Czesław Niemen

Czesław Niemen (born Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004) was a distinguished Polish singer-songwriter and rock/folk/jazz/electronica musician who made a name for himself in a variety of genres, instruments, and roles.

Niemen was born in a Polish village in what is now Belarus. He studied at a music school in Grodno for a year to study the Russian accordion (баян) when he was young, but he was thrown out for not attending classes. His musical activities didn’t start again until he was i…