Poland - The North and the West

 We arrive in the port city of Gdansk on the Baltic Sea coast, where the Solidarity movement started with the dock workers strikes in the 1980's, which marked the beginning of the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe.  This is where the global music band Annutara hail from.  They describe their music as of the world and the universe, inspired by Balkan, Gypsy, Ukrainian and Polish folk as well as Klezmer and traditional Arab music.  Here is the stirring title track from their 2015 album Ulisi:

Also fusing various global influences are folk band Dikanda from Szczecin in north-western Poland.  Their blend is mostly Balkan and Gypsy influenced, but also has Middle Eastern influences as well as Polish and Russian folk.  Here is a song from their 2017 album Devla Devla called Miłość (Love):

Polish-Ukranian band DAGADANA are based  in Poznan in the west of the country and they have been fusing their respective folk traditions with jazz and electronica since 2008.  Their 2018 album Meridian 68 was inspired by collaborations with Mongolian band Hassibagen and Ayis Song from China.  This a live version of a song from that album called U Poli Bereza:

Now for something a lot more contemporary from Poznan, dance music project Provinz Posen (the former German name for the province of Poznan).   They describe their efforts as Greater Poland dance music a hundred years later and take their inspiration from the likes of Brian Eno and Kraftwerk using mostly electronic sounds with soundbites of traditional instruments such as bagpipes, clarinet and violin.  Here is a track from their 2019 self-titled debut album called Strzały w mieście (Shots in the city).  

Finally in complete contrast, something very traditional.  I don't know anything about the accordionist Stanislav Stepniak or where he is from, even though I uploaded the following video onto YouTube some 10 years ago.  Anyway here is a Polish wedding mazurka with the picture featuring my friends Hyeon and Dorota, whose wedding we attended near Poznan many years ago:

This is it from Poland and I sign off for 2021.  Hope you are all having a great New Year and see you back in Germany next year.  As usual you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.