The Figuration of Disco Polo: A Musical Illustration of Poland’s Transformation

This article attempts a sociological analysis of a specific musical trend – disco polo – through the prism of the figuration theory proposed by Norbert Elias. Street music of the 1990s was an extremely accurate musical illustration of the period of systemic transformations in Poland, because disco polo’s characteristic elements (e.g., kitsch, impermanence, and banality, as well as optimism, a sense of community, and freshness) were combined with social feelings and attitudes toward the rapidly changing reality. Disco polo documented the social life of the time, as is visible in its symbolic layer as well as in its purely musical arrangement: it was the hallmark of a generation