Robert Maksymilian Brylewski, also known as. Afa and Robin Goldroker (25 May 1961 – 3 June 2018), was a Polish musician and singer-songwriter, co-founder of bands Kryzys, Brygada Kryzys, Izrael and Armia.
In May 2012, Brylewski's autobiography, titled "Kryzys w Babilonie" ("Crisis in Babylon"), was published by the Wydawnictwo Literackie publishing house. The book has 584 pages and is based on a conversation between Brylewski and Polish Playboy journalist Rafał Księżyk. In the book, Brylewski answers numerous questions about his childhood, youth, music, and private life.
Early years
Brylewski's father Waldemar was born in Czeladź, Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, while his mother Hanna is from Warsaw. The two met in the 1950s, while dancing for the famous Śląsk Song and Dance Ensemble. Robert was their only child, and the future musician, even though born in Warsaw, spent most of his childhood in a castle at Koszęcin, where all members of the ensemble lived. Brylewski returned to Warsaw with his mother in the early 1970s; his parents divorced when he was 13, and Robert admitted in the book that as a teenager, he had a lot of freedom, as his mother toured Poland, dancing and singing, and his father remained at Koszęcin. Brylewski attended Warsaw's renowned 11th High School, but did not graduate, because, as he claims, while still there, he decided not to pursue any career or go to college, but to become a musician.
As a teenager, Brylewski played association football, was a member of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, and later on, became interested in rock music. In the early 1970s, his father spent some time in the United States, from where he brought several records. At that time, rock shows were frequently organized at Warsaw's Congress Hall, and Brylewski attended them, as well as Warsaw's Jazz Jamboree Festival. To avoid military service, which was obligatory in Communist Poland, he faked mental illness.
1978 – 1982
In the late 1970s, Brylewski read an article in Życie Warszawy about British punk rock movement. Impressed by the music of The Clash, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and other bands, he went to see the first punk rock concert in Poland, featuring The Raincoats (April 1, 1978, at Riviera Remont Student Culture Center in Warsaw). After the show, he decided to start his own band, together with students of a high school from Wilanów, Kamil Stoor and Paweł "Kelner" Rozwadowski. They named their band The Boors, and after Stoor had left Poland for Sweden, with a new lineup, the band was renamed into Kryzys (Crisis, May 1979). Due to the connections of band's manager, Jacek Olechowski (brother of Andrzej Olechowski), Kryzys toured Poland in 1979 – 1981, with such bands, as Kombi, Turbo, Exodus, and singers, such as John Porter, and Izabela Trojanowska. Brylewski wrote music for Kryzys, while lyrics were authored by the band's drummer, Maciej "Magura" Góralski. In 1981, they played at National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, together with Dżem, Perfect and Bank.
Kryzys ceased to exist in July 1981, and in early August 1981, Brylewski knocked on the door of the flat of Tomasz "Frantz" Lipiński (son of Eryk Lipiński), whose own band, Tilt, had been dissolved at that time as well. During the first meeting, both musicians agreed to start a new band. Since manager Jacek Orzechowski insisted on keeping the word Kryzys, Lipiński suggested adding the word Brygada, therefore Brygada Kryzys (Crisis Brigade) was born. The leaders of the band described its music as punkadelic, and first show took place in September 1981 at Riviera Remont Student Culture Center in Warsaw, together with Republika. The concert was recorded and illegally published in Great Britain, as Brygada Kryzys Live. In November 1981, Brygada Kryzys toured Poland together with a British band TV 21. During the tour, Brylewski was badly beaten in a restaurant at a hotel in Gdańsk. Then, in early December 1981, Brygada Kryzys went to Belgrade, to participate in the Days of Young Polish Culture. The bus with both Brygada Kryzys and Maanam was not allowed entry into Czechoslovakia at the border crossing in Cieszyn, so it had to return to Warsaw, from where Brygada Kryzys flew to Belgrade. As Brylewski said in his autobiography: "The spirit of Josip Broz Tito was still in the air, but they all sensed that after his death, the country would break into pieces. They welcomed us as stars, as a legend". (page 126). On December 20, 1981 (see Martial Law in Poland), Brylewski was beaten up by the Communist police.