II
Lombard &Małgorzata Ostrowska

About:

Grzegorz Stróżniak (30 April 1958) Poznan
Małgorzata Ostrowska (2 May 1958)

In the seventies Ostrowska, Stróżniak and Wanda Kwietniewską attend the Studio of Stage Arts in Poznan where they start the vocal group Vist. In 1975 Ostrowska was selected from the school to perform at the Soviet Song Festival in Zielona Gora, where she won the main prize with the song " Słowiki" (originally "Соловьи"). In 1981 the trio expanded into a band and changed the name, first into Skandal and then Lombard. Local radio in Szczecin gave them the opportunity to record the first songs of which the song ‘Bez zysków, bez strat’ (No profit, no loss) was picked up bu National radio. Soon they were performing the song in the popular TV show Pana Manna. The band got signed to statelabel Polskie Nagrania Muza and with a growing popularity was pressured to come up with more hits. ‘O jeden dreszcz’ and ‘Trójki’ were released in 1982 but Wanda Kwietniewską decided to quite Lombard and start her own band called Banda i Wanda. The debut album ‘Śmierć dyskotece!’ was recorded in 1983 but PNM dumped the band soon thereafter and Lombard found a home with the much smaller Savitor label. That caused the odd fact that a live album, licensed to Savitor, was released a few months prior to the actual studio debut album. As popularity grew with the following albums the band also tried an international approach by translation some of the lyrics in English. The english albums called ‘Hope and Penicillin’ and ‘Wings of a Dove’ weren’t very succesful. By 1987 the pressure on the band caused for a time out. Gregory Stróżniak engaged in cooperation with the Polish Theatre in Poznan at the spectacle " Ujrzana we śnie Wasawadatta " and Małgorzata Ostrowska toured with Lombard members with a series of blues concerts and played Maria Magdalen in "Jesus Christ Superstar. A year new recordingsessions were still stalked because of the pregnancy of Małgorzata. By 1989 the band started touring again of which a live album was made. But new studio work had to wait untill 1990. It would be the last with the old line up. A 10th anniversary show with also Wanda on vocals marked the end. Ostrowska assembled the self penned songs she wrote over the years for a solo-debut in 1993.

In 1994, Gregory Stróżniak reactivated as Lombard as the Lombard Group and started touring. They also recorded a promotion single for the beer ‘Lech’. By 1997 Lombard was back in force with Ostrowska temporary on vocals. The old magic was gone however and after a tour Małgorzata concetrated again on her solo career. Her place was taken by Marta Cugier. Ostrowska also played the past of Queen Aba in the movie "Podróże Pana Kleksa". While Ostrowska had growing succes with her own albums and received a life time achievement award at Opole Lombard had to wait untill 2000 for a new album would be released (with the all saying title ‘Deja Vu’). In 2004 Małgorzata joined the national selection for the ESC with the song ‘Nie uwierzę’ but was passed by Blue Café. Lombard spend most of the first half of the decade touring the world with concerts in the USA and Russia. Ostrowska career was in slow waters at that time with one new album and guest performances on albums from KSU Lech Janerka, Dzem, Michal Urbaniak and Acid Drinkers In 2009 Lombard performed for thousand of people in Gdansk at ‘Zaczęło się w Polsce’  celebrations of 20 years Polish independence. Małgorzata contributed to the Christmas charity album ‘Pocztówka Do Świętego Mikołaja’. In 2010 Lombard recorded the Polish song for the World Foorball Cup called ‘We are football fans’. In 2012 this resulted in a first new album since years called ‘Show Time’. Ostrowska released a new single in 2010 called ‘Szpilki (Taką mnie chcesz)’ but no new album is planned..

On the web:

- Lombard's official website:http://www.lombard.pl/

- Małgorzata's official website:http://www.ostrowska.pl/

If you like this, you probably like... / european counterparts:

Rettore ( Italy)

What do we think:

DB: Sympathetic radio friendly poprock from a band that started out as a punk-light variety to Maanam. As far as I know they did not come up with very experimental music but did deliver thorough stable rock. Nice enough to pick up if you bump into any albums of them.

Albums:

Lombard:

♪♪♪♪ - Śmierć dyskotece! - 1983

- Wolne od cła – 1984

- Szara maść - 1984

- Anatomia - Savitor

♪♪♪ - Kreacje - 1987

- Welcome Home - 1990

- Deja'Vu - 2000

- Show Time - 2012

Małgorzata Ostrowska solo::

- Małgorzata Ostrowska - 1993

- Alchemia - 1999

- Przed świtem - 2000

- Instynkt - 2001

- Moja Kolekcja - 2007

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♪♪♪♪♪ = outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided