‘Brexit made Polish culture more visible’: how the diaspora is changing Britain

Although barely visible on TV, the UK’s 700,000-strong community has a growing presence in music, books and film. We meet some of its hidden starsWith its high-tempo use of Multicultural London English and blend of drum’n’bass and acoustic guitar, the song Five by Bedford-based rapper Pat is instantly recognisable as a product of the UK’s contemporary rap scene. Yet even the most fast-mouthed stars of British grime would probably struggle to integrate the word niezapowiedzianych (“unannounced”) into their rhyme schemes.Born in Silesia, western Poland, Patryk “Pat” Wojcik moved with his family to England in 2007, three years after Poland joined the European Union. He learned to speak English by listening to British rappers such as Jme and Devlin, and makes music that pays homage to his native country and his adopted home, with lyrics such as “I chase cash like I’m Mateusz Gotówka” – a nod to the Anglo-Polish Aston Villa footballer also known as Matty Cash. Continue reading...

W ith its high-tempo use of Multicultural London English and blend of drum’n’bass and acoustic guitar, the song Five by Bedford-based rapper Pat is instantly recognisable as a product of the UK’s contemporary rap scene. Yet even the most fast-mouthed stars of British grime would probably struggle to integrate the word niezapowiedzianych (“unannounced”) into their rhyme schemes. Born in Silesia, western Poland, Patryk “Pat” Wojcik moved with his family to England in 2007, three years after Poland joined the European Union .

He learned to speak English by listening to British rappers such as Jme and Devlin, and makes music that pays homage to his native country and his adopted home, with lyrics such as “I chase cash like I’m Mateusz Gotówka” – a nod to the Anglo-Polish Aston Villa footballer also known as Matty Cash. View image in fullscreen ‘I tried to be as English as I possibly could’ ..

. Patryk ‘Pat’ Wojcik. Photograph: Pawko Five, which describes the melancholy feeling of disorientation brought by working night shifts, has become – in Pat’s words – “the anthem of Polish immigrants”.

Its chorus sums up the feelings of a sizeable yet frequently overlooked community that remains strongly tied to the British isles even after Brexit: “It don’t make sense if I stay here, but everywhere I move just doesn’t feel like home.” Consisting of nearly 700,000 people, the United Kingdom’s Polish community is one of the country’s larges.