Philadelphia
AND THE BIG FISH SWALLOWED ME
By Marta Tylenda
Rock concerts in prisons for hardened criminals / Europe - Poland. This is quite an untypical event. After all, it happens very rarely that before the concert prison guards take away IDs and cell phones, even from the band. The hall is also strange. No dimmed light, no neon signs. Instead, there is a mess hall with rows of wooden benches and tables, unsealed windows, terrazzo floor and glow-tubes.
On the benches there are a few dozen of short-haired men. Most of them are older, one of those who spent most of their lives in jail. There are also a couple of very young ones - it is hard to believe that they have already broken the law several times.
Why did they come?
Maciej, the warden for cultural, educational and sport issues in the prison for hardened criminals is disillusioned about it:
- a criminal must know what is going on. Even if he’s not interested, he’ll come to keep his ear to the ground.
- it’s better than smoking in the barrack
The five guys from Philadelphia band come up among loud cheers.
Mariusz begins (fragment):
- “We’ve got a few stories for you concerning what we all go through, no matter what side of the prison wall you are on. “
...I was swallowed by a big fish
I was in its bowels
Don’t know how long
Nobody looked for me; no one called my name…
I was wandering in the darkness
Calling upon You, Lord…
I got hope like two droplets
That I won’t lose You
I believe that a day will come
When Your voice will save me… (…)
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“My life was tough. I had a broken family so I basically grew up on my own. Very early on I started a life of a swinger, with drugs and alcohol.
I’m surprised I never overdosed, actually.”
says Tommy Matloch (Philadelphia-bass guit.)
“One day I met a man who also used to drink and do drugs
He was in prison too.
He told me about God. I didn’t listen at first. It was only when I began to suffer from depression,
when I was afraid to leave the house
because I was sure that someone wanted to kill me
that I ran back to that man and asked “Help me!”
Mariusz Sobański (Philadelphia band leader -voc., guit.)
“Each of us has a history. I used to go to rock festivals like Jarocin Rock Festival (European counterpart of Woodstock), Rava Blues Festival etc.
During communist times we would gather the whole spike and travel all around Poland. We would run from militia, the Communist police, sleep on beaches, train stations, anywhere. There was pot, alcohol and I thought I had found my freedom. But today we are all new people.”
Why do they play in prisons?
- “We are trying to give those people a spark of hope. We want to say what we have been through and show them true freedom in Jesus Christ.”
They play as if in a trance.
The mess hall is not ready for such concert. And the audience? No one is jumping, no one is dancing, no one is waving nor shouting. Everyone is sitting neatly in their benches, not a sign of emotion on their faces. Only here and there a stomping foot. Some men stubbornly fix their eyes on the floor, others can not concentrate at all.
and I await a miracle
under the sky full of stars
locked as a bird
in a cage
on a green planet
that never really was
my home
Tomek II - a young, slim prisoner - he is going to leave the prison in a couple of months. - “I wish there were more concerts like that” - he says, - “Unfortunately, only few people listened to the lyrics.” He is form Chodziez. He says he’s in prison for being impulsive - “I used to be such a person that when I entered a pub, some people immediately chose to leave because after a beer or two I could make a hell of a mess” - he explains.
The prisoners say Tomek II got crazy a few months ago. He claims he finally changed his life. - “I believe in God” - says Tomek. - I didn’t use to believe in anything. I would fight with my mother-in-law that there is no God. After all - who saw Him? Where is He? And now I believe.”
In his free time he reads the Bible - “Others stopped teasing me. Even if they did, I don’t care. My life was a failure, you know. Now it is all changing. Completely.”
Tomek II is planning to change more than just his life - “My home is going to be different too.”
A warden: “What did he say to you? Because if he said something bad, he will get in trouble.”
A prison worker: “Be careful. They can tell you lots of things and then they’ll write complaints about you. You don’t know what they are capable of.
Przemek, a young, muscular criminal smiles mildly. He also thinks They are capable of many things. Only for him “They” are the justice administration. - “People are in this prison for trivial things. There is just one man who killed somebody and a couple of serious robbers. Most of us ended up here for minor thefts and drunken driving. Those people should not be in jail at all” - he claims.
…because in the hustle of grey days
your eyes have lost the simplest things
and today you think…
I wasted so much life
so much…
Let the wind blow
Let the wind blow
Before my fire is gone
Before the last spark is out
“You are the only woman here. Do not be surprised that everyone is looking at you. A woman is an event here” - Tomek III tries to comfort me. He has been visiting prisons for 8 years, two times a week, without any financial profits. He talks to the prisoners.
I say to them: ”You think you are strong because you can smash my face. But in fact you are all living the same ready-made scenario. And yet you can be free, though in prison. God can do that for you.”
Few of the prisoners listen to him. Some meet him to kill boredom, others to laugh him off. Tomek III is persistent - “You can find any evil here: pornography, brutality, envy, there’s no reclamation. Therapists try to convince us that some cases are hopeless but I still believe there is a chance for them. If not now, then perhaps next time they get into this jail.”
During the concert Tomek III sits among the prisoners.
- I tell them “I’ve done many things in my life. I got lucky and never went to prison. You were not and it’s a shame.”
One of the wardens watches them from the back of the hall. - “Tomek comes here because he’s got an agenda. His business is spreading the Gospel, so to say. We are here to teach the criminals how to function in society and a necessary part of that is culture, music.
This is reclamation” - he explains - “In the winter, when there are no sport activities, I’m trying to provide more of such concerts, even one a month.”
Tomek III: “I keep telling them: If you get here once, you will get stuck here. Unless you change your lives, you’ll get back here for sure.”
Ryszard, around 50, doesn’t want to get back to jail.
- “I’m here for the third and last time.18 more months and I’m done. I have a 7-year-old daughter to live for.”
A warden: “Rysio is a typical jailbird, he spend more time in prison than outside of it. He told you it’s his last time? The all say that.”
When someone takes away
your only ray of hope
and he has been with you
for all these years;
And when your friend
is not a friend no more
somewhere on the crossroads
words fail
Halfway through the concert the music fades.
Mariusz puts down his guitar.
- “I have looked for freedom in all the wrong places. Finally, someone cared enough to show me the Bible. It was the best investment I made in my life. At last I understood what freedom really is. Jesus Christ today offers you salvation, everlasting life, he offers you true freedom.
I wish you freedom. (fragment)
The hall roars with applause.
A warden: “Well, you really moved them. I haven’t seen them so happy for a long time.”
Ryszard: “I wish there were more concerts like that. Some guys could really use o bit of hope.”
Tomek III: “Many of them tell me that they can’t sleep because they are afraid of the future. And in the human understanding, nothing can be done about it.”
Przemek: “People want to feel there is more to life than morning roll calls. But most of all, we all fear that we will have nothing to come back to.”
All lyrics used in the article come from Philadelphia.
Official website of the band: www.philadelphia.art.pl
Music&Lyrics: Mariusz Sobanski / www.sobanski.art.pl
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Tommy Matloch / Philadelphia- bass guitar
I really appreciate the service in prisons and admire those who sacrifice much of their lives to bring God’s light and Good News to those men.
Each time I enter that place, I feel something strange and mysterious.
I suffered incredibly when I was in the army because I hate being locked up. Perhaps that’s why I emotionally identify myself with the prisoners so much.
When I met Jesus personally, he led me out of a prison of illusion.
Those people most of all need the freedom of Christ in their lives.
We can’t promise them that they will be physically free right away.
What we can do is to tell them that when they decide to live with Jesus, they will instantly get spiritual freedom that no one can ever take away from them.
They also remind me of little children.
They all sit there and all as one have to obey their superiors, accept their predominance and yield to their lead.
At the signal of a warden they go to their cells, come to assemblies and go for walks.
They have to comply with the prison rules and most disobediences are punished.
When Jesus came to the Earth, he said that only when He frees us we will be truly free.
For those people the punishment can end today. Jesus gives freedom and brings spiritual amnesty.
Mariusz Sobanski / Philadelphia
There is especially one man from the prison concerts that I can’t forget. While we were setting up the equipment a tall, slim prisoner approached us, he had long hair in a pony tail. He politely asked if he could play the guitar for a while. The first sounds of the heavily overdriven amp surprised us all, both us and his friends. He played his licks like a real pro. I thought that it’s a shame such people get into prison, I remember they called him Savage.
We’re praying for Savage and for all the others who stayed on the other side of the wall…
The Gospel According to Saint John Page 01 ; 1 - 18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.