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In the 60s, youth culture exploded, spawning pop music, short hemlines and screaming fans. One witness saw this exciting time closer up than almost anyone else. “Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us, creating a picture I will never forget for the rest of my life,” he recalls. Sir Paul McCartney was centre stage in some of the most iconic images of the era, as Beatlemania gripped Britain and beyond. Until now, the period described by McCartney as “bedlam”, “pandemonium” and “mass hysteria” has largely been recorded from the outside looking in. But what did McCartney see as he looked out?
More like this:
– James Bond and The Beatles
– The Beatles’ greatest album
– A wild tale of rock ‘n’ roll excess
Now, a new exhibition, Paul McCartney, Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm at London’s newly reopened National Portrait Gallery, and a new book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, feature more than 200 images taken by McCartney, rediscovered by the singer-songwriter in his production company archives in 2020. The images track his time in The Beatles from 1963 to 1964 when the band were taking off, moving from the dingy picture houses of their home city of Liverpool, to the capital cities of London and Paris, and culminating in their electrifying debut in the US, which took place in New York, Washington DC and Miami.
Included in the remarkable collection of photos are several self-portraits (Credit: Paul McCartney)
Younger Beatles fans, who missed the fun and furore the first time round, can soon experience the launch of what McCartney described to BBC Radio 4 yesterday as “the final Beatles record”, created thanks to AI technology extracting John Lennon’s voice from an unused track on an old demo tape. With The Beatles enjoying a resurgence on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, the unnamed song, to be released later this year, will delight a flourishing fan base of Gen Z enthusiasts.
We know that the band’s frenzied fans have always been enthralled by the four young men, but McCartney’s photos show this fascination to be mutual. As well as off-guard moments of the band relaxing between gigs, they include snaps of the crowds they attracted, taken from a rear windscreen or hotel window − unseen images chronicling an extraordinary time as witnessed through the eyes of one man at the heart of it.
Eyes of the Storm takes its name from the eyes that were everywhere. “Who is looking at who?” writes McCartney in the book’s foreword. “The camera always seems to be shifting, with me photographing them, the press photographing us, and those thousands and thousands of people out there wanting to capture this storm.”
Photography is to play a greater part in the refurbished National Portrait Gallery, which launches with two major photography exhibitions, starting on 22 June with Yevonde‘s colour photographs of the 1930s, and followed by Eyes of the Storm on 28 June. The gallery’s internationally recognised photographic collection will be “much more integrated” into displays, Eyes of the Storm curator Rosie Broadley tells BBC Culture. “This enables us to tell a much more nuanced and layered narrative because the people who sit for photographs are often much more diverse.”
The images by Sir Paul McCartney are exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London (Credit: Paul McCartney)
The gallery’s archives include photographs of The Beatles taken by big names such as David Bailey and Don McCullin, but these new images, where the camera has been passed back to the subject, offer a unique insight. “The essential difference is that it’s his perspective on the band and what’s happening. They were never meant to be publicised or shared. They’re private,” explains Broadley. “It’s about what he was interested in, who he wanted to remember, and it’s not really so much about The Beatles – it’s about Paul and the experience that he was having with his friends, who happened to be The Beatles.”
In Liverpool, we meet a fresh-faced Cilla Black, while in Paris, McCartney seems very taken with the French actress and pin-up Sophie Hardy. Intimate pictures of the band also provide rare through-the-keyhole glimpses as John towels himself off after a swim, for example, or George puts on sunscreen. And we are introduced to the offstage players that helped make the madness happen: the roadie, the driver, the manager, the bodyguard… captured smoking, reading or napping, or fooling about with the boys during downtime. “We messed around. It kept us sane,” McCartney writes.
There are surprising discoveries, too. Behind the scenes, the US tour was not always rock ‘n’ roll. We learn that John’s wife Cynthia travelled alongside him, for example. And we meet Paul’s Miami date, a modestly-dressed wide-eyed teenager who he collected, in a gentlemanly manner, from her father’s office.
The images catch candid moments of the iconic band, laughing and messing around (Credit: Paul McCartney)
McCartney, a working-class lad who previously had holidayed in budget resorts in the UK, was just 21 in 1963, and the photographs reflect his unworldliness and his curiosity about the new worlds he was discovering. The novelty of travel is clear from the many photographs taken from planes and his touristy snaps of the Arc de Triomphe and the White House; while shots of posters and billboards with the band’s name on them suggest a baffled pride at their celebrity so far from home. “Looking at these photos now, decades later, I find that there is a sort of innocence about them,” writes McCartney. “Everything was new to us at this point.”
American dream
For McCartney, the United States was synonymous with success. “Everything we listened to was from America,” he writes, describing touring the US as “the big time” and “the big prize”. In many ways it lived up to the band’s expectations. Their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1963 attracted a record 73m viewers and McCartney drank in the US culture, photographing the skyscrapers and flashing lights of New York and going to a drive-in movie for the first time.
After the monochrome snow scenes of Washington DC, sun-kissed Miami radiates warmth as McCartney reaches for the colour reel, and we get bright green palms, blue skies and canary-yellow beach wear. Described by McCartney as “Wonderland”, Miami was a tropical paradise for the boys, who had the time of their life nipping around in convertibles loaned by MG and lounging by their private pool.
But the US revealed a darker side, too. Kennedy had been assassinated just months before on 22 November 1963 – the band arrived in the US on 7 February 1964 – and a close-up of a gun slung about a police officer’s waist suggests McCartney’s unease. It was, he writes, “the first time I had ever seen something like that”. The band were also shocked by the racial inequality and became part of the ground shift when they refused to play to segregated audiences. “The Beatles were not the first white band to speak out against racial segregation. But no one had a platform the size of theirs,” historian Jill Lepore, who wrote the introduction to 1964: Eyes of the Storm, tells BBC Culture.
John Lennon pictured in Paris – the images are featured in a new book, Eyes of the Storm (Credit: Paul McCartney)
The photographs have significant historical merit. They document a pivotal time in politics, animated, says Lepore, by a “far more purposeful spirit of rebellion”. “Huge structural changes” were taking place, she says, pointing to the end of the draft in the UK and the lowering of the voting age to 18 in the US. The US Civil Rights Act was being passed just as colonies around the world were gaining independence; while the advent of the contraceptive pill coincided with the first steps towards equal pay legislation.
“Reporters were always asking them [The Beatles] to make sense of that world, and all its changes, and I just love how they refused to participate in that,” says Lepore. “There’s this one moment, when The Beatles are in Washington, DC, and a reporter asks, ‘What place do you think this story of The Beatles is going to have in the history of Western culture?’ And Paul says, ‘You must be kidding.’ It’s just so beautiful. The irreverence right back.”
For photographers, however, McCartney had great respect and curiosity. “I often took pictures of them, not so much for revenge, but because they were interesting people,” he writes. The band selected exceptional photographers to tour with them. Harry Benson, Dezo Hoffman and Robert Freeman all feature in McCartney’s photographs, and when they were behind the lens, McCartney would watch them at work, eager to learn from their artistry.
The images in Eyes of the Storm were taken with a 35mm Pentax, and include modern prints made from negatives and enlarged images taken from contact sheets. Several bear the scratchy cross of McCartney’s chinagraph pencil, where he has marked out his favourite shots. Some pictures, such as a grinning Ringo Starr and a self-portrait in the mirror, are blurred. Sometimes this was deliberate and sometimes it was because there was simply no time. “We were moving at such speed that you just had to grab, grab, grab!” he writes.
George Harrison photographed relaxing in Miami, February 1964, during the band’s US tour (Credit: Paul McCartney)
Though an amateur, McCartney’s aptitude is noteworthy. “Not only has he absorbed the ideas around photojournalism… the Cartier-Bresson idea of capturing that decisive moment, he’s already looking to frame shots, looking for interesting angles,” says Broadley, who helped select the photos for the exhibition from a pool of almost 1,000. “He understands what makes a good portrait, he’s quite good at placing a figure in space, [and] he’s interested in architecture and the interesting perspectives you can get.”
Occasionally, he hands his camera to someone – a manager, roadie or bandmate – and there he is, McCartney himself, performing on stage or posing for press shots, the familiar doe-like eyes peeping out from the mop-top haircut.
“We were just wisecracking guys, and we had fun with each other whatever we did and wherever we went. I think this comes across in my photos,” writes McCartney in the book’s closing chapter. “Words cannot describe what happened to us, but imagine every dream you’ve had coming true, and you might get close.”
Paul McCartney, Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm is at the National Portrait Gallery from 28 June to 1 October 2023. The book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, is out now, published by Penguin.
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This is something I’ve been doing lately as I’ve found fewer opportunities to get out and photograph.
Instead, I’ve been revisiting a bunch of old photos for a book project I’ve been working on, and in doing so dug out old hard drives that go back to the early 2010s with images I’d pretty much forgotten all about.
In getting images ready for the book I found myself regularly cringing at my poor editing efforts, while also realising that a quick spin in Lightroom could fix many of the issues, while also in many cases giving them a much more sympathetic edit.
So, with that out the way, why is it worth revisiting your old shots?
Whether it’s AI powered noise reduction software in programmes like Topaz Photo AI (and now Lightroom), or the ability to neatly and seamlessly drop in a sky with a quick click of a button in Photoshop, image editing software has seen huge advances in the last five years.
It’s also one area where software companies seem to be investing tons of R&D, so if you want to see where photography is going, getting a handle on the latest editing developments is a good place to start.
The other good thing is that most editing software is via subscription these days, so you’ll likely get the benefits anyway without paying any extra, and enhancements work on all photos, old or new.
Here’s an example of how it can help. I shot this image of a sea eagle in 2019 on a Sony A7R IV at ISO 6400 – not all that long ago.
I remember distinctly the feeling of elation that came with actually photographing a sea eagle in the wild, and then the distinct sense of deflation when I realised the shot I captured was incredibly noisy.
In fact, I disliked the results so much I was pretty lazy with my file management and somehow only kept a smart preview of the file at about 2500px.
Today, images like this are the bread and butter of software like Topaz Photo AI, and so it proved. Some noise reduction, and a fair bit of sharpening, and I was left with the above.
Plus, it was also able to generate a much bigger image too – a whopping 10,240px on the long edge if I wanted it.
Further to the point above, I’ve found that older images I’d parked for various reasons can now benefit in other ways from advances in image editing.
Case in point this image below which I captured in 2017. At the time, I’d always felt that the figures in the background were a distraction, but I didn’t have the patience or editing skill in Photoshop to remove them.
This meant the image sat on a hard drive for the next five years until I decided to revisit it recently.
I should add that it helps I kept the original raw file from back then as I probably knew I’d be able to have a proper crack at removing the subjects at some point in the future.
You won’t always be able to keep your raw files, but for certain images it may be worth it.
Have you seen how you first edited your photos? If you were like me, those sliders weren’t doing anything unless they were either all the way to the left or all the way to the right.
But the last few years has taught me the value in editing with a deft hand, and the idea that the sign of a good editor is if their mark isn’t left on an image.
Of course, that’s just my opinion, and if you still love that Trey Ratcliffe HDR thing, that’s cool too. But chances are your editing is much better after a few years of doing it. I know that I’m much more conscious of not overusing global adjustments when local adjustments can give a much more subtle result, as an example.
The other thing that’s worth mentioning is the wealth of educational content available online, and often for free, to help your editing.
Today there really is a YouTube tutorial for everything, and I’ve found my editing skills have developed hugely from both the years of familiarising myself with Lightroom, but also looking up solutions to problems when I’ve had them too. We really are spoiled for choice.
I’d love to hear about some of the images you’ve revisited – let us know in the comments.
(Update: Kelsey McGee meeting with the Dugan, grantee)
Since its 2015 inception, fund has given over $2 million in grants to over 100 projects
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Bend Cultural Tourism Commission, a Visit Bend Project overseeing the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, announced it has awarded $400,000 in funding to 15 local grantee organizations in arts and culture.
The funds announced Tuesday will help local organizations leverage marketing resources to attract more cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months. Funding begins July 1.
Kelsey McGee is speaking with Visit Bend CEO Kevney Dugan to find out how Visit Bend narrows down the grantees from the list of applicants for funding. She will also be speaking with a recipient to learn how much the grant will help them grow. Her report will be on NewsChannel 21 at Five.
The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, now in its eighth year, invests in cultural activities that draw visitors from beyond a 50-mile radius, benefiting the local economy and community, funding new activities through the Catalyst Grant program (Intended to support the bold ideas that aren’t yet fully developed, but can demonstrate extraordinary potential for increasing Bend’s off-season cultural tourists), as well as long-standing cultural traditions via the Marketing Grant program (intended to support high quality cultural tourism activities that demonstrate a clear and measurable economic benefit in Bend).
Since its inception in 2015, the BCTF has awarded $2,032,105 for 102 projects. For a full list of past projects and funding amounts, visit the BCTF website here.
“The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund is an important way for Visit Bend to diversify tourism offerings in our city, especially during our shoulder seasons,” Dugan said. “We are thrilled about the grantees, all of whom will bring enriching cultural and arts experiences to Bend as long term investments into our city.”
The Bend Cultural Tourism Commission met Monday, June 5, for its annual grant review meeting, scoring and ranking 32 completed applications (21 Marketing Applications, 11 Catalyst Grant Applications) with a total requested amount of $1,257,075.
The following 15 applicants all scored over 79 points or more (out of 100) in the scoring matrix and were recommended by the commission, then approved by the Visit Bend Board of Directors:
ABOUT VISIT BEND: Visit Bend is a non-membership, non-profit economic development organization dedicated to promoting tourism responsibly on behalf of the City of Bend. We’re a leading provider of information on Bend, Oregon hotels, restaurants, activities, and Oregon vacation planning. To learn more or to order a complimentary Official Visitor Guide to Bend, contact Visit Bend at 1-800-949-6086 or visit visitbend.com
ABOUT THE BEND CULTURAL TOURISM FUND: The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund (BCTF) is a grant program dedicated to enhancing the local economy through the promotion and cultivation of Bend’s cultural tourism programs, with an emphasis on activities that help attract cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months. For more information, please see the website at https://culture.visitbend.com.
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Bend Cultural Tourism Commission, a Visit Bend Project overseeing the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, announced it has awarded $400,000 in funding to grantees in arts and culture.
The funds will help local organizations leverage marketing resources to attract more cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months. Funding begins July 1, 2023.
The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, now in its eighth year, invests in cultural activities that draw visitors from beyond a 50-mile radius, benefiting the local economy and community, funding new activities through the Catalyst Grant program (Intended to support the bold ideas that aren’t yet fully developed, but can demonstrate extraordinary potential for increasing Bend’s off-season cultural tourists), as well as long standing cultural traditions via the Marketing Grant program (intended to support high quality cultural tourism activities that demonstrate a clear and measurable economic benefit in Bend).
Since its inception in 2015, the BCTF has awarded $2,032,105 for 102 projects. For a full list of past projects and funding amounts, visit the BCTF website here.
“The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund is an important way for Visit Bend to diversify tourism offerings in our city, especially during our shoulder seasons,” said Kevney Dugan, CEO of Visit Bend. “We are thrilled about the grantees, all of whom will bring enriching cultural and arts experiences to Bend as long term investments into our city.”
The Bend Cultural Tourism Commission met Monday, June 5, 2023, for its annual grant review meeting, scoring and ranking 32 completed applications (21 Marketing Applications, 11 Catalyst Grant Applications) with a total requested amount of $1,257,075.
The following 15 applicants all scored over 79 points or more (out of 100) in the scoring matrix and were recommended by the Commission, then approved by the Visit Bend Board of Directors:
ABOUT VISIT BEND: Visit Bend is a non-membership, non-profit economic development organization dedicated to promoting tourism responsibly on behalf of the City of Bend. We’re a leading provider of information on Bend, Oregon hotels, restaurants, activities, and Oregon vacation planning. To learn more or to order a complimentary Official Visitor Guide to Bend, contact Visit Bend at 1-800-949-6086 or visit visitbend.com
ABOUT THE BEND CULTURAL TOURISM FUND: The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund (BCTF) is a grant program dedicated to enhancing the local economy through the promotion and cultivation of Bend’s cultural tourism programs, with an emphasis on activities that help attract cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months. For more information, please see the website at https://culture.visitbend.com.
SINGAPORE: As a teenager, Ms Trisha Lim gave up on film photography because the hobby was too expensive on her student’s budget.
In 2021, a few years into her career in communications, she thought it might be the right time to get back into the hobby, costly as it was.
But with the price of film steadily climbing, Ms Lim, now 28 years old, is unsure if she will continue pursuing film photography.
“I’m quite on the fence. When I finally use (my stash) up, I guess I’ll see how much film costs at that point,” she said. Ms Lim has around 15 rolls of film that she bought overseas or on online platforms such as Shopee and Carousell.
“I’m kind of hoarding what I have left, and I don’t know if I’ll even continue cause it’s really expensive.”
Yet, at the same time, she recognises that it would be a waste if she stops shooting film, since she has already invested in film cameras.
Digital cameras and mobile phone applications which try to mimic film photography are still missing something, said Ms Lim.
“If the digital solutions can replicate it perfectly, it’s a no-brainer, immediate jump (over to digital).”
As recently as before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, a roll of film could cost less than S$4 (US$2.96), shop owners told CNA.
One of the cheaper films on the market, the Kodak ColorPlus 200 35mm, now costs between S$11 to S$18, checks by CNA found.
Ms Lim paid around S$12 for a roll of Fujifilm 200 35mm on Shopee last year. Listings today are asking for around S$20.
“Prices keep rising,” said Mr Ong Tee Huat of Whampoa Colour Centre shop in Balestier. “This year, there have been two or three hikes by suppliers already.”
Shop owners said prices increased after a revival in demand three or four years ago, and that most of their customers now are aged between their late teens and 30s.
“Young people are tired of playing with their phones. Since the pandemic, a lot of them have been exploring film,” Mr Ong said in Mandarin.
Mr Ken Ng, co-owner of Joo Ann Foh Colour Service, said the vibrance of digital colours on mobile phones is too much for some of his customers.
“They find film colour very real to them, very relatable,” he said.
Young adults who spoke to CNA also said film photography makes them more intentional about the pictures they take.
“Shooting film makes me think about what I’m doing, and it makes me think more about exactly what kind of image I’m trying to capture,” said Mr Nikolas Lim, 25, who works in the finance industry.
“Also, because it’s expensive, each shot you take can be nearly S$1, you have to be very precise,” he said, comparing it to digital photography where people take many pictures that they may never look at again.
Major companies such as Kodak and Fujifilm may be struggling to meet demand.
“Demand has outstripped supply and manufacturing capacity just cannot meet (this demand),” said Mr Ng.
When factories were shut as digital cameras became popular, many machines were sold or scrapped, he explained.
Even if spare parts are available now, it might make more sense to keep them on hand for repairs rather than using them to make a new machine, he said.
Shop owners also said Tokyo-based Fujifilm appears to be focusing on its other products in optics, electronics, biotechnology and chemicals.
“Fujifilm is making fewer and fewer rolls; there’s not much competition for Kodak,” said Mr Ong of Whampoa Colour Centre.
In response to CNA’s queries, Fujifilm said it will continue to produce photo film to satisfy the needs of enthusiasts, and that is has “made every effort to increase production efficiency” and stabilise the supply of film.
“We are aware that customers face some difficulties purchasing our films in Singapore and we will continue our efforts to meet their needs,” the company said. It attributed the price increases to a sharp increase in the cost of raw materials for film production.
Photography websites have also reported on Kodak raising prices earlier this year. CNA has reached out to the American firm for comment.
In the 90s, my love of rock-climbing found me exploring the jagged peaks of this mountain range, known as the “range of light” as it was called by pioneering environmentalist John Muir.
At the time, I lugged a camera along to document the landscapes on my adventures with 35mm colour slide film. My choice, Fuji Velvia, meant that my ‘post processing’ was fixed ahead of time as a highly saturated, high contrast look. It didn’t handle a wide dynamic range well but wow, the transparencies leapt off the light table! When I got the exposure right, which wasn’t as often as I would have liked, the images transfixed me with their vibrant colour.
Many photographers have captured the Sierra Nevada over the years. Ansel Adams set the bar for monochrome enthusiasts, but it was Galen Rowell (1940 – 2002) who was incredibly influential for me. He wrote extensively about light and colour in the landscape, how to look for it and how to photograph it. I devoured his work and his book Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape holds pride of place on my bookshelf to this day.
Galen sold fine art prints at his Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop and with skills as a trail runner and climber, he was indefatigable in his pursuit of unique, colourful landscape compositions across the region. Mountain Light Gallery continued exhibiting and selling his work for 15 years after his death until it sadly closed in 2017.
I spent last Christmas in Bishop on a pilgrimage to reacquaint myself with Galen’s ethos. I naively didn’t know the gallery had closed, but by chance the walls of my hotel featured many beautiful prints of his work. I crosschecked phone location apps with viewpoints of his images, and on Christmas afternoon I found a spot by the Owens River that looked worthy of a visit on a freezing Boxing Day dawn. With the tripod set and dawn light filtering in, a glimpse of clouds toward the mountains gave me hope for a colourful cloudscape at sunrise. And it was just that – I got lucky.
The post processing of this image is very much a reflection of Galen’s influence over my early years in landscape photography. I like to think he would approve of my digital tribute.
We have another Polish Christian Rap spotlight written by Rafal Elmer. You can read our first right here & second here! This article is a compilation of a few reviews of CHH artists’ music in Poland.
Slightly edited for clarity and brevity*
CUKIER (Sugar) – NOWE CZASY (NEW TIMES)
Sugar burst onto the Polish Holy Hip Hop scene quite unexpectedly in 2019. The artist caught my attention, as well as the listeners’, with a unique style of selecting musical backgrounds, an uncommon vocal tone, and most importantly, solid skills both in sound production and singing. Warsaw native’s first standout music video was “Kim on jest” (“Who He Is”). Intrigued by that single track, I eagerly awaited the LP to fully assess and possibly appreciate the talent of the capital city’s MC. I wasn’t disappointed.
His initial full-length release, “Kim on jest,” as well as subsequent “Nowe pieśni” (“New Songs”), stand out with delicate, minimalist sound, built upon a solid drum framework and hard-hitting bass.
It’s difficult to find comparable discographies among Polish artists in the contemporary Christian music scene in Poland. Perhaps the only artist who stands out from the broad mainstream with a style similar to Cukier’s is Pharrell Williams. However, it is impossible to group these artists together in terms of both craftsmanship and lyrical interpretation. This rather daring comparison can only serve readers who expect a quick characterization of Sugar’s stage persona in the text and his unique discography.
As for the new releases from the domestic Steeped label (a collective of gospel artists, musicians, sound engineers, and, above all, worship leaders), Cukier’s albums seem to shine the brightest. Let’s not forget that recently, on June 8th, we received his latest LP titled Nowe Czasy (“New Times”) with the hit single “Benny Hinn” as the promotional track for the release.
After an initial listen to the album, I understood that the Warsaw native is making strong progress. On the record, we can find not only the characteristic gospel groove but also offbeat raps, melorecitations, and surprising skits. You should definitely familiarize yourself with Cukier’s work and the accomplishments of the entire Steeped label.
ANATOM – AUTONOMIA – THE GREAT AUTONOMY OF POLISH GOSPEL RAP
I awaited Anatom’s second album release with anticipation. It is worth emphasizing that not only due to its similarity to my own worldview (although certainly not identical), but also as a counterpoint to Tau’s marketing dominance in the Christian rap scene in Poland. With a certain degree of curiosity and a hint of defiance, I undertook the review of Anatom’s latest work, the only one to date fully promoted by Bozon Records, the artist who, by the way, left the ranks of the mentioned Bozon label, embarking on an autonomous creative path.
Considering the youthful artistic freshness, considerable technique, persistence, as well as clarity of views, and a well-defined creative path Jakub (Anatom) has shown throughout his career, he has long been a candidate for legitimate releases.
Endowed with stage charisma, vocal talent, and a unique rap style, the rapper proved to be a full-fledged companion for Tau’s artistic endeavors. It is worth mentioning Anatom’s first album, initially intended for a wider audience (then known as B.A.K.U), titled Get to Know Me, which was released by Urban Rec in 2014. Since then, the artist has performed many concerts, visited the USA for the production of a music video, and has repeatedly supported the most popular rappers in Poland, eventually returning to gospel values.
TAU – REMEDIUM: ABOUT AN EXCELLENT ALBUM BY A CERTAIN RAPPER FROM POLAND APPRECIATED BY LECRAE
First and foremost, I would like to emphasize that Tau’s work has always sparked my interest as a rap listener and as a converted individual seeking content that builds spiritual awareness. When Tau, known as Medium at the time, released his first album, Teorie równoległych wszechświatów (Theories of Parallel Universes), through Asfalt Records in 2011, the production didn’t capture my attention. I quickly forgot about the promotional posts for Medium’s debut, as well as the singles that, in my opinion, were filled with boring quasi-philosophy and metaphysics. Looking back, my indifference was also influenced by the fact that the musings presented in the singles, as well as the word choices in the lyrics and their delivery, didn’t align with my aesthetic preferences or religious beliefs.
However, Remedium (Remedy) – Tau’s artistic debut – caused quite a stir among my acquaintances from the underground scene of so-called Christian rap, and it also sparked ideological debates on social media and thematic portals.
The album, on a first listen, eludes objective judgments as it delves into spheres that many perceive as highly personal and unsuitable or even unfit for discourse in the world of phonographic fireworks. Many forum opponents put forth arguments that made fun of Remedium, as well as the artist’s statements and worldview. The significant majority of comments, both virtual and from the so-called neighborhood bench, were favorable towards the album’s content and praised the artistry of the debut.
I won’t be original if I admit that Remedium bears the marks of an outstanding record. Is it safe for an amateur reviewer to evaluate a “work” that has deeply divided rap audiences in Poland so highly? Certainly, there will be voices of opposition to my observations and opinions expressed in this analysis, and authors who are opposed to my worldview will undoubtedly accuse me of favoring Tau. I must now argue my claim by directing your attention, to Tau’s rap-vocal skills and the recognition of his creative endeavors by none other than Lecrae himself, who is one of the guests on the Polish artist’s album.
