Lena Piękniewska

Lena Piękniewska (Lena Bem) was born in July 25, 1980 in Poznań. She is a Polish singer and actress. She graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. As a fourteen-year-old she sang at Piwnica pod Baranami in Kraków, and began her professional music career in 2004. In 2005, she won the 41st Student Song Festival in Kraków. A year later she won the first place at Castle Meeting in Olsztyn and won a competition for the interpretation of songs by Agnieszka Osiecka during the Remember the Osiecka festival. In 2007 she received Marek Grechuta scholarship, and in 2008 she received the Artistic City of Poznań scholarship for achievement in the field of song. In the same year, she supported jazz vocalist Stacey Kent on her concert tour. She is noted as being close to poetry and jazz. Her first album "Wyspa" contained very nostalgic songs, lullabies, bossa nova, and jazz with excellent lyrics. She is a member of the Polish feminist punk group Żelazne Waginy which combines lyrical ballads with contemporary protest songs.