The passion by which Mrs. Virginia recharges the batteries is not typical of the average pensioner. Known as DJ Wika, she is the most famous Polish DJ. DJ Wika talks about the joy of life after seventy.
Retirement does not have to be the end of social activity. For many retirees, this is the moment when they finally manage to find time to pursue their youthful dreams and develop their passion.
The dance floor in a popular Warsaw pub is full. Gentlemen in suits, ties, ladies in elegant dresses, shiny blouses, black high heels. Most of them are dancing. Polish hits from the 70s are playing. Colorful lamps flash, dim light. Today DJ Wika is playing on the platform, a place for a DJ. For eight years now, Virginia Talan-Szmyt has been hosting parties for mature people as DJ Wika. He is 74 years old and believes that he is an absolutely normal pensioner, with the difference that he does not sit idly at home, but pursue his passions. Maybe a bit unusual for people of her age? Before retiring, she ran a branch of the Cultural Center in Włochy. She was active in the Senior Club and founded the Wiagra cabaret. - Exhibitions, teams, meetings - he recalls. She couldn't sit still, she was constantly thinking of something. Then there was the Foundation of Artistic Initiatives, she founded a literary salon, started fun in the pub, and for two years she also made meetings with Warsaw poetry and song, because she wrote a project and was awarded 20,000 zlotys. PLN.
She has always, as she claims, had artistic desires.She became a DJ a bit by accident. She hosted parties for seniors, ordered DJs, watched them play and, in order to save money, she tried it herself. She liked it and turned into a passion. Change of melody on the dance floor. Now jive is king. Ladies smiling, amused, less gentlemen, but ladies are doing great, dancing in a circle or two. - Different people come - says DJ Wika. - Most often, the more energetic, free from grandchildren, because they already have grown-ups, those who live alone, and not in a multi-generation family, because it is there that you usually have to take care of the house and grandchildren. Lots of single people: widowed, divorced. In their fifties, sixty and seventy. They have space for themselves and when they see a DJ at their age, they become more daring - laughs Mrs.Virginia. And she is glad that it has been very popular for the last two years. Interviews in the press, television, reports from its discos. She is happy not because she likes fame, but because thanks to it she can do a lot for seniors. Especially for their image. - Young people often think that old age is terrible, seniors lousy, old women only occupy places in trams and queues to see doctors and complain - she laughs. - And thanks to the fact that it is shown what I do and how old I am, you can look at seniors a bit differently, break stereotypes.
DJ Wika tries to play calm music, not jamming, but at the same time very danceable.- I recall Polish hits of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, the generation of current seniors he likes them very much - he says. But he mixes it with rhythms on the top: Shakira, Lady Gaga or Michael Jackson, Modern Talking. The repertoire is intertwined and changed. Playing the same thing over and over again, she says, would bore not only others, but most of all herself. He likes playing Skaldów, Czerwone Gitary, Jantar, Majdaniec, Frąckowiak, Dąbrowski, Wodecki, Połomski, Woźniakowski, Filipinki. The party has been going on for several hours now, ladies and gentlemen are spinning. - Before coming, they prepare themselves carefully, you can see nice makeup and well-chosen outfits - says Mrs. Virginia. She paints herself modestly: a little mascara, a light lipstick and face powder. She believes that it is possible to be attractive after the 60s and 70s, it is enough to have a young approach to life, to take care of yourself. - Gray hair can be painted over, but we will not stop the time by force - he explains. - Do not compete with your daughter or daughter-in-law, do not wear tight tubes or exorbitantly high heels when it is uncomfortable for us or we look unfavorable in it. It is enough for us to be satisfied with our life, look friendly, without envy, jealousy at the world - then we will be pretty. It's best if we love our maturity or old age - he muses. - We will be ourselves, with a certain distance to many things, we will look for values other than beauty, we will maintain a psychophysical balance.
Mrs. Virginia likes her age.Children raised up, grandchildren - adults. He keeps good memories of her deceased husband deep in her heart, but life continues and is still very interesting to him. She feels free, she knows that she doesn't have to do anything anymore, that it is a beautiful time for passion and joyful life. He likes his two cats and a good perfume. She has dreams and is a realist at the same time. He believes that you need to set requirements, but those that we can afford, and that are within our capabilities. - If we have a pension of PLN 1,300, we cannot dream for PLN 5,000. PLN - he laughs. During the song "I'm twenty years old", the whole hall dances vigorously. - I am glad that there is space for mature people,in which they can have fun depending on their age - DJ Wika smiles, swinging to the tune. She herself draws energy from a cheerful attitude to life. And from being active - it doesn't matter whether it's professional work, cleaning the floor, or currently playing at parties. - If I didn't have energy all my life, I wouldn't have it in my old age - she laughs. - I am like a racehorse who is sick if he does not run 40 km every day in training. This is how I charge the batteries - he says. DJ Wika is taking a break. Ladies and gentlemen sit down at tables and hear conversations.
- It's not fun like with young people, that you play games all the time and dance with your tongue on your chin - he explains.When Mrs. Virginia plays at parties for mature people, she does not play music during the breaks. He believes that people need time to talk quietly. He tells them over the microphone: now ladies and gentlemen are flirting. And they talk, exchange jokes, gentlemen compliments the ladies. - Young people have different ears - he explains - in dancing they can talk and cuddle. Mature people are different - someone met someone in a dance, fell in love with someone, wants to exchange a few words at the table, make an appointment, write down a phone number. During the break, DJ Wika organizes the albums, chooses the next songs. The mixer is full of compilations by Marek Sierocki: Polish, French, Italian and Latin American hits. Several thousand melodies sorted and labeled await their turn on the computer. - I spend PLN 200-300 a month on records - he says. - I look for inspiration on the Internet, I also get it from musicians I know, who will drop a CD from time to time.
DJ Wika loves music, but does not feel like a specialist - it is not her profession, but a beautiful hobby.She is a special educator by education, because, as she says, she has always been touched by misfortunes . Before she took care of children from a special school, she taught in ordinary Polish. Such a requirement was to learn about many aspects of educational work. She also met young people from correctional facilities and decided to take care of them professionally - she was an educator, then a manager in a correctional facility for boys. - After the sentences, smart, intelligent, sly and mean - he explains. - It was a big challenge to establish contact, but when at least one in ten has changed, one evil was less in the world. I use my knowledge about people, relationships and emotions in my current job. If you know how a person can behave and why, if you can control emotions, it is easier to work with people - he says. Because Mrs. Virginia works with people not only during discos. Also on holiday. - Playing at discos is not enough. I wanted to do something more for seniors. I was overby sea, ask in one guesthouse if you can go on vacation. I will arrange people, but to make it cheap - she encouraged. She started 8 years ago with 40 people. Now over 250 people travel every year - Jastarnia, Władysławowo, Ostrowo, Krynica Morska. Where does he find people? He encourages everyone at the events he plays, at the post office, in the bank, at the doctor's. And they make their friends, and that's how it goes. The dance floor fills up again. Smiling ladies dance the tango, hardly anyone stays at the tables. DJ Wika is preparing the next song, smoothly changing the music. - I do not play vinyl like young people, this is already a higher driving school - he explains. Besides, seniors don't need mixing and special effects - they prefer pure music. Sometimes during generational events - events for young and old (co-organized by the Nizio Foundation) - he plays side by side with the young DJ. As Virginia explains, in Italy, Spain and the United States, people often play together. And it comes slowly to us. So he plays with the young and tells them that they are champions, respects and admires them.
- I don't have soda water in my head that I want to be better than young.I don't even have to call myself "DJ", I can be Janko Muzykant, it's important that people dance to my music - he laughs. Then they come by to say thank you for having a good time, and they will say something nice. Mrs. Virginia is glad that what she is doing is warmly received. He wants to bring good weather into the lives of others, because he believes that old age can be bright. - I give them a sense of strength, faith that the world after the 60s and 70s is still open - he explains. - That if I have so much verve and energy, they can do it too. They say to me: Mrs. Wiko, what you are doing is so good. I answer: I'm just holding our shelf so it doesn't collapse yet. I show that this shelf can be full of energy, passion and optimism.
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