Voice

Abstract

The symbols and rituals of Polish Catholicism structured much of the opposition’s work and discourse. When one cherished leader, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, was violently murdered by the Security Service in late 1984, he became a martyr for the opposition across religious differences. The chapter presents a media archaeology of his voice to suggest that the priest’s power lies at the nexus of sound technology, sound theology, and sound musicology. Historical recordings offer intimate access to his sermons and Polish-language chant and intimate recollections of his person. His murder was commemorated in compositions by Krzysztof Knittel, Andrzej Panufnik, and Muslimgauze. The analysis of his voice also unpacks his 1984 burial through ethnographic encounter at the 2009 reenactment of his funeral. The portrait sprawls and shows how the opposition, as a media assemblage, was concerned with bodily vulnerability.