Breakout was a Polish

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

band, formed on 1 February 1968.

History

After a few years of playing as Blackout, the first performance of Breakout took place at the Musicorama festival in February 1968. In April the new bass player - Michał Muzolf, joined the group. In June the band toured in the countries of

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

. After the band returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, they became one of the most famous Polish rock bands, owing much to a new sound-kit brought from western

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, but also as they were arguably the first group to play blues rock in Poland. In November 1968, Breakout performed several concerts across Poland. By January and February 1969, their song ''"Gdybyś kochał, hej!"'' had reached the top of the radio charts. In 1969 they released their first album ''Na drugim brzegu tęczy'', which they had recorded without K. Dłutowski, but with Włodzimierz Nahorny, who played the saxophone and flute. In August, Breakout took the new bass-player

Piotr Nowak Piotr "Peter" Nowak (; born 5 July 1964) is a Polish professional football manager and former player. He was most recently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok. Nowak played in Europe for Polish clubs such as Zawisza Bydgoszc ...

, but just at the beginning of 1970, he was replaced by

Józef Skrzek Józef Franciszek Skrzek (born 2 July 1948, Siemianowice, Silesia, Poland) is a Polish multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer, an important figure in Polish rock. Life In his early career, Skrzek was associated with the groups Ślężani ...

. The same year

Franciszek Walicki Franciszek Walicki (20 July 1921 – 3 October 2015) was a Polish journalist. He was considered the father of Polish beat and rock music, calling them big-beat as rock and roll was unacceptable name for the authorities of the Polish People's Rep ...

(manager) left the band. In 1970, the band was more and more criticised by Polish mass media for pro-West lifestyle and long hair. As a result, the radio and TV stopped broadcasting their songs. In 1971, Breakout accomplished arguably their best album: ''

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

''. It was recorded by:

Tadeusz Nalepa Tadeusz Nalepa (26 August 1943 in Zgłobień, Poland – 4 March 2007, Warsaw) was a Polish composer, guitar player, vocalist, and lyricist. Career Nalepa graduated from the Music Academy in Rzeszów in the departments of violin, clarinet an ...

(vocal, lead guitar), Dariusz Kozakiewicz (guitar), Tadeusz Trzciński (harmonica), Jerzy Goleniewski (bass), Józef Hajdasz (drums). Next year they recorded their fourth album ''Karate''. After the recording was finished Jan Izbiński (vocal) joined for a short time. ''Karate'' turned out to be their best selling work to date. In 1973 year Włodzimierz Nahorny left Breakout, and the musicians helped to record the solo album of Mira Kubasińska ''Ogień''. Between 1973 and 1975 the band went on concerts to

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 1974 Breakout recorded their fifth album ''Kamienie'', which was recorded by:

(lead guitar, harmonica, vocal), Winicjusz Chróst (guitar), Zdzisław Zawadzki (bass), Wojciech Morawski (drums). On 21 November 1974, the band received the Golden Plate for ''Karate''. Throughout 1975 there were many personal changes within the band, and at the beginning of the next year the personnel was established as: Mira Kubasińska (vocal), Tadeusz Nalepa (guitar), Zbigniew Wypych (bass), Bogdan Lewandowski (keyboards), Andrzej Tylec (drums). With these members Breakout recorded an album called ''NOL''. Fans had to wait till 1979 for the new album. ''Żagiel ziemi'', recorded with Roman "Pazur" Wojciechowski, was a part of the Olympian Triptych prepared for the Olympics 1980 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and simultaneously they recorded next album called ''ZOL''. The band ceased to exist in 1982 when the band leader

began the solo career. Up to the present day the band has been often reactivated for various events and concerts. On 19 June 2007, in

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

, the Breakout Festival was organized in memory of Mira Kubasińska and Tadeusz Nalepa.

Band members

(1943–2007) -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

*Mira Kubasińska (1944–2005) - vocal *Janusz Zieliński -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Krzysztof Dłutowski - keyboards *Józef Hajdasz -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Discography

Studio albums

*''Blackout'' (1968) *''Na drugim brzegu tęczy'' (1969) *''70a'' (1970) *''

'' (1971) *''Mira'' (1971) *''Karate'' (1972) *''Ogień'' (1973) *''Kamienie'' (1974) *''NOL'' (1976) *''ZOL'' (1979) *''Żagiel ziemi'' (1980)

Compilations

*''Blackout (2)'' (1994) *''Breakout 1969/70'' (1996) *''Ballady'' (1995)

External links

Nalepa's Discography

(English)
Polish Rock Archives: Breakout

Festival Breakout
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breakout (Band) Polish blues rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1968 Musical groups disestablished in 1982