‘We Party Like Ladies’: Renia Pączkowska, Verka Serduchka, and the Possibilities of Other Eastern European Identities
Xawery Stańczyk
xawery.stanczyk@uni.lodz.plUniversity of Łódź (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0042-0016
Abstract
In 2003, the Polish trio Ich Troje (The Three of Them) performed the composition Keine Grenzen / Żadnych granic (No Borders) on the Eurovision Song Contest stage, a trilingual (Polish, German, and Russian) anti-nationalist anthem that took the seventh place in the final. Four years later, Verka Serduchka, a drag queen representing Ukraine with the song Dancing Lasha Tumbai, sung in German and English, and popularly perceived as a Ukrainian farewell to Russia, reached the second place in the Eurovision final. In 2005, between the two performances, Michał Wiśniewski, the leader of Ich Troje, then at the height of popularity in Poland, under the female stage name Renia Pączkowska, released a joint album with Serduchka 1, 2, 3… Próba mikrofonu (1, 2, 3… Mic Test). The record comprises covers of Serduchka’s songs with Polish lyrics and significantly differs from the typical Ich Troje pop-rock style. The article examines the gender and national axes of the collaboration between the two Eurovision stars, who jointly created a possibility for alternative Eastern European identities. In conclusion, both Renia and Verka are claimed to be camp champions.
Disclosure Statement
Keywords:
Eurovision, Ich Troje, Verka Serduchka, Renia Pączkowska, post-Sovietness, national identity, campReferences
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Authors
Xawery Stańczykxawery.stanczyk@uni.lodz.pl
University of Łódź Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0042-0016
Xawery Stańczyk – Researcher, writer, and poet. He is an Assistant Professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology of Art, Institute of Sociology, University of Lodz. Member of the journal Wiadomości Statystyczne. The Polish Statistician editorial team. He obtained his Ph.D. in cultural studies as well as an M.A. from the Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw, and an M.A. in sociology from the Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Warsaw. His main fields of interest include youth culture, popular music, visual arts, social imagination, and social creativity in socialist and post-socialist Eastern Europe.
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