In the 1970s and 1980s figures from the Commedia dell'arte, the cabaret and the circus were her favourite motifs, revealing deep reflection, rebellion, elements of the grotesque and of tragic farce. [7] She then disappeared for a bit suggesting she was going to get the key during which time he called me and the police. Time and time again I think of Krysia and those times of the mid to late sixties in Milngavie where we both lived.

After the war she had zero interest in returning to her Soviet-occupied region, which was now part of Ukraine. “We were not willing to live under Communism, and no other country wanted us, so we remained in Northern Rhodesia,” she writes. “My country, my baby sister, my cousin, and now my father had all been taken from me because of that horrible war. I had barely had a childhood.” Though the years pass remorselessly the memory of Krysia is ever there and ever brings a sweetness to the mind.Only this afternoon I was standing in a kitchen in Brighton, UK telling a young girl about my dearest childhood friend, Krysia. I talked about the last time I had seen her in LA years ago, about her unbelievable voice, and so many of the transitions which, as a close close friend, I had seen or at least 'heard' her go through. I decided to try and connect with her again, only to learn of her death and I am writing this in the absolute freshness of this learning. How many children wandered the globe after World War II, displaced, disoriented, and looking for a place they could call home? Millions? That is too large a number. So instead, consider just the case of ten-year-old Krystyna “Krysia” Mihulka, whose idyllic childhood in the city of Lwów, Poland, was shattered when the Nazis invaded in September 1939. Her father went into hiding. Krysia, her younger brother, and their mother were deported. As they were leaving, she remembers overhearing a soldier say, “We are getting rid of the bourgeois rich. This world now belongs to the working class.” I've been having difficulty posting to this blog (I think it was me, not the blog), so this morning I started a blog for Krysia. There was something magical about the music that Natural Acoustic Band was making and long after the LP and its follow-up, Branching In, had absented themselves from my record collection, the songs continued to linger in my mind and memory.

She and Morley retired to Sherborne, Dorset, in 1971. After Morley’s death in 1995, she travelled, read widely in four languages, retained old friends and made new ones, of all generations. She had enormous energy and intellectual curiosity. Krysia translated several plays for theatre and radio by Witold Gombrowicz and Sławomir Mrożek, among others. She also wrote theatre criticism for Polish journals. Before the fall of communism in Poland, she translated, for publication, documents for Solidarity that had been smuggled out of Poland, often by her. The Brodsky Quartet mark Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary at King’s Place on 1 November. Info: kingsplace.co.uk She was a strong and beautiful spirit, and her music and lyrics were often infused with a sense of the mystical. This mystical sensibility was always beautifully counterbalanced by her sense of humor and mischief. She had a sense of what is sacred in life and a deep fascination with what lies underneath things, but she never fell into the trap that a lot of people can fall into of taking herself too seriously. Combined with her intelligence, her charm, her beauty, and her amazing singing voice and musical talent, she was really quite something in my opinion.Krysia started out singing with another friend of mine, Tom Hoy. We grew up on the same street together, Woodland Street. With Robin they formed a group called The Natural Acoustic Band. After two albums and on the brink of greater success Krysia was enticed to America and spent the rest of her life there, sometimes touring with the Al Stewart Band or doing studio work for The Kinks and others. We are a specialist dance education provider with 100 years experience in inspiring, cultivating and supporting dance teachers around the world. Our Faculty of Education was created in 1999 in recognition of our increasing commitment to higher education. Find a programme Three NIHR Research Schools’ Mental Health and Dementia Research Programme: Early Career Research Forum I regret to inform that Krysia-Kocjan-Haber died on Wednesday February 21st, 2007. She gracefully fought lung cancer for over two years and finally succumbed. 25 February, 2007 02:01 Anonymous said...