Pidżama Porno - Bułgarskie Centrum (2004)

A great band from Poland, playing an infectious punk-rock (with touches of ska & reggae for good measure) and showing very good instrumental and vocal technique, above average compositional skills and excellent taste for arrangements. I discovered them some weeks ago thanks to Last.fm, and since then they have become a staple in my daily music “diet”. Recommended.

«Pidżama Porno evolved from Polish underground acts, such as Ręce Do Góry, Ryzyko and Papierosy. The name Pidżama Porno was first used in 1987. It was then an underground band. Their first demo albums, Ulice jak stygmaty and Futurista, were widely spread across Poland through amateur copying, and achieved great popularity among punk rock and hardcore music listeners. Pidżama Porno disbanded in 1990, but reactivated 4 years later, following a continuously big popularity. The demo album Futurista was officially released under the same name, but it also contained six songs from Ulice jak stygmaty. In 1997 Złodzieje zapalniczek was released, Styropian followed in 1998. Then, the Ulice jak stygmaty demo album was recorded again, and released as Ulice jak stygmaty - absolutne rarytasy. The next album, Marchef w butonierce, arguably their most popular one, saw the light in 2001. As for now, their newest album is Bułgarskie Centrum, which appeared in 2004.» (Velvetundergroundforum)

Official site: http://www.pidzamaporno.art.pl/

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Możdżer Danielsson Fresco - Between Us and the Light (2006)

Another sparkling gem in Leszek Możdżer’s rich catalogue, Between Us and the Light (which, as far as I know, despite its English title has been published only in Poland) sees the Polish piano genius in a jazz trio context, alongside Swedish bassist and cellist Lars Danielsson and Israeli percussionist Zohar Fresco. Like the previous album of this exciting trio (2005’s The Time), Between Us and the Light has garnered double platinum award in Poland. It’s not difficult to understand why. Highly recommended.

L-R: Lars Danielsson, Leszek Możdżer, Zohar Fresco

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Leszek Możdżer - Solo in Ukraine (2003)

After Stefano Bollani, another piano genius who deserves all your attention: Leszek Możdżer. Thanx to an anonymous reader, I can offer you this amazing Solo in Ukraine (recorded between 2000 and 2001, published in 2003), where Możdżer displays all his talents as a composer, player, arranger and improviser (fully at ease both with Chopin and Hancock). A true discovery!

«Polish pianist playing the style combining the elements of ancient, classical and contemporary music, although classified by the critics as a jazzman. A thoroughly educated musician. Born on 23rd March 1971 in Gdansk. He started playing the piano at the age of five. In 1996 he graduated from the Academy of Music in Gdansk. The winner of many prestigious awards, such as Grand Prix on the International Competition of Jazz Improvisation in Katowice, he won ten times in a questionnaire among the readers of "Jazz Forum" in the category "piano", two times Musician of the Year, the prize winner of the award Fryderyk '98. He played and recorded with Tomasz Stanko, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Dave Liebman, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, Joe Lovano, David Gilmour and Pat Metheny. He wrote music for plays and films. He gives concerts all over the world. Recorded 90 CDs as a sideman or soloist. Pianist with classical technique, operating with his own the timbre, articulation, his own harmony. He creates a unique, at times not to say a mystic atmosphere. By definition not commercial, still he attracts crowds of listeners to his concerts. For some fashionable, for others legendary. Definitely a part of the history of Polish music culture.» (MySpace)

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The Cracow Klezmer Band - Bereshit (2003)

Another fine contribution from Jonatan from Poland, again concerning the superb Cracow Klezmer Band (now become The Bester Quartet - for more info check the preceding post), surely one of the most interesting groups in contemporary Jewish music. If their 2001 effort, The Warriors, was a really enjoyable album, this 2003 release, Bereshit, is if possible even better, showing the band fully at ease on a wider palette. Many thanx, pal!

«If some klezmer groups seem like they're trying to overtake you on the inside, exhaust pipe dragging the tarmac, The Cracow Klezmer Band are the Rolls Royce purring down the fast lane. There may only be four of them (violin, accordion, percussion, bass) but crucially they make a glorious sound. The CKB were founded in 1997 by young accordionist Jarosław Bester, who has taken Astor Piazzolla's liberating approach to writing tangos and applied it to his own Jewish compositions. On "Israel's Tears" a ghostly clarinet shudders below an accordion somehow made to imitate little bells, before the group slam headlong into a grinding yet exhilarating lament. Gnashing of teeth never sounded so good. Grażyna Auguścik adds beautiful wordless vocals to "The Migration of Souls", and the album climaxes with its boldest piece, the title track "Bereshit", meaning "In the Beginning". Recorded in Krakow synagogue, it's darkly passionate portrayal of the creation of the word.» (Clive Bell, The Wire, March 2004, from the band's own website)

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The Cracow Klezmer Band - The Warriors (2001)

Many thanx to Jonatan from Poland for having made me discover this stunning quartet (which has changed its name to Bester Quartet starting from January 2007) of whose existence I was totally unaware.
The Warriors is their second effort, and certainly one of the most beautiful albums of contemporary Jewish music I've heard in the new millennium.

«The Cracow Klezmer Band is a Polish quartet that plays a style of music that started as traditional klezmer and over time, evolved into contemporary Jewish music flavored with strong gypsy influences. Members of the group are violinist Jaroslaw Tyrala, double bassist Wojciech Front, accordionist Jarek Bester, and Oleg Dyyak, who plays percussion, clarinet, and accordion. Bester formed the Cracow Klezmer Band in 1997 in the city of Cracow. Over the next few years, the group built a growing fan base by appearing at Jewish Culture festivals in Hungary, Finland, Poland, Prague, and the Czech Republic.» (AMG)

«The power of klezmer revival means that nowadays there is almost an excess of groups skillfully raiding the Jewish tradition. But few offer as classy an act as this Polish quartet, whose The Warriors runs tackle for John Zorn's Radical Jewish Culture series. With exquisite, delicate phrasing, violin, accordion, clarinet and double bass create a world of melody as comfortable as your favourite armchair, as nimble as a kitten.
Almost everything on this set is written by accordeonist Jarek Bester, starting totally within a klezmer tradition, but branching out to showcase the remarkable talents of the ensemble's members. In this, The CKB resemble Astor Piazzolla's equally virtuoso quintet, and the ghoulishly improvised intro to "Memento Mori" recalls Piazzolla's group invoking the Buenos Aires rush hour traffic. From the racing seven-time of "The Amorous Dance Of The Orchid" to the luxuriating Latin rhythms of the title track, every piece is a sophisticated delight.» (Clive Bell, The Wire, 228, February 2003. Review reported in the band’s own website)

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Kapela Ze Wsi Warszawa / Warsaw Village Band - Wiosna Ludu / People’s Spring (2001)

Thanx to Celta Gnome, I can post you today this very interesting young band from Warsaw, Poland. Kapela Ze Wsi Warszawa (Warsaw Village Band)’s 2001 Wiosna Ludu (People’s Spring) is a very nice mix of tradition and modernity. Read the following review to learn more about this really promising band:

«The Warsaw Village Band, one of Poland’s outstanding new bands, was founded in 1997 by six young musicians wishing to preserve traditional Polish music without producing ‘plastic folk’ for a mass culture. Performing in a style described as “hardcore folk” or “bio techno”, they treasure the memories of their ethnic roots, and keeping them alive, they connect tradition to new modern aesthetics. They want to offer a new cultural proposition young people, far from narrow-mindedness and mass culture. While travelling the Polish countryside, they learnt traditional music that had been nearly forgotten.

Inspired by this music, they play folk dances, ballads, and rural traditionals, but it is very important for them not to simply adapt the old music, but to create their very own style. They use traditional instruments handed down through the generations, such as the ‘white voice’, a special singing style, close to screaming, used by the shepherds of old. They also discovered the ‘suka’, an ancient Polish fiddle, played by fingernails. They create rhythm with two drummers each playing a single drum, which is a rather unusual combination for any kind of folk music.

The Warsaw Village Band wanted to have fun making music in a spontaneous way, and when they first started performing, they just beat their drums in any traditional rhythm occurring to them until they met on common ground, creating a wholly unique and fascinating sound. You can hear stringed instruments sounding like French horns, furious drums, trance, improvisation, and elements of roots music. Above all, you can hear the enthusiasm and passion of six young musicians aged between 16 and 25 years.

Their music brings back long forgotten traditional musical elements of trance, connecting ancient religious culture from all over the world, such as Sufi, Dervish, and Chassidim.To the Warsaw Village Band, music is the soul’s best drug, an inspiration and trance meditation; it is the rhythm and it is fun – let’s dance!» (Adastra-music)

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Pink Freud - Sorry Music Polska (2003)

I’m really glad to present you here this amazingly good album from Pink Freud. Formed in Gdansk, Poland, in 1998, this eclectic trio is surely one of the most interesting electro-jazz combos to emerge in Europe in the last decade. Pink Freud have already released four albums: Zawijasy (2000), Live in Jazzgot, Sorry music polska (2003) and Jazz fajny jest (2005). Their actual line-up is: Wojtek Mozolewski (bass, loop, sampler), Tomek Zietek (trumpet and prepared trumpet), Kuba Staruszkiewicz (drums).

«Pink Freud’s music combines the inexhaustible energy of the music of the 1960s and 1970s with contemporary influences sought wherever possible, from grunge to hip hop. Formalized, rich compositions and modern sound generated by electronic instruments leave the musicians enough room for spontaneity, individualism and the wild and crazy improvisations so typical of jazz. A narrative structure to compositions and a wide array of electronic instruments are distinctive features of Pink Freud’s music. The musical sense of humour and detachment from the sounds produced are the features by which the band’s style can be recognized. Pink Freud have become famous for their totally new and sometimes completely crazy interpretations of well-known musical motifs, like Nirvana’s Come As You Are [included in the album presented here – for all you rock fans out there: believe me, this track alone is worth the listen!] and Gershwin’s My Man’s Gone Now.» (Warsaw Voice)

«There must be a lot of intelligence in these musicians to create music, play with it and enjoy it at the same time.» (Gazeta Wyborcza)

The ultra-rare Pink Freud stamp. Don't search for it.
Unfortunately, only one specimen exists, and it's locked in my safe:)

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Kwartet Jorgi - To I Tao (1991)

In the early 1980's, when in Poland all was "quiet" as a result of the martial law imposed by general Jaruzelski, Maciej Rychly went hiking in the quietness of the mountains to learn from the villagers how to play the shepherds' whistles. Then, in 1984, he formed Kwartet Jorgi with the help of his brother Waldek at the guitar. The band was based in the city of Poznan, but travelled widely across Eastern Europe to collect the folk music of Poland, Ukraine and the Balkans. Kwartet Jorgi gave concerts as far as Brazil, Canada and Australia, and also created music for the theatre. Maciej Rychly is also an accomplished writer.

In my opinion, the 1991 album "To I Tao" is surely one of their highest achievements. Here are some quotes (freely edited) from the album sleeve:

Wandering creates our music. We meet musicians. While other people can donate objects, they donate their heritage.

Culture isn't good or bad in itself. It is like cultivation. There are many cultivations. There are no monocultures. How can one measure richness ? By the multitude of harmonies. The one who feels harmony accepts the necessity of diversity.

The forests and the mountains are sanctuaries, where spirituality finds refuge. And then there are the dreams. Dreaming you reach the borders.

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