Success, Failure, Splendid Isolation: Czesław Niemen’s Career in Europe

This chapter explores several stages and narratives concerning Niemen’s musical career, circulated in Polish literature, including two that contradict each other: a narrative of Niemen’s failure to conquer the West and of his relative success in this area. The author considers them from the perspective of postcolonialism, focusing on the complex case of Niemen’s cultural identity, especially his fascination with Polish Romantic poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid. In short, after a period of self-colonisation (with Western music) and attempts to conquer foreign markets, Niemen came to the conclusion that a career in Poland and exploring Polish culture through his work was ultimately more important to him than participating in the global music market. His story is thus ‘post-colonial’ in the sense of experiencing both liberation from colonial influences and not caring about colonial powers.