Poland - Warsaw and the Centre

 We move on to Warsaw the capital and largest city of Poland.  Apparently much of the historic centre was destroyed during the war, but what remains of it is now a UNSECO world heritage site.  First up we meet the band that is at the forefront of the Polish folk revival, the mighty Warsaw Village Band or Kapela ze wsi Warszawa.  They formed in 1998 as the Communist regimes of the former Warsaw pact started to crumble in an effort to preserve the traditions and cultures of Poland before globalism took hold.  They travelled the length and breadth of the country collecting old songs and interpreting them for a modern audience using traditional instruments such as frame drums, hurdy-gurdy and suka, a Polish folk fiddle.  The bands vocals are sung in a loud open-throated style reminiscent of Bulgarian throat singing, but also used by Polish shepherds communities.  Here's a live version of a song from their 2012 album Nord called Hola Byśki, Hola: 

And talking about the suka fiddle, one of the most prominent musicians reviving the fortunes of this ancient instrument is Maria Pomianowska, who was born in Warsaw in 1961.  She started out studying the cello before making various trips to Asia and learning various Asian string instruments, most notably the Indian sarangi.  She finally went back and in 1994 took an interest in the ancient instruments of her home country, the Biłgoraj suka and the Płock fiddle, reconstructing them with the help of a luthier.  As nobody knew what these instruments originally sounded like, Maria developed her own style, incorporating it into folk styles from around the world.  In 2020 she released an instrumental album called Sukotherapy and this a track called Pandemic:

Brand new folk band Zawierucha only started up last year in Warsaw.  Their name means turmoil or storm.  They aim to combine traditional polkas and other dance forms with jazz-rock and other modern music forms with much improvisation thrown in, although apart from the drumkit their instrumentation is made up of traditional strings.  This the opening track of their debut album OberTany called Wiwat Fortuna:

More established, folk band Werchowyna started out as an initiative of Warsaw students and the Student Circle of Beskid Guides in 1991.  However their focus is mostly on Ukranian folk with polyphonic singing.  Here's a track from their 1996 album Krynyczenka called Powedu Konyka:

Folk trio WoWaKin was established in Warsaw by Paula Kinaszewska Bartłomiej Woźniak and Mateusz Wachowiak in 2016, whose surnames make up the name of the group.  Their music is made up of Mazurkas and other rural dance tunes from the plains of central Poland.  Here is a song from their 2020 album Wiązanka called Rutka:

Next we're heading into the Radom region, south of Warsaw.  Last year a compilation CD was released of the traditional music from this richly varied region called simply Muzyka spod Radomia.  One of the bands featured is the Kapela Niwińskich and here is a sequence of songs and dance tunes by them performed live:

Finally we are heading west of Warsaw to the city of Włocławek, where singer/songwriter Monika Żelazek comes from.  I don't actually know much about her, nor does she have much music on official release as a solo artist, however I like the songs that are out there.  Here is a beautiful ballad called Czego się boisz serce (What are you afraid of heart):

That's it from central Poland, next stop the north and west of Poland.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual trip on my Tripline map.