Karch, Michał

Born and lived in Istebna-Leszczyna [NE of Istebna]; The earliest gajdosz of Istebna-Leszczyna, he is still remembered by inhabitants of this hamlet; He lived in a mountaineer’s cottage, in a time when "portki" [richly embroidered trousers], "kyrpce" [in standard Polish: "kierpce" (a kind of moccasins); ws], "gunia" [a short heavy woollen coat with fake pockets, and closed sleeves that serve that purpose] and the "kłobłuk" [sic; a "kłobuk" is a felt hat] were the main elements of commonly worn mountaineer’s attire; Unfortunately his granddaughter, who lives, nowadays [i.e. in 2014; ws], in a mountaineer’s house nearby, doesn’t remember too many details of her grandfather’s life, because he died when she was only two years old; Karch is remembered, however, by Anna Zowada (*1928), who resides in the neighbourhood; She recollects that he once returned home from a fair, with his "gunia" merely thrown over his shoulders, carrying the objects he had bought at the fair home in the sleeves, that were tied up at the end with a bit of string; He was occupied in the manufacture of "kierpce"; It is very likely that he was also involved in the construction of Gajdy, because his favourite saying "Gajdy zrobi… ale jako grajom?" [He makes Gajdy… but how do they play? (?)] has survived in the oral tradition of Istebna residents; They remember that he said it, characteristically "graserując" *; In one of his photographs, Tadeusz Kubisz (1880-1964) immortalised Karch playing a Gajdy; He had thick grey hair, perhaps that’s why he posed more than once for painter Jan Wałach; When he died, there was no piper left in Istebna-Leszczyna, and it was not until around 1960 that Franciszek Marekwica "Julka" started playing the Gajdy, thus continuing the musical tradition of the pipers of Leszczyna; Currently [i.e. in 2014; ws], the only piper in Istebna-Leszczyna is Jan Kaczmarzyk "Janko" (*1969).

*NB: "Graserując" is the present participle (in English ending in -ing) of the verb "graserować" [In standard Polish "grasejować"], which is used to define a peculiar guttural pronunciation of the letter r, formerly rather common among the gentry (as a result of their fascination for French culture, and, consequently, influenced by the nannies they used to hire to educate their offspring), but nowadays usually considered a speech impediment...