Gypsy music underneath the Tatra Mountains

Finally I had a chance to listen Teresa Mirga and her band Kale Bala live. The concert had place in one of the wooden ins in Zakopane and gathered band's family, friends and some people spending holidays in the Tatras. Kale Bala played songs full of energy, rythm and very melodic so that the audience couldn't sit still. Tentative at first, people starte dancing...first couple, second couple, children...in a moment the room was full of dancers. However it is hard to keep up with the music, one must have a good condition ;)

Teresa Mirga (playing a guitar) and Kale Bala, photo by Andrzej Śliwiński

Teresa Mirga is a Gypsy poet who composes both in Polish and Gypsy language. Together with Kale Bala band she plays and sings her own compositions as well as traditional Gypsy melodies sung for the centuries by the Gypsies between the Carpathians and the Balkans. Teresa comes from Bergitka Roma (Highlander Gypsies) - a Roma ethnic sub-group, living mostly in Poland (in Czarna Góra, a village in the Polish Spiš region). They are also called Carpathian Roma due to their settled existence since generations, what differs them from all the other nomadic groups of Roma.

Teresa Mirga, photo by Andrzej Śliwiński

Teresa's  rich and rotund voice is unforgetable. Her songs, beside the vibrant rythms, are full of nostalgia. The first one which once captivated me was the short one:

 AJ ROMALE, SHAVALE - click and listen

BAŚAW MANGE BAŚAW - click and listen

You can also meet with the Gypsy family.