WARSAW VILLAGE BAND The Warsaw Village Band (Kapela ze wsi Warszawa) was founded in 1997 by six young musicians who originally just wanted to have fun making spontaneous music together using ancient Polish folk instruments and singing styles. The band's three singers (Maja Kleszcz, Magdalena Sobczak, and Sylwia Swiatkowska) use the powerful "white voice" singing style originally used by shepherds to communicate over long distances. Instruments played by the ensemble include violin, cello, the suka (a sixteenth-century Polish fiddle whose strings are stopped with the player's fingernails), Polish dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, and traditional European frame drums. The Warsaw Village Band serves both as conservators and innovators of Polish music. The band travels the Polish countryside to make field recordings of folk festivities and village celebrations, studies old manuscripts for source material, and seeks instruction from rural elderly musicians. To this source material, they often add contemporary elements, such as modern instruments, electronic dance elements, and topical lyrics while still preserving its traditional nature. As they express it, "Our activity not only concentrates on music, but also focuses on everything which is associated with Polish roots, especially what is condemned to be forgotten, and yet can inspire and enrich contemporary culture." They find in folk music an alternative to mass culture and a "source of fun, joy, and spontaneity". The Warsaw Village Band's website- www.wvb.terra.pl
