guys in a tank and their dog. And you could say that as far as Polish TV series go, this one was very successful. So successful in fact, that it achieved a cult status, of sorts, in Poland. Even though only 21 episodes had been made, they’d been rerun and rerun ad nauseam - every year to be exact, up until, oh maybe 1989. Then after the fall of communism, people suddenly got better things to watch on TV, yet still “Czterej pancerni…” remained popular.

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Poles vs Poles

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jun
9
2008

The Euro Cup 2008 frenzy has started. TV programming has been rearranged, matches are replayed at nauseam by every news outlet imaginable, newspaper sports pages have swollen to twice their normal size and people on the streets proudly strut in their national colors. Yep. It’s all soccer. All the time.

Soccer, or football, as we call it over here, is definitely the most popular sport in Poland. Polish fans are famous for their enthusiasm and support. But yesterday’s match tested even the most ardent football enthusiasts. Poland played with Germany during the Euro Cup 2008. And lost. 2 to zip.

No big deal, you may say. Happens all the time. Nah, it doesn’t! You see, both goals were scored by a native Pole, who now plays for the German national team. Lukas (“Łukasz” in Polish) Podolski. He was born in Poland and holds dual nationality. And get this, both times the ball was passed to him by another Pole, who now also plays for the German national team – Miroslav (“Mirosław” in Polish) Klose.

Both guys moved from Poland to Germany when they were kids. Back in those days Poland was still under the communist regime. Both sets of parents were athletes and wanted a better future for their children. Germany, being right next door, seemed like a logical place to settle. In Klose’s situation, the issue was not all that complicated – his father was a Polish-German himself. But as he said in interviews, even now he still speaks Polish at home.

Such emigration was a common occurrence. Germany, the US, Canada, and many other countries benefited from the many talented people, who were leaving Poland in droves during those days. Their kids are now musicians, actors, scientists, writers.

Fast forward to a few years later. Poland is now a member of the European Union. The kids who left the country with their parents are now strapping young men. They also happen to play excellent soccer. German soccer. Sometimes against Poland.

Soccer/football = piłka nożna
Soccer fans = kibice

 
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