Zdrada Palki is one of the most fun, exciting and kick-ass queer feminist musicians in Europe. Originally from Poland (and now residing in Berlin), her unique ability to blend the highly political and the delightfully kitsch is music to just about everyone’s ears who hears her. I just had to interview my favourite political pop star through the medium of the Deviant Moon tarot, and here’s what happened….
Tarot Cat : Your music a lot of fun, but it’s also highly political. Your lyrics taken on extremely serious topics (such as the lack of abortion rights in your home country, Poland), and yet you somehow manage to do this whilst sounding like you’re in the middle of an extremely kitsch early 90’s disco. I wondered about what drives you to make this kind of music, I drew out a tarot card at random, and it was the King of Cups. This is one of the “court cards” in the tarot deck, and I instantly like that it’s a king (rather than a queen), which seems appropriate for a musician with such a genderqueer performance; he’s a very camp, flamboyant looking figure, and I’m sure you’d look wonderful in this outfit! This king holds up a full cup in an offering, he’s someone who really understands human beings and wants to assist. The suit of cups is all about emotions, love, relationships, and caring for others. This paints your motivations for making music in a really dignified light - would you say that caring for others, or being sensitive to other people’s feelings is one of your motivations behind making music?
Zdrada Palki : I’d rather see the king of cups as someone who likes to be in the centre of attention and uses this position of power to do influence the reality. Thinking of king of cups I immediately saw an image of a party person, a hedonist, someone raising a glass to make a toast. Such interpretation would certainly fit my motivation for creating Zdrada Pałki. I just feel good on stage. Plus wanted to make simple music, one that people would dance to but give it more of a political content. I was inspired by disco-polo music, which is a popular thing especially in Polish working class and people from smaller cities and villages. The content there is frequently sexist and promotes “traditional values” but I noticed that it’s sometimes played at punk afterparties. And I thought: if people like catchy simple tunes, why not serve it with some radical angle? And how Zdrada Pałki looks was definitely influenced by an unquestionable king: Freddie Mercury. You see: “I want to break free” was my favourite videoclip when I was a child and I kept waiting for my father to put on a dress while vacuuming. Regrettably he never did.
Tarot Cat : I’m really interested in how you actually make the music itself. You’re essentially a DIY, political punk musician, yet your music is very synthy, maybe even a little europop. Thinking about how you go about writing songs, I drew the Four of Cups. Here, again we have cups - the suit of emotions/the heart. The figure here sits at the top of a tower, looking really bored and even a bit sad. The person tosses a cup over the wall into the sea, as if to say, “what’s the point?”. As I think about this, I wonder if you make very hyper, happy-sounding music at times when you’re feeling low, bored, sick of everything? Does making fun pop music to accompany political messages make you feel more positive, and perhaps challenge your own negative feelings about the world?
Zdrada Palki : This is really amazing! Most of the songs I make are really sad and finish deep “in the drawer” cos emo-stuff is not what I want to do with Zdrada Pałki. Maybe one day they will grow into a separate project. But honestly: sad songs bore me to the core. They also make me feel even worse about everything. I don’t need them at this point. So I chose laughing at what annoys me as a kind of therapy, a method of dealing with the reality.
The process of making these songs is really a mixture. I usually start with browsing through the sound library in FL Studio and gather the sounds I like. So the direction is often a coincidence rather than deliberate action. What I see in common with the person in the picture is trial and error. Maybe the person listens to what sound the glasses make crashing against the rocks. We can’t see how much broken glass is laying around down there. The person has still some cups at hand waiting to be broken. I sometimes do some random beats with no big vision or idea for them. I just try and wait what happens. If I come back to them, I use them. But what is performed on stage is just a fraction of piles of really really bad beats.
Tarot Cat : Your first album, Kawałki, is one of the few records that hasn’t left my iPod in years. It’s such an amazing pop record, and I’m so excited to hear that you’ve just finished recording your second album! I drew a card to tell me something interesting about your new record and I drew The World. A mermaid figure dances with two fire sticks in her hands, and around her all kinds of strange creatures seem content and relaxed. This card is generally considered to be one of the best cards in the tarot - it’s one of the “Major Arcana” cards which represent major life events, and it’s also the final card in that sequence, representing a very fulfilling ending or completion of something major. What does this card say to you about your album?
Zdrada Palki : The image made me actually think of a tattoo that I want to have. So again, a funny coincidence. As for the album though, which I think is going to be called “Nowe Kawałki” (New Pieces), it was a long way. Most of the songs were ready more than one year ago but I struggled with finding time and money for recording.
The mermaid could be a symbol of a decision I took: to make the album only with non-cis-male help. I found the wonderful Sky Deep, who recorded and mixed the tracks. Before that I released one song “Polonez”, which was co-produced by Basak Gunak, the woman behind Ah!Kosmos project. For me, these choices meant not only more comfort during the process but also an important political act of supporting other non-cis-male artists. Mermaid power!
What means the world for me is the support I get from the queer community. Even though I sing almost exclusively in Polish I get very warm welcomes in different European countries. It’s very touching and gives me the sense of belonging and being appreciated.
(Zdrada Palki performing at Silverfuture - my favourite venue in the world! - in Berlin)
Tarot Cat : That’s a very interesting response! It’s often said that the reason the genital area is covered in the original images in The World is actually because the central figure - who has exposed breasts - also has a penis. Obviously this only applies to a very few non-cis-male people, but metaphorically speaking, I love it that you came back with that response. There’s definitely an intuitive tarot reader lurking in you Martyna!
Zdrada Palki : Haha, great! My great-grandmother was a fortune teller. I guess it must have been some of that genetic knowledge.
Tarot Cat : Finally, what are your plans with Zdrada Palki for the near future? Oh, it’s The Fool! This is one of my favourite cards. A dancing court-jester kind of figure dances in shallow water, with fish biting at his ankles. His card is numbered “0”; he doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the tarot deck and he looks in the opposite direction to where he’s headed. He seems to take joy in simply getting to wherever he’s going, without thinking too much about what will happen. It’s a very positive card in many ways, there’s a real childlike joy in just doing what feels good at the time, without making future plans. Does this resonate with you, with regards to how you are treating the future with Zdrada Palki?
Zdrada Palki : There’s not much more than concerts for Zdrada Pałki coming up. But maybe I’ll have a first video coming out this year! We’ll see. I’m kind of going with the flow, without major plans.
I totally identify with the fool! I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do in a year (after the contract for my day-job expires). My fantasy is to stop selling my time for money at all, or at least do it just part-time and commit more to things that are “waiting” - the ideas I never had time to develop. Since Zdrada Pałki has been more of an “expensive hobby” than anything else, I’m aware this kind of work can’t be a source of income. I’m playing with a scenario of living with very little money. Since in capitalist reality it’s clearly not the direction to go, this is exactly what I want to do.
Tarot Cat : Thanks you so much for giving me your time Martyna! You’re a disco pop inspiration to all of us, and I offer a final gentle purr of gratitude!
Zdrada Palki’s new album will be out in late September. You can pay what you like for her debut album and singles over at Bandcamp. Follow her on Facebook for news on the new album!
The Tarot Cat is a tarot-reading DIY musician based in Scotland. I blog about tarot and musical-tarot connections and I provide creative tarot readings via my website. More posts on the way....Love Ste x
