They have been pronounced doomed a number of times, and critics have pointed out their lack of ideas for a new formula. Yet it seems that the song festivals in Sopot and Opole-two of the oldest popular music festivals in Europe-will live to see their 50th anniversaries.

In spite of an ongoing discussion concerning their formula and artistic level, nobody doubts that the Polish Song Festival in Opole and the International Song Festival in Sopot are the two most spectacular events in Polish pop culture and have been for years. Both festivals are over 40 years old. They were initially conceived as a centralized form of entertainment for the masses in the centralized country that Poland was at the time. Today, they have taken on a more commercial tone. Although they differ from each other, they also have a lot in common: both are associated with splendid amphitheaters, a gleeful, picnic-like atmosphere, and live TV broadcasts.

Thank the Pianist
Even in Poland, few are aware that the man behind the concept of the festival in Sopot was Władysław Szpilman, the pianist and composer whose extraordinary story caught the world's attention through the latest movie by Roman Polanski-The Pianist. The origin of the project was Szpilman's experience as a jury member at a song festival in Italy's Pesaro. The idea received the authorities' approval and Aug. 25, 1961, the 1st International Song Festival commenced at the beautiful Forest Opera, where German citizens of Sopot had staged Wagnerian operas before the war.

It soon turned out that Szpilman hit the bull's-eye with the festival. Young hitchhikers came to the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Tricity area from all across Poland, attracted by the news that there would be a song festival featuring foreign performers. Although Sopot witnessed performances by renowned stars-Gary Brooker, The Temptations, Boney M., Demis Roussos, Gloria Gaynor, Petula Clark, Joan Baez-the festival stayed outside world trends. When rock'n'roll from Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry ruled the world, the foreign attraction of the festival's first edition was Barbel Wachholz from East Germany. Berry did make it to Sopot eventually, but it was only in 1995 when he was pushing 70.

For decades, the Sopot festival was used as a political response of the "countries of people's democracy" to "capitalist" festivals, such as the Eurovision Song Contest. The festival in Sopot-known as the Intervision Festival from 1977-80-accomplished a strong international position, but on just one side of the Iron Curtain. Those who aspired to participate in the festival were primarily Russians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Romanians and East Germans. The first foreign hits of Sopot included "Arlekino" by Bulgaria's Emil Dymitrov (1962) and "Pust' vsegda budet solntse" by Tamara Myansarova-a smash hit from 1963, which in the Polish translation "Zawsze niech będzie słońce" (May There Always Be Sunshine) was sung all across Poland, especially by schoolchildren.
Thanks to TV, the Sopot festival became a large event in the entire Soviet bloc. However, when Poles enjoyed Sopot on TV live and direct, citizens of the Soviet Union had to contend with censored broadcasts which never showed any Western artists. According to Jerzy Gruza, who directed 29 TV broadcasts from Sopot, Soviet entertainment people regarded the festival as a model music show, which is conspicuous even today in Russian show business.

The festival management invited artists from all around the world, but it was artists from outside the first world league that usually were most successful here. They came from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Turkey, Japan and even from French-speaking parts of Canada. Anglo-Saxons who competed in the festival, presenting the latest trends, seldom won any prizes. In the lead, in turn, were Alla Pugacheva from the Soviet Union, Karel Gott and Helena Vondrackova from Czechoslovakia, Frank Schoebel from East Germany, Lili Ivanova from Bulgaria and Klari Katona from Hungary-only few of them made careers beyond Sopot. To this day, Sopot has retained the nickname "Polish San Remo"-winners of the Italian festival are also artists absent from world hit parade. A characteristic element of Sopot was its Polish Day, where foreign artists sang their interpretations of Polish hits. It was another idea of Szpilman to make Sopot a bridge between the East and the West and between Poland and the rest of the world.

The end of the Intervision Festival came with the birth of Solidarity. When in August 1980 a popular vocal quartet Vox sang their hit "Bananowy song" in the Forest Opera, the fate of the strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard was sealed just a few kilometers away, starting the decomposition of communism in Europe. The star of the following year's festival was supposed to be Juliette Greco, but with the unstable political situation, the event was called off at the last minute. Then came martial law, and no festival took place for three consecutive years.

After the system fell in 1989, Sopot started being referred to as a "trade bridge" between the East and the West, and the festival itself started searching for a new formula. Despite promising experiments such as "ethnic" Sopot 2000, held under the slogan "Music of the World," the festival remains a TV-dominated show with the difference that political guidelines have been replaced with the tastes of TV viewers. While proceeds from advertisements make it possible to invite stars such as Garou (2002), Whitney Houston (1999) and Boyz II Men (1997), it is still not enough for the festival to acquire some character.

The capital of song
When asked about Poland's "capital city of song," every Pole will tell you "Opole." The city's amphitheater has for four decades hosted festivals which originated from a slogan "Polish youth sing Polish songs," coined in the late 1950s by people of Polish big-beat. The slogan must have convinced the communist party's decision-makers, who gave their blessings to the organizers of the new festival. It was a time when classic Polish songs started losing popularity to the tide of American music. The festival and all its accompanying events were created to encourage the young of Poland to sing in their native tongue. Some believed that the location of the Polish Song Festival had political undertones too: the area of Opole had strong Silesian and German traditions and the party officials wanted to consolidate its ties with Poland.

The first two editions of the festival were not shown on television. Opole became a TV event, watched by all of Poland, in 1967. That improved the event's social importance, but it also intensified pressure from the communist regime. Many artists who performed in Opole can remember censorship interference from both the local and central authorities. Artistic directors responsible for the festival's agenda had to simultaneously attend to the audience's needs and the requirements of communist ideologists. It was with the latter in mind that Opole developed an official "guerrilla-military" trend, represented by, for example, "Srebrne wesele," a failed hit written on political commission to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Polish People's Republic and performed by Wiktor Zatwarski, whom hardly anyone remembers today.

During early editions of the Opole festival, a more significant role was played by artistic songs. The first edition became history owing to performers and authors related to Cracow's Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret, Warsaw's Hybrydy club and the Student Satirists' Theater. Opole 1963 is remembered for the magnificent performance of Ewa Demarczyk. As many as three of her songs received prizes: "Karuzela z Madonnami," "Pejzaż" and "Czarne Anioły." Composed by Zygmunt Konieczny to poems, the works did not fit into the pattern of "easy music." The then mass audiences had their idols in Opole as well: Bohdan Łazuka, Michaj Burano, Karin Stanek and Helena Majdaniec. Their songs-"Dzisiaj, jutro, zawsze," "Chłopiec z gitarą," "Rudy rydz"-were popular all across the country after the festival ended.
From then on, each edition had its big hit. "Biedroneczki są w kropeczki" by Danuta Rinn or "O mnie się nie martw" by Niebiesko-Czarni and Katarzyna Sobczyk are fondly remembered to this day. Other songs from the 1960s that half of Poland sang thanks to TV broadcasts from Opole included Wojciech Młynarski's "Jesteśmy na wczasach" and "Dziwny jest ten świat" by Czesław Niemen. Hits of the 1970s were "Bo z dziewczynami" sung by Jerzy Połomski, "Hop szklankę piwa" by Marek Grechuta, "Gdzie ci mężczyźni" by Rinn, and "Najwięcej witaminy (mają polskie dziewczyny)" by Andrzej Rosiewicz, his tribute to ladies in the audience in Opole. The 1980s included Bolter with their only hit "Daj mi tę noc," "Szklana pogoda" by Lombard and "Nie liczę godzin i lat" by Andrzej Rybiński. Enormously popular were the bands Kombi and Papa Dance.

The past decade radically changed the festival's organization-it became the exclusive domain of public TV. Although new stars made it to the stage in Opole-Budka Suflera, Brathanki, Ich Troje, Kayah, Edyta Górniak-they all built their careers elsewhere. The potential of the Polish Song Festival-whose original idea was to promote debuts-remains unused and the most popular part is not the concerts, but the cabaret nights.

Powerful habits
The best time for festivals-when all Poles sang songs premiered in Opole and Sopot-are very unlikely to return. Ever since the state monopoly on everything, including the organization of festivals, came to an end, the interest in both events has been incomparably smaller. Critics are unanimous in complaining that there has been less and less art, replaced by kitsch and commercialism. They profess the end of the festivals, accusing Polish TV of lacking any vision to "reactivate" them. Still, the habit is powerful and each year, thousands of Poles sit in front of their TV sets hoping that everybody in Opole will be having fun like in the old days, and Sopot will finally regain its reputation as a genuine international event.