Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa (Warsaw Village Band) appeared at Globaltica in 2021 – the first festival edition after the end of the pandemic, which was entirely dedicated to artists working in Poland. This exceptional concert was remembered by many listeners, and since the band has been creating various kinds of marriages, inviting guests to collaborate, and creating sound coalitions almost from the beginning of its activity, their return to Gdynia’s Kolibki with the latest project created together with Bassałyki should not be a surprise.
The group has existed since 1997. Its repertoire consists of avant-garde interpretations of traditional music from the broadly understood Mazovia region. Despite their fidelity to traditional playing and singing techniques, their inventive performances of old songs sound surprisingly new and are fully understandable to the modern audience. The band is currently one of the most distinguished, valued and well-known Polish folk bands in the world. However, they are also known for constantly seeking new challenges, which resulted in the project Twines, which opens a completely new chapter in their work. It is a musical journey full of colors, trance rhythms, electronic arpeggios and deep bass. The originator and main producer of the project is Mariusz Dziurawiec aka Mario Activator – one of the most eminent alchemists of the audiosphere, musician, bassist, DJ and producer, dub, who invited music producers and instrumentalists to collaborate with the band: Grzegorz Rytka, Michał Marecki and Jerzy Markuszewski, who form the Bassałyki collective.
In addition to the immortal evergreens of Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa, this time in ethno dub arrangements, a new repertoire was created in an innovative and progressive style. The novelty is the bass guitar and dub drive of double bassist Paweł Mazurczak, an expanded set of barabans by Piotr Gliński and shamanic drums by Maciej Szajkowski. Traditional acoustic instruments – Płock fiddle, dulcimers, violins and hurdy-gurdy – resound in perfect intertwining and harmony under the fingers of Magdalena Sobczak-Kotnarowska, Sylwia Świątkowska and Ewa Wałecka. There are also polyphonies and chants enchanting with the authenticity of the white voice, and it all ends with virtuoso performances of trumpeter Miłosz Gawryłkiewicz.
Musicians:
Antonis Antoniou – electric tzouras / vocals / electronics
Manos Stratis – bass synth / organ
Will Scott – bass clarinet
Ulaş Öğüç – drums / triggers
