General Music Chat

As many of you know, I've been raving about the Polish star Mietek Szczesniak, and working for the last year to help him release an album in America. We finally had his CD release party last night in L.A.

Though it was an intimate room, we filled it with influential people in the music biz and he hit a home run. Our own Dave Hockett was there so I'll let him tell you how great this singer and music is.

So now we're plotting the west coast tour in February and it's going to be glorious. Remember that name even if you can't pronounce it, because you will get the behind-the-scenes preview of a rising major star right here on bandmix.

Any music (samples) online we can hear?

He needs a stage name, as shallow as that sounds. Unless you're a classical musician, Mietek is not going to fly in the U.S.

I appreciate your comments, and I might agree with you Jimmy in any other case, but this guy is really different so having a "different" kind of name is appropriate.

He is a classical musician and we accept that it will be hard for westerners to grasp his name, much less the depth of his music quickly because he is somewhat exotic, though it's not obvious at first glance or listen.

For example, I could post a single video clip and 98% of you would probably just go "mehhhh" because it doesn't slap you in the face. However, if you saw his concert or heard that same song in the context of the full album, you would be astounded by how much pleasure your soul got from it. In other words, it's so deep you can't look at the surface and get it at all.

He won't appeal to everyone, nor does he want to. His music is fine art like we haven't seen in a very long time in America. It is a beautiful mixture of Warsaw meets Hollywood, east meets west. It has deeply spiritual themes running throughout it that I think every person will relate to.

He has 4 absolutely great/legendary Producers involved in the project, and one of them is his pianist. I've seen & known a lot of great pianists in my life...none of them can touch Pawel Zarecki.

The biggest problem he will have in America is that we are used to "fast food" music. We've been trained to respond to hype, and his music doesn't manipulate or boast. It's the kind of album you would put on in your living room and just enjoy. The secret is getting people to slow down enough to listen, not just hear.

He already has a niche base of 15 million Poles in America to whom he is a hero....and we'll build a larger network from that.

We've come up with a concept called The Kultural Exchange Tour that is appropriate in a jazz club, a Polish festival, a church, a synagogue, or even a street corner. It will be all about the art of music, and feel like an educational/cultural experience at the same time.

His portion of the Kultural Xchange Tour begins February 2014 in Seattle and goes to Portland, San Francisco, Fresno, LA, San Diego, and then the Folk Alliance Conference in Kansas City.

In March we will take the Kultural Xchange Tour to Budapest and tour through Germany, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania.

I went and listened to a couple of his videos. I believe you posted this one "Signs" before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIj-H7MhQ9o

It's pleasant enough, but I must be honest here. He's not a very handsome man, and as everyone knows, to become a major talent in the U.S. requires certain properties that we might say are shallow but are still needed. A name that can be easily remembered, a face that the camera loves or at least tolerates, and a thin body frame are the most obvious. The music itself is moody and introspective and will only appeal to a narrow slice of the general public. In his homeland and to die hard Polish fans here he may be quite successful, but to crossover to the general population will be much more difficult. But I wish him luck anyway.

Ouch lol

He has the tonal quality of The lead singer for Seals and Croft IMO he sounds very similar. I like the music and think he definitely has a shot!

I went and listened to a couple of his videos. I believe you posted this one "Signs" before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIj-H7MhQ9o

It's pleasant enough, but I must be honest here. He's not a very handsome man, and as everyone knows, to become a major talent in the U.S. requires certain properties that we might say are shallow but are still needed. A name that can be easily remembered, a face that the camera loves or at least tolerates, and a thin body frame are the most obvious. The music itself is moody and introspective and will only appeal to a narrow slice of the general public. In his homeland and to die hard Polish fans here he may be quite successful, but to crossover to the general population will be much more difficult. But I wish him luck anyway.

Yes, you have properly analyzed what this situation looks like...and like I said, don't see the context of the bigger picture. That is to be expected in the beginning.

However, success is all about grit. I like a good challenge and this one will be easy. Not quick...but easy and a lot of fun.

So when you do start hearing about a singer with too many "z"s in his name, you'll remember that you heard about him here first.

I do sincerely appreciate you taking the time to respond, though. Very much!

I watched the video Jimmy linked.

He has a restricted, weak vocal tone. I found no melodies to be engaging. No musicianship to be noticeable. Nothing kept my attention. Jimmy pointed out the obvious. He's not handsome or fit. He's also old. I really don't see the draw.

Clicked another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-EJQYhO3Q
Vocal tone started out a little better. His pronunciation is glaring to me. I realize English is not his first language. I am just picky about pronunciation.

He's no powerhouse. I haven't heard an impressive range either. Frankly I'm baffled how he got in the position to sing backed by that much money.

I'm seriously not trying to be harsh.

He was pretty smooth at a couple of points. He's on key. That's the best I can say.

I went and listened to a couple of his videos. I believe you posted this one "Signs" before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIj-H7MhQ9o

It's pleasant enough, but I must be honest here. He's not a very handsome man, and as everyone knows, to become a major talent in the U.S. requires certain properties that we might say are shallow but are still needed. A name that can be easily remembered, a face that the camera loves or at least tolerates, and a thin body frame are the most obvious. The music itself is moody and introspective and will only appeal to a narrow slice of the general public. In his homeland and to die hard Polish fans here he may be quite successful, but to crossover to the general population will be much more difficult. But I wish him luck anyway.

Yes, you have properly analyzed what this situation looks like...and like I said, don't see the context of the bigger picture. That is to be expected in the beginning.

However, success is all about grit. I like a good challenge and this one will be easy. Not quick...but easy and a lot of fun.

So when you do start hearing about a singer with too many "z"s in his name, you'll remember that you heard about him here first.

I do sincerely appreciate you taking the time to respond, though. Very much!

I appreciate your determination, but I think he's not going to make it.
He has a nice voice, but he's a bit on the scary side.

I went to the release party and met with Yod, Mietek, and members of the band. The show was excellent, with a powerful vibe in the room. This guy is a very charismatic performer that clearly appeals to a lot of people in Europe and some serious music industry heavies in LA.

Will he rise to #1 on the pop charts and knock Bieber off? I don't think it will be the same audience at all. I could not predict who his audience will be in the US but he's got vocal chops and the chicks dig him.

It's the kind of album you would put on in your living room and just enjoy. The secret is getting people to slow down enough to listen, not just hear.

Maybe this approach will work with the Polish/mid-Euro immigrant audience in the US you are trying to reach. I don't know anyone who puts on an album in their living room to sit and listen any more. I'm willing to bet that less than half of the households in the US even have a living room 'stereo system' any more. Mine is 25 years old - 1st generation single-disc CD player, and dual cassette player!

For example, I could post a single video clip and 98% of you would probably just go "mehhhh" because it doesn't slap you in the face. However, if you saw his concert or heard that same song in the context of the full album, you would be astounded by how much pleasure your soul got from it. In other words, it's so deep you can't look at the surface and get it at all.

If the 'live experience' is the key, then you/someone needs to create a video compilation to showcase this. It's how people 'discover' new talent these days.

Someone will enjoy his music, he just may not get all the attention that a BEIBER gets.

ssdd

I watched the video Jimmy linked.

He has a restricted, weak vocal tone. I found no melodies to be engaging. No musicianship to be noticeable. Nothing kept my attention. Jimmy pointed out the obvious. He's not handsome or fit. He's also old. I really don't see the draw.

Clicked another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-EJQYhO3Q
Vocal tone started out a little better. His pronunciation is glaring to me. I realize English is not his first language. I am just picky about pronunciation.

He's no powerhouse. I haven't heard an impressive range either. Frankly I'm baffled how he got in the position to sing backed by that much money.

I'm seriously not trying to be harsh.

He was pretty smooth at a couple of points. He's on key. That's the best I can say.

I'm glad we have a record of your review here. You just walked by a burning bush and didn't notice.

First of all, he has already been a megastar in Poland (where they take music more seriously than any nation I know of) for 23 years.

Not sure what you heard, but he has one of the most incredible voices on the planet. Some of the biggest people in American music biz history only had to hear him once before they started clammoring to get behind him.

And those people know exactly what to do. It's only a matter of time now.





.

You can push all you want, but it's only going to be what it's going to be no matter how mad you get over it...

I wish the guy luck, but..no need to get mad over it.

"He'll be whatever he's to be and nothing you can say or do is going to change that".

Megastar in Poland? Funny I just asked my buddy's wife and she never heard of him. (They just came back from Poland) So maybe he's not exactly a megastar either..but time will tell all.

But we'll all wish him well and the best, the rest is whatever it is..