Christmas Carols Festival in Zakopane

Hanka Rybka and her band

Singing Christmas carols is a very popular tradition in Poland. There are many countrywide known carols that probably everyone can sing. But each region is also rich in its own songs. 

During 'Carols, Pastorales and Christmas Songs Festival' (PL: 'Festiwal Kolęd, Pastorałek i Pieśni Bożonarodzeniowych') wich takes place each year in Zakopane we can hear carols performed by local artists. This is a great chance to listen to traditional carols from different regions. The Festival starts in Christmas and lasts till February.

Concerts list for season 2013/2014 you will find here.

I went to the concert of Hanka Rybka (vocalist coming from the the Podhale region, graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice, performing folk music in modern jazz arrangement) and her music band. They played local highlanders traditional carols and pastorales and popular Polish carols (some were in their own arrangements). In the second part of the concert the vocalist invited group of children - her pupils. This little choir performed few carols - some children had really beautiful voices!

Listen to carols: 

Hanka Rybka - Gwiozdkowo Opowiostka - Dziecina mała 

Hanka Rybka - Gwiozdkowo Opowiostka - Zyń łowiycki, zyń

Hanka Rybka - kolęda Skocwa do Betlejem 

Hanka Rybka - Mizerna Cicha

Other songs by Hanka Rybka:

Hanka Rybka - Oj lulaj, lulaj... 

The Bennie Maupin Quartet and Hanka Rybka 

Inspirations from Lemko region

I came across an interesting music project - QUADRO SUSANNA. The band is a quartet of musicians making music inspired with Slavic motifs and themes. Some of the songs are Lemko songs performed ​​ in new arrangements.

A ty myla [LISTEN]. Lemko folks song about love that should not be shared.

Poliubyla ya Shtefana [LISTEN]. Traditional Lemko folk song.

Other songs:

Barvinietz [LISTEN].  It is Polish folk song from Dynow Plateau (Carpathians).
  
Oi na hori snih bilen'kyi [LISTEN]. Hutsul folk song in jazz arrangement.

QUADRO SUSANNA:

Susanna Jara-Małecka – vocal, violin, hurdy gurdy
Szymon Piotrowski – drums
Paweł Harańczyk –  piano
Kacper Gęsiarz – double bass 

Band's official website: www.quadrosusanna.pl/en/  You will find here more songs and information about the band.     

Enjoy :)

Highlanders jazz

My latest discovery - stars of the Polish music scene together with highlanders music band give an outstanding jazz concert in Warsaw!

Click and listen: JAZZ CONCERT.

 Zbigniew Namysłowski (sax), Leszek Możdżer (piano), Zbigniew Wegehaupt (bass) Cezary Konrad (drums) and Jan Karpiel Bułecka Folk Mountain Band.

You'll find here good jazz mixed together with some folk melodies. It's awsome howe they play with music motives with such ease. Love it!

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.

Man's life is a journey - music

Talking about the Polish mountains undoubtedly one should mention the music band called SDM. It's a kind of fenomenon. Over the years their music has accompanied wanderers hiking the Beskidy, Bieszczady, Gorce and the other mountains. In the evenings, gathered at the bonfire or in the mountain refuges, people have been singing SDM's songs. Their concerts attract both the faithful fans and those who are just beggining the mountain adventure. Why are they so popular? Maybe because, beside the catchy and at the same time beautiful melodies, their songs describe the feelings familiar to all wanderers? Maybe because their style, sung poetry, touches people deeper? Or maybe just because they spend time with their fans, are one of them.  

I want to introduce you one of my favourite SDM's songs. It talks about our life compared to a journey. For me it is full of hope and gives me energy.

SDM Man's life is a journey - click and listen

SDM - Stare Dobre Małżeństwo (in English translation 'good old marriage'). The band derives from the so called "student music", popular in Poland. This musical style is characterised by the use of a guitar for accompaniment, while the lyrics often talk about hiking in the Polish mountains, love and adventure. SDM, however, quickly created their own style, and became famous due to their interesting musical interpretations of poems written by the famous Polish poet Edward Stachura. (http://en.wikipedia.org)

This is a simple translation from http://lyricstranslate.com :

Man's life is a journey

Life of a man is one journey
Going continuously, further still
To where? From where?
To where? From where?
To where? From where?
Like a phantasm in a dream is a life of a man
Appears, you want to touch it
But it runs!
But it runs!
But it runs!
It's nothing! It's nothing! It's nothing!
As long as there is strength,
Nevertheless walk on! Anyway walk on
I will walk on!
It's nothing! It's nothing! It's nothing!
As long as there is strength,
I will walk! I will run!
I won't give up!
Life of a man is one journey
He goes there, he goes here
He is short of breath!
He is short of breath!
He is short of breath!
Like a blown cloud, is a life of a man
Floats to the top, floats to the bottom
Death awaits him!
Death awaits him!
Death awaits him!
It's nothing! It's nothing! It's nothing!
As long as there is strength,
Nevertheless walk on! Anyway walk on!
I will walk on!
It's nothing! It's nothing! It's nothing!
As long as there is strength,
I will walk! I will run!
I won't give up!

http://lyricstranslate.com

http://lyricstranslate.com