When I say fresh here, I mean new – new to me at least. I’ve discovered  Michał by accident when someone posted a link to this lovely video.

Michał talks about his music (in Polish, but with English subtitles) and the clip is illustrated with his fantastic acoustic jazz.

According to his site, his debut album, The Worlds, “was considered by music journalists to be an exceptional debut”.

Now feast your eyes on this great video by Patryk Kizny and enjoy Michał’s music.

Perfect for a hot summer evening.

“You Poles are so, so…, erm, cultured! Yes, that’s the word, cultured!”

My English musician friend used to tell me that whenever we used to meet in a pub years ago to talk all things Polish (for his benefit) and all thing British (for mine).

What he meant was probably this: most Poles are not afraid of so-called high culture, they see it as an important part of their lives. And I suppose that’s still the case nowadays when Polish TV schedules overflow with numerous variants of Britain’s Got Talent and Dancing on Ice. Being an intellectual (not always synonymous with ‘cultured’, mind) is, unlike in Britain, not a sign of snobbery. It’s a sign of much-admired sophistication. Of being ‘cultured’.

Now those of you who are more interested in poetry, art, literature, non-commercial music etc. from Poland have a great source of the latest cultural news.

Biweekly is a great, recently launched website in English (with a Polish version too) and I like how they justify their existence:

We came upon such a sentence: ‘culture is not an obligation, one can do very well without it’ (Kot Jeleński). And we do not dare to state otherwise.

Yet, there are those, who, for some reason, do not want to live without it. Maybe they do remember Witold Gombrowicz and, just like him, they desire culture without all this juvenility and senile atrophy, butterflies and rainbows, dust and exaltation, patriotic and pseudo-intellectual demands.

The site has great content, very well written and well translated. Its eclectic collection of contributors makes it quite addictive.

Highly recommended. If you like feeling cultured, that is.

Those of you who use Spotify probably know now that it’s become social and can be linked to Facebook. This way your Facebook friends can browse and subscribe to your playlists too.

That’s how I found out that – to my surprise – my Polish playlist has already 31 subscribers! That’s great!

It’s been modified a lot since I first created it over a year ago, but that’s good as it’s meant to be colleborative and reflect everyone’s tastes.

If you haven’t subscribed to it yet, here’s the link:

thepolskiblog’s Polish music playlist

And if you feel some great Polish music is missing from the list, feel free to add it to the playlist!

(And I’m sorry if you’re reading this outside Europe and wondering what Spotify is. Hopefully it’ll be available in the US and other countries soon.)

If you’re based in London – or are visiting at the end of May – this might be your biggest chance this year to sample the best Polish culture has to offer. At least in the musical sense.

Britain’s most famous violinist, Nigel Kennedy, has been in love with Poland for quite some time now. And at the end of May (29th-31st) he’s putting together a spectacular show, Nigel Kennedy’s Polish Weekend, the culmination of Polska! Year.

The Weekend will see the Krakow-based Brit performing centre stage as well as alongside his jazz and young colleagues in an eclectic offering covering big band, experimental and vocal jazz, classical, folk, and klezmer music.

And why exactly is he doing it? Here’s what he has to say about this project:

‘I’ve been living in Poland some time now and I’m well into the Polish life, from the music and football through to the warmth of the people, food, brilliant beer and vodka. Poland has an incredibly rich environment for all music and I’m sure I’ve had a much better chance to develop as a musician because of all these live forms of music that are very prevalent in Polish music.

Giving a nod to his classical roots, Kennedy leads the UK debut of his own newly founded Orchestra of Life and Chopin Super Group.

A major highlight of the Weekend is Nigel Kennedy’s World Cup Project, in which Kennedy and colleagues perform Kennedy’s own composition, a partly improvised soundtrack, to accompany a screening of the 1973 World Cup qualifying match between England and Poland, which saw England failing to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. That should be spectacular.

But the weekend will also offer the chance to see live some of the biggest names in Polish music, many of whom have been featured on this blog.

On Saturday 29 May one of the hottest bands in the current Polish music scene Zakopower performs at the Royal Elizabeth Hall.

The following day on the same stage Nigel Kennedy will be joined by Kroke (pictured below) for an hour of fantastic folk music.

And if you liked my post about Anna Maria Jopek and her music, you can see her live on Monday 31st May.

In the Royal Festival Hall Nigel Kennedy’s Chopin Super Group pays homage to Poland’s greatest composer Fryderyk Chopin in a celebratory concert with a twist.

One of the highlights of the entire Weekend, the concert features performances by leading Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak, who played the piano music in Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning film The Pianist, before Nigel Kennedy and special guests, including Anna Maria Jopek, provide contemporary interpretations of Chopin’s music.

Apart from all the performances you’ll also be able to sample some Polish food and drink, there will be family activities and violin-making workshops.

Announced on this blog just over a year ago, Polska! Year comes to an end with a bang. Hope the past twelve months have helped you discover a different side of Poland.

All images supplied by The Southbank Centre

Have a look at this. This is a Polish group called Karbido, they use only one instrument – a wooden table:

They apparently performed during the Edinburgh Festival a couple of years ago, but to be honest I have never heard of them before.

They look intriguing. Have you seen them perform live? I’d love to know what you thought.

Well, Polish-Ukrainian. With some Argentinian influences.

Dagadana is a new group, which has just taken Poland by storm. Their debut CD was released earlier this month, but I’m told it’s very hard to find it in shops as it sells out within minutes.

According to their MySpace page, Dagadana’s music is a fusion of jazz, folk and electronica.

“This multicultural project should satisfy everyone who is ready to accept the Slavic soul – crazy and gentle in equal measure,” says the bio.

Their concerts are apparently real events where the audience is encouraged to bring along small instruments and join the fun.

Thanks to my friend Joanna  for introducing me to more great music (again).

Did you like it?

You may have heard about the latest installation at Tate Modern in London by Miroslaw Balka, called How it is. It’s been there since October last year and – like every major installation in the Turbine Hall – it’s been covered by most mainstream UK media already. I only managed to see it for the first time yesterday.

It’s an epic ’sculpture’, which in fact is a very tall metal cube, accessible via a ramp in the Turbine Hall. Once inside you’re confronted with darkness and your senses need to readjust to the environment, which I guess is part of the experience.

The other part is probably more fun – you just stand there watching other people enter the dark chamber and observing their reactions.

While probably not as spectacular as the big sun or the slides a few years ago, the installation is probably worth a visit if you’re in the area.

It’s there until early April, so there’s plenty of time to visit Tate Modern. Otherwise, here are my pictures from yesterday:

Remember my Chopin post from a few weeks ago? Looks like London is getting ready for some Chopin celebrations too this year – just saw this in this week’s Time Out.

So glad there are more and more Polish events in London every year.

However, if you don’t want to splash out on Time Out, try the Polish Cultural Institute. They’ve created a guide to all the Chopin-related events taking place in the UK this year – you can download a free copy here.

I just want one CD for Christmas. I know it’s almost a year old, but I’ve only just been told about it. (Yeah, thanks, ‘friends’ for keeping me up to date). And I instantly fell in love with it.

Mieczyslaw Fogg was a very famous Polish crooner, whose career spanned half a century. He first started singing before the war and kept performing well into the 1980s. Always well-groomed, well-mannered, he appealed to the melancholic middle-aged ladies, who always dreamed of having a husband like him.

Needless to say, when I was a teenager it wasn’t particularly cool to listen to him. Actually, it wasn’t cool at all.

Fast forward twenty-odd years to 2008 and Fogg is back in fashion, but this time among the hip, twenty-something crowd.

Several young Polish artists re-recorded or remixed some of his old songs and released an album called Cafe Fogg. If you’re familiar with the Verve Remixed series, Cafe Fogg is in many ways very similar to that.

Here’s my absolute favourite, Bo to sie tak zwykle zaczyna (That’s the way it usually begins). The original song was remixed by The Bumelants and I love it:

Here’s another one I like – a song called Kiedy będziesz zakochany (When you’re in love), re-recorded by Novika:

Dear Santa! Got it?!

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Matt Bianco fans have a reason to be cheerful this autumn. Basia, whose voice is familiar to anyone who in the early 1980s danced to Whose Side Are You On?, is back with a new album. (Oh, ok, the album was released a few months ago, but I only just listened to it for the first time a couple of weeks ago).

Basia was born in the south of Poland and before leaving the country in the late 70s, she sang with a couple of Polish groups. But her career really took off when she joined Danny White in London to form the band which was to become Matt Bianco.

I have to confess, I used to be a huge fan, but I haven’t listened to her music for 15 years. I recently came across her greatest hits album (Spotify link) and was amazed by how many good songs she had both as a solo artist and, earlier, with Matt Bianco.

Her latest CD It’s That Girl Again (Spotify link) surprised me a bit though. I was expecting more of the same – some good, jazzy Latino pop, and yes – the onitial songs don’t disappoint at all. They’re quite catchy. But later on it all sounds a bit different. I think I’ll need time to get used to her slightly more ’straight pop’ sound. Maybe I’ve moved on, maybe she has. But it doesn’t sound as exciting and fresh to me. Which doesn’t mean it’s a bad album, nor does it negate her earlier achievements.

Anyway, I hope it’ll grow on me. Meanwhile, here’s some good old Basia: