The name of the group originates from the Latin word "quidam" meaning "someone, some human being" and refers to the poem "Quidam" by Cyprian Kamil Norwid, perhaps the most intriguing of Polish romantic poets. The title hero of that poem is a man looking for his place in life, searching for goodness and truth.
The band was founded in 1991 when Maciek Meller, Radek Scholl and Rafal Jermakow met and decided to play together. Soon they were joined by Zbyszek Florek. They played as DEEP RIVER then (they changed their name to Quidam only in 1995) and offered a mixture of hard rock and blues.
The band had a number of singers of whom Waldemar Ciechanowski stayed in the line up for some time. The change in the musical direction was evident when the band was joined by the flutist Ewa Smarzynska. Both the style of their compositions and the sound began to change, evolving into a more refined form of rock. The songs, full of long instrumental parts and musical poetry were now directed towards more sensitive and demanding listeners. Listeners who love moods created once by Camel, King Crimson (in their early phase), Genesis, Pink Floyd, Renaissance and many others. From the very beginning Quidam members set for themselves a very ambitious task to reach with their difficult music the biggest audience and find acclaim with the critics.
The fact that they were noticed by both was proved by the awards at several music festivals and polls. Among them the most prominent ones are: Grand Prix of Gitariada Festival (twice, in 1993 and 1994) and the award for singer Emila Derkowska granted by the jury of this festival (including Wojciech Waglewski and Leszek Biolik - Poland's famous rock stars) in 1993.
The fulfillment of their musical journey came in the form of their debut album entitled simply "Quidam", recorded between September 1995 and March 1996 (with the guest appearance of three Collage members: Wojtek Szadkowski, Mirek Gil and Krzysiek Palczewski). The album was very warmly received both by the critics and art-rock fans in Poland and abroad. The evidence came in the form of enthusiastic reviews in Polish professional rock magazines ("Tylko Rock", "Machina") and numerous fanzines both in Poland and abroad (British "Wondrous Stories" and "Alternate View - The UK Progressive Music Webzine" and Dutch "Background" magazine among others). The album reached high positions in foreign charts of best art-rock records of 1996 (No. 5 in the French "Big Bang"). The raving reviews can be also found on many Internet pages. .In the polls of "Tylko Rock" - the most important Polish rock music magazine - Quidam singer Emila Derkowska won the title of the "Best New Talent of 1996".
In April 1996 the group headlined at the First Festival of Polish Progressive Rock. After numerous concerts in Poland, on January 25th 1997 they played their first gig abroad at the "Day Of Dreams" Festival in Zwolle, Holland (the list of performers included JADIS). The high level of their performance resulted in the second invitation to play in this country, this time at The Planet Pul Festival, organized on June 7th 1997 in Uden.
On April 5th and 6th 1997, during the Polish concerts of CAMEL, Emila Derkowska and Ewa Smarzynska were invited by Andy Latimer to perform live the opening part of "Harbour Of Tears" suite.
In summer the band were invited to France where on August 23rd they played in Corbigny at the "Proglive '97" festival. In the opinion of all the observers the group were undoubtedly the real star of the event. Quidam's performance was greeted with thunderous applause and one of the songs ("Plone" - "Burning Inside") appeared in January 1998 on a double CD released by Musea label.
After two more performances in Holland the band concentrated on their studio work where they worked on the demo versions of the songs for their second album.
On November 15th the band were invited by the Classic Rock Society (with Rick Wakeman as its honorary president) to perform during the so called "Awards Night" in Rotherham, Great Britain. They played as a special guest of the night on which the most popular art-rock artists and bands chosen in the polls of the prestigious monthly magazine "Wondrous Stories" readers collect their awards. In the course of the night it turned out that in 1997 Emila Derkowska took the third place in the "Best Female Vocalist" category and Quidam were given the same place in the category "Best New Band" and the fifth in "Best Overseas Band" category.
Another year in the band's career started with a change in their line-up: Ewa Smarzynska left the group and was replaced by a very talented flutist Jacek Zasada, a student of Academy of Music in Gdansk.
In February the band recorded songs for their second album at the JM Audio studio in Kraków. Apart from their own songs they recorded a cover of the famous composition of a legendary Polish rock group Budka Suflera "Jest taki samotny dom" ("There Is Such A Lonely House"). The new material was mixed in Lublin at studio "Hendrix" under the careful guidance of the producer Pawel Skura.
The album "SNY ANIOLÓW" ("ANGELS' DREAMS") was released in two language versions: Polish and English (the English version is being distributed worldwide by the French label Musea). The Polish premiere was preceded by the release of a maxi-single on which - apart from the hit song "Moje anioly" ("Angels Of Mine") - there appeared two compositions recorded at the festival in Corbigny in France: "Bajkowy" ("Like A Fairy Tale") from their debut album and "Rhayader / Rhayader Goes To Town" (the band's version of a song from Camel's album "Snow Goose"). The song "Angels Of Mine" was included in the playlists of many radio stations in Poland. On May 8th it debuted in the Top 30 of Polish Radio Program III.
On May 9th Maciek Meller i Jacek Zasada played with Colin Bass ( Camel bass player) during his short visit in Poland. The reason for this visit was the promotion of new albums: Camel's "Coming Of Age" and Colin's solo record "Jalan Kopo". During a special acoustic gig at "Cafe Glos" in Poznan (which was broadcast by Radio Merkury), in two hours' long set, Colin Bass, accompanied by Maciek and Jacek, played several songs of Camel and his own compositions.
On May 12th and 13th - while promoting their album "Angels' Dreams" - Quidam played as a support act during Polish concerts of John Wetton, gaining his true respect. On May 16th the band played in the prestigious Agnieszka Osiecka Studio in Warsaw before the fully packed house. The concert was broadcast live by Polish Radio Program III.
On June 5th and 6th Quidam played in Bordeaux and Paris and on July 4th the band performed during the Progressive Rock Festival at Vigevano Castle near Milan. They shared the bill with a legendary Italian band Premiata Forneria Marconi, John Wetton, IQ and Clepsydra.
In Poland the band played during the Progressive Rock Festival in Zielona Góra (11th June) where they were awared with three "Progressor" awards for the "best vocalist", "best group" and "best bass player". On the 18th July they performed during the 5th Symphonic Night in Wagrowiec.
In September the second song from the album was chosen for the promotional campaign - the acoustic ballad "Little Bird With No Legs". In the same month some members guested during the recording sessions of Colin Bass, who works on his new solo album.
In November another promotional single featured a song "Jest taki samotny dom" appeared in the playlists of many Polish radio stations. In the same month (23.11.) Colin Bass's album "The Outcast Of The Islands" was released with guest performances of Andy Latimer - leader of Camel, Dave Stewart - Camel and Fish drummer, Wojciech Karolak - outstanding Polish jazzman and two members of Polish group Abraxas.
Also in November Quidam went for a short tour of southern Poland during which they played again in the programme "100% Live" at TV Katowice (10.11.) and "Pelna kultura" TV Kraków (13.11.).
On December 4th Quidam accompanied Colin Bass in Poznan during the concert promoting his " An Outcast..." album. In the same month "Wondrous Stories" monthly announced the results of readers' poll. Quidam again was placed very high in several categories. Emila Derkowska again took the third place in the "Best Female Vocalist" category and the whole band was fourth in the "Best Overseas Band" category. They took the second place in the "Best CRS Gig" category (the best performance during the concert organized by Classic Rock Society).
It should be also mentioned that the song "Wesola" was included on the free promo CD accompanying the December issue of the impressive "Mellotron" monthly published in Argentina.
In the first half of 1999 the band started writing material for their third album; some of the musicians played with Colin Bass during further concerts promoting his solo album. The most important event in Quidam history took place in March when they played on the third edition of "Baja Prog" (March 2 - 6th) in Mexicali in Mexico.
They performed as the last of ten invited groups (Arena from Great Britain, After Crying from Hungary, Crucible i Ten Jinn from the USA, Halloween from France and Cast from Mexico) and were considered as one of the brightest stars of the whole event. The transatlantic journey of the band was possible thanks to the generosity of British Airways, Polish Radio Program III and The City Council of Inowroclaw. All the performances in Mexicali were professionally recorded and filmed with the thought of possible release both on CD and video.
In April Quidam went on one of their longest tours when they supported Colin Bass. In the first half of every show the band presented their own set while in the second together with Camel bassist they played songs from his album "An Outcast Of The Islands" (the band accompanying Colin Bass featured also Dave Stewart and Szymon Brzezinski and Marcin Blaszczyk of Abraxas).
The tour included four gigs in Poland (one broadcast live and recorded for a live album at Agnieszka Osiecka Studio at Polish Radio Program III), four in Holland, one in Belgium, one in France and one in Spain.
The following months were devoted to the writing of new material. The band performed also during the 6th Symphonic Night in Wagrowiec (July 10th) and at "Przystanek Woodstock" - charity festival with attendance of 250.000 people (!!!) - organized by Jurek Owsiak on August 8th.
On November 8th a live album "Baja Prog - Live In Mexico '99" was released worldwide.
It included the recording of the band's performance in Mexico. The album makes a great summary of the first stage of the band's career. Among the songs included on the album we can find new versions of the classic rock compositions: Camel's "Rhayader/Rhayader Goes To Town", Deep Purple's "Child In Time" and Budka Suflera's "Jest taki samotny dom".
Almost simultaneously "Colin Bass Live at Polskie Radio III" album was released. Here again we can listen to Quidam's musicians. Live cooperation with Colin Bass went into the next year when Zbyszek Florek, Maciek Meller and Jacek Zasada became members of the band which accompanied Camel bassist during a long, including several dates acoustic tour which was summed up on the album "Colin Bass Live Vol. 2 - Acoustic Songs".
In spring 2000 Quidam played in Belgium and - for the first time - in Germany. They were invited - also for the first time - to Sweden where they played in Goeteborg on open-air Art Rock Festival on August 26th. Having returned home the band began working on their third studio album. The first new song ("Nowe imie" - "New Name") had already been premiered during the spring concerts.
The work on the new album continued during the first half of 2001. In July the band performed during a popular festival Castle Party at the castle in Bolków and in the middle of August they played in Royan, France. During the autumn and winter months they polished their new songs which were given their final shape. In March 2002 Quidam will present their latest studio album "TIME UNDER THE SKY", undoubtedly the most mature work in their career. 60 minutes of music will include the cover "No Quarter" from Led Zeppelin's fifth album. Promoting the release of the album the band will play three gigs with the German group RPWL (Poznan, Warszawa, Kraków). Later on they are planning a tour of Western Europe. Quidam were also invited to play at "Rio Festival" in Brazil in November 2002.
A month before the departure for Brazil there was a major change in the band's line-up: the bass player Radek Scholl (who was an original member of the band) was replaced by Damian Sikorski. In that new line-up Quidam played three very successful concerts for the South American audience. Focus, the Dutch stars of the symphonic rock of the 70s, were also on the bill.
After a short visit in The Netherlands and Belgium (where the band played in their favourite "Spirit of 66"), Quidam started rehearsals for the concert in Inowroclaw, which - as it turned out - was a farewell gig of that line-up. Emila Derkowska surprised everyone by her decision to leave the band and on February 15th, 2003 in a sold out Teatr Miejski in Inowroclaw she said good-bye to the audience and the band. Time showed that it was also the last gig of the rhythm section: Rafal Jermakow and Damian Sikorski decided to concentrate on new band MENSKI (together with...Radek Scholl on electric guitar!).
After a 12-month break the remaining members: Zbyszek Florek, Maciek Meller and Jacek Zasada decided to carry on as Quidam. They started searching for new musicians and new artistic identity. The first one to join them was Maciek Wróblewski, the drummer known from his cooperation with Polish avant-musician Mariusz Lubomski. Mariusz Ziólkowski from the band AFTER from Wloclawek was recruited as a new bass player. After many auditions Bartek Kossowicz (ex-NEO) became a new frontman. In that way a new chapter in the history of Quidam began.
Since May 2004 till January 2005 the band wrote and rehearsed new material. They "survived" and "revived". After recording a professional demo there came a time for recording a new album. On February 6th, 2005 in the rehearsal room of Teatr Miejski in Inowroclaw the first tracks of "surREvival" album were recorded. The release date is set for June 6th, 2005.
progarchives
