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no bands like this; wearing normal clothes, people like you want to speak to me. But for also plays with Trebunie Tutki. He’s one of
listening to reggae, to punk-rock, whatev- me the most important part of our music is the best players in Poland, very flexible
er, and traditional music. This is the main just the music, not its Polishness.” and open-minded.”
power of all the members of the band; we
They’re nevertheless to some extent Wojtek – the only WVB member who
aren’t ethnologists, we’re just having good
ambassadors, like it or not. “Yeah, and for had made himself available for interview –
fun with this. When I’m playing violin I
me that’s OK. Because with this band had been talking before a London gig. The
don’t have in my mind traditional music,
we’re still fighting the stereotype. And following evening I watched their set
fiddling from the Radom area or some-
Poles aren’t welcomed everywhere. I have among a shoulder-to-shoulder mixed
thing; I have in mind guys like Jimi Hendrix
a feeling that Warsaw Village Band’s music English-speaking and Polish audience in an
or whoever. I want to try and create new
can be somehow… good enough for peo- unaccountably prestigious Camden venue.
quality; very inspired by tradition, but
ple who never had any connection with
Wojtek had talked about the evolution
something new. I think the tradition must
Poland. It’s a good first step to meet with
of the band and the opening up of new
develop; cultures develop.”
the culture. There are traditional musi-
possibilities, and from the explorations in
“For the purists, the music we are play- cians, but I don’t think they’ll ever be
sound and ideas they’ve made on their
ing is never welcomed. For them we are interesting for people outside because it’s
albums, plus the effect of the new mem-
doing something bad, because we are too much for them.”
bers, I was expecting that the live show
‘killing the tradition’. Anthropologists!
would have moved on a great deal since I
When I hear that I say ‘Man, tradition isn’t
last saw them in 2004. Perhaps they stayed
disappearing, it’s just changing, and we are
on safe ground because the new members
just taking part in this process, that’s all’.”
had only been with them a couple of
I ask him about the band’s profile D
uring 2009, since Infinity, there
have been some more line-up
changes in the band, with
three new members making it
a septet. “The reason’s simple:
months, but rather than the varied, pro-
nowadays in Poland. “In Poland we’re a two of our girls are pregnant. Sylwia has
gressive set I was anticipating, virtually
cult band. Not known everywhere, but if quit and Magda has a one-year break. So
every number (apart from a Maja and
someone knows they love it. But Polish we decided to change the line-up a little,
Wojtek duet) once past its intro, turned
showbiz doesn’t know how to work with because it’s needed when you have new
into a rather samey fast-pounding bass-
us. We don’t fit. We’re completely inde- faces. And when you start with new faces
drum and bowed strings rhythmic
pendent; we’re working with a label but it doesn’t make any sense trying to find
onslaught, very much in the identity-estab-
they’re just licensing from Germany. We the old sound, you have to find some-
lishing style of the People’s Spring era.
aren’t celebrities. But if you ask in Polish thing new. What I think is good with War- Wlodek Kleszcz, who remains the
showbusiness about Warsaw Village Band saw Village Band is that we never got band’s godfather, enthused to me about a
they’ll know of us, and probably some of stuck, we didn’t stop at the Hopsasa style gig in Poland a couple of weeks later when
them will be great fans. It’s interesting; if or People’s Spring style, we didn’t say ‘OK, WVB supported Salif Keita. There, I imag-
we played pop music we’d probably be we have money, we have concerts, we’ll ine the contrast worked well, and perhaps
celebrities, but because we play this kind keep doing the same thing’. And that’s the audience were hit by the significance
of music there’s a problem of how to get a why we decided to bring in double bass.” of the juxtaposition, so maybe London was
context in television and so on.”
Replacing Sylwia on violin is Eva
an aberration. But be that as it may, War-
Are you making Polish music? “I am Pol- Walecka, who was a pal of Maja’s at pri-
saw Village Band has shown that the
ish, it’s my language, it’s my homeland; but mary school. Magda’s temporary replace-
sounds and shapes of raw central Euro-
in the same way I’m European, and a citizen ment is Marta Stanislawska, who played
pean village roots musics, while their social
of planet earth. And that’s all. I know it’s the dulcimer as a guest musician on Peo-
context in the villages has almost disap-
very important for Polish people, especially ple’s Spring. Playing stand-up electric bass
peared, don’t have to stay on archivists’
in England. Tomorrow you’ll see if you’re at is Pawel Mazurczak (who didn’t show up
shelves but can shape the music of the
the concert; Poles are waiting for this for the fR photo session), of whom Wojtek
future. Long may that continue, and wider
because for them it’s important that here’s a says, “He plays with many different bands,
may the idea spread.
Polish band playing Polish music, and that from hip-hop, jazz and blues to folk; he
www.warsawvillageband.net F
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