Our history

Michał and Paweł in Norway in 2000

CZART was born out of a long-standing musical friendship and shared roots in Poland’s north-eastern region Suwalszczyzna (Suwalki Gap).

Drummer Paweł Smarkusz began his journey in the 1990s, co-founding the technical death-metal act CRUSADE in Suwałki and recording early demos in the same Gdynia studio where Behemoth made their debut. He and CRUSADE in 1993 recorded an album entitled Voyager which was published in Poland via Morbid Noizz Productions in 1995. Guitarist and composer Michał Chrościelewski entered the scene in the mid-1990s with his project MUCUS, creating a home-produced demo tape praised in Thrash’em All magazine. The two met in 1996 and soon formed LEDE.

In 2001 Paweł joined Monika’s acoustic rock band POZA CISZĄ, which recorded two albums containing, among others, Monika’s original compositions, vocals, and guitar playing. That’s when we all met.

Around 2003, Michał and Monika started to record post-rock alternative music together as SELEDYN (with Michał on guitars and Monika on vocals). Seledyn recorded „Zimy” and Paweł concentrated on NOOK, with whom he was active for the next 10 years, recording the album The Stand in 2010. Nook’s second album was recorded in 2018 but released only in 2025. All three of us have managed to combine our artistic projects with our full-time jobs. Post-rock ventures such as Poza Ciszą, Nook, and especially Seledyn marked a turn toward more cinematic, atmospheric forms of expression. Paweł joined Seledyn after 2014 and the band rehearsed extensively since then. Monika has also continued formal musical education in classical and jazz piano, and vocal training.

The idea of CZART was born in 2024. It was inspired by Michał’s discovery of Julian Tuwim’s book about Polish witchcraft and devils. Drawing on centuries-old Polish folklore and demonology, the band transforms these myths into dark, poetic soundscapes that bridge the past and the modern age. Musically, CZART emerged naturally from a long creative evolution — fusing Paweł’s early death-metal precision with Michał’s experimental, visual approach to composition. Later Monika was invited to join this musical journey. We decided to give the “demons” new life in a modern form — fusing the heavy sounds of death metal with electronics and ambient, intertwining live instruments with samples and effects created using AI tools.