Soyka is a Polish jazz and pop singer, pianist and composer. He was born as… Read Full Bio ↴Soyka is a Polish jazz and pop singer, pianist and composer. He was born as Stanisław Sojka on April 26, 1959 in Żory, Poland, a small town in the Upper Silesia.
He started performing in public as a soprano singer in the Gliwice Cathedral Choir, when he was seven years old. In the same time he also was a violin student of the second grade at the State Musical School in Gliwice. His musical education was continued at the Music High School in Katowice and completed with master degree in arrangement and composing from the Katowice Music Academy.
Soyka professionally debuted on stage on November 1978, when he performed in concert at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw in the prestigious "Jazz at the Philharmonic" series. He presented a recital, inspired by classic jazz, soul and R'n'B with songs of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles and George Gershwin, but also traditional Polish Christmas carols and folklore tunes. That concert was recorded and released in 1979 as Soyka’s debut album entitled Don’t You Cry. In that year Stanisław Soyka also won the top prize at Lubelskie Spotkania Jazzowe (Lublin Jazz Conference).
Until 1985 he released three more jazz albums and even one with religious music. He has been named the best Polish jazz vocalist by readers of magazine "Jazz Forum", from 1983 to 1988. In the same period of time Soyka recorded also some pop songs for Polish Radio, which later were collected on album Radioaktywny, released in 1989.
In 1986 Soyka signed a two-year record deal with RCA in Germany. He recorded there his first pop and first international album, simply entitled Stanisław Sojka. Among the producers was famous Harold Faltermeyer. The album was a commercial flop, but it gave him success in his native Poland. In 1988 Soyka came back to Poland and formed a duet with guitarist Janusz Yanina Iwański from famous Polish jazz group Tie Break. They recorded and performed together until 1994. In 1991 Soyka recorded his most famous and best-selling album, Acoustic, co-produced by Dieter Meier from Yello. It brought such hits like Cud niepamięci or Play It Again. In 1992 he even was named Best Polish Male Vocalist of 1991 by readers of magazine "Popcorn" for teenagers. His next album Neopositive from 1992 repeated commercial success of Acoustic, thanks to the huge hit Tolerancja, which became his biggest one in all his career. In that year he also won the Bursztynowy Słowik - Grand Prix of Sopot International Song Festival. Another album, Radical Graża (released under the name Soykayanina i Kompania) from 1994, was a mediocre commercial success, just like his every next album.
In 1995 Soyka decided to compose music for poetry and record his first album with poetic music. He chose William Shakespeare's sonnets, translated into Polish. The album Sonety Shakespeare was released in 1995 and his English version Soyka Sings Shakespeare's Sonnets four years later. Soyka gave its Polish version as a gift to Queen Elizabeth II, during her 1996 visit to Poland. In 2003 he composed music for a poem "Roman Tryptich" written by Pope John Paul II and recorded the album Tryptyk rzymski. He presented these songs live in front of the Pope in the Vatican. In 2001 Soyka recorded one more religious album in his career, Polskie pieśni wielkopostne with forgotten Polish Lenten songs. But Soyka didn't forget about pop music and between those albums released Nr 17 in 1998, Soykanova in 2002 and album with covers Soyka Sings Love Songs in 2004. In 2007 he formed his new band Stanisław Soyka Sextet Plus. In 2008 Soyka recorded as a guest artist two songs with rapper Gorzki, including one with Bizarre from D12 and one reggae song with composer and producer Piotr Krakowski. Soyka's first studio album in five years, Studio Wąchock, was released in October 2009.
Soyka earned two Polish music industry awards Fryderyk Awards as "Best Male Vocalist" : for 1994 (on the first ceremony) and for 1998 and the third one for the "Best Poetic Music Album" of 2003.

Aniol Pasterzom Mowil
Stanisław Soyka Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Anioł pasterzom mówił
Chrystus się wam narodził
W Betlejem nie bardzo podłym mieście
Narodził się w ubóstwie
Pan wszego stworzenia

Chcąc się tego dowiedzieć
Poselstwa wesołego

Bieżeli do Betlejem skwapliwie
Znaleźli Dziecię w żłobie
Maryję z Józefem

Jaki Pan chwały wielkiej
Uniżył się z wysokiej
Pałacu kosztownego żadnego
Nie miał zbudowanego

Pan wszego stworzenia
Pan wszego stworzenia

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Anioł pasterzom mówił, originally a Polish Christmas carol, talk about the story of the angel announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. The song starts with "An angel told the shepherds, Christ is born to you, in Bethlehem, not a very poor city, born in poverty, the Lord of all creation." These lines describe the message brought by the angel to the shepherds, announcing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The lyrics then go on to talk about how the shepherds eagerly went to find the baby Jesus in a stable, and found Him lying in a manger with Mary and Joseph by His side. The song ends with the lines "What a master of great glory, has humbled Himself from His high position, He had no expensive palace built, the Lord of all creation, the Lord of all creation."

The song has a clear religious message dealing with the birth of Jesus and the significance of this event to Christians. The lyrics describe how the birth of Jesus, despite being the Lord of all creation, was humble and born in poverty. The song also talks about the importance of the message of the angel and the response of the shepherds to this message.

Line by Line Meaning

Anioł pasterzom mówił
An angel spoke to the shepherds

Chrystus się wam narodził
Christ is born to you

W Betlejem nie bardzo podłym mieście
In Bethlehem, not a very humble city

Narodził się w ubóstwie
He was born in poverty

Pan wszego stworzenia
The Lord of all creation

Chcąc się tego dowiedzieć
Wanting to learn this

Poselstwa wesołego
Good news

Bieżeli do Betlejem skwapliwie
Hastily ran to Bethlehem

Znaleźli Dziecię w żłobie
They found the Child in a manger

Maryję z Józefem
Mary and Joseph

Jaki Pan chwały wielkiej
What a Lord of great glory