Warsaw by Mona Mur

In 1989, before the wall came down, Mona Mur and her producer Dieter Meier (“Yello”) came to Poland. Under the musical direction of Polish rock star Grzegorz Ciechowski (“Republika”) and with renowned Polish musicians, arrangers and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, she recorded her album WARSAW in early 1990.

“WARSAW deals with the old topic of love as a marginal experience. Why does this intrigue me? Because this is how I experienced it at a very young age.
There is hardly a more relevant subject for me as an artist, maybe apart from war.
Both confront you with the possibility of annihilation.” Mona Mur

During six months of production in Warsaw, from September 1989 to March 1990, Mona Mur observes historical changes in Europe and the whole world. The recordings take place at Polish Television’s legendary studio S4 – 10 songs of great intensity, three of which are given genre-redefining orchestration by renowned composer and conductor Krzesimir Debski. Producer Dieter Meier is enchanted.

But WARSAW faces challenges. Its release does not happen as planned. Mona Mur‘s record company back then, German RCA, feels the album is not mainstream enough. More illustrious bidders follow, including Stevo Pearce of Some Bizarre, then the album vanishes.

In 2000, four of Mona Mur‘s songs from WARSAW are covered by Polish singer Katarzyna Groniec on her album “Mężczyźni“ (SONY). Producer: Grzegorz Ciechowksi. The album gets high chart rankings, the single with Mona‘s song “Paintings“ (polish: “Dzięki za miłość”) sells over 70,000 copies.

Soon after, in late 2001, producer Gzegorz Ciechowski dies suddenly at the age of only 44, under tragic circumstances. His work as a musician, singer, frontman and rock poet is unique in Poland. An annual memorial concert in the medieval city of Torun, as well as several new interpretations of the "Republika" hits keep the memory of "Citizen GC" alive. In 2011, Mona Mur is invited to Torun, where she performs live with Grzegorz Ciechowski's band members. Finally, in 2015, Mona Mur’s album WARSAW is released by Mystic Productions, but only on CD and exclusively in Poland.

Mona Mur together with En Esch will play a live show on May 18, 2023 at Arkaoda in Berlin.

play loud! continues the publication of Mona Mur’s back catalog by releasing the album for the first time worldwide, digitally and on vinyl. Pre-order here:
http://www.playloud.org/archiveandstore/en/vinyl-12/824-mona-mur-warsaw.html

Mona Mur is a vocalist of her own class, songwriter, music producer and 80s survivor. Together with Alexander Hacke, FM Einheit, Mark Chung (all of Einstürzende Neubauten) and organ virtuoso Nikko Weidemann responsible for underground hits such as Snake, 120 Tage or Eintagsfliegen.
She first graced the music scene with the 12” Jeszcze Polska.
Mona Mur is also a composer and sound designer.