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
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