Music of Poland
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Poland has a lively and diverse music scene and even its own music genres like the sung poetry and disco polo. From the famous composers like Chopin or Penderecki, to its traditional and regionalized folk scene. Today, Poland is one of the very few European countries where rock and hip hop dominate over pop while all kinds of alternative music genres encourage the future development of music.
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Beginning
The origin of Polish music can be traced as far back as the 13th century, when manuscripts from Stary Sącz have been found containing polyphonic compositions related to the Parisian Notre Dame School. Other compositions, such as the melody of Bogurodzica, may date back to this period. The first major composer, however, was Mikołaj z Radomia in the 15th century.
During the 16th century, two Kraków bands, the King's and the Archbishop of Wawel's, led the rapid innovation in Polish music. Composers included Wacław z Szamotuł, Mikołaj Zieleński and Mikołaj Gomółka.
17th and 18th century
The first part of the 17th century saw a number of Italian musicians at the royal courts of Sigismund III and Władysław IV. These included Luca Marenzio, Giovanni Francesco Anerio and Marco Scacchi. Polish composers of the period focused on baroque religious music, concertos for voices, instruments and basso continuo. This tradition continued into the 18th century. The most well-remembered composer of the period is Adam Jarzębski, known for instrumental works like Chromatica, Tamburetta, Sentinella, Bentrovata and Nova Casa. Other composers include Grzegorz Gerwazy Górczycki, Franciszek Lilius, Bartłomiej Pękiel, Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński and Marcin Mielczewski.
The 17th and 18th century saw a Polish decline which hindered the development in music. Some composers attempted to create a kind of Polish opera (such as Jan Stefani and Maciej Kamieński, or imitated composers like Haydn and Mozart. The most important development of this time, however, was the polonaise, perhaps the first distinctively Polish art music. Polonaises for piano were and remain very popular, such as Michał Kleofas Ogiński's Pożegnanie Ojczyzny (Fairwell to Motherland). Other composers included Karol Kurpiński, Juliusz Zarębski, Henryk Wieniawski, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Józef Elsner and, most famously, Fryderyk Chopin. Chopin remains very well-known, and is regarded for composing a wide variety of works, including mazurkas, nocturnes, waltzes and concertos, and using traditional Polish elements in his pieces. The same period saw Stanisław Moniuszko, the leading individual in the successful development of Polish opera, still renowned for operas like Halka and The Haunted Manor.
Traditional music
Polish folk music was collected in the 19th century by Oskar Kolberg, as part of a wave of Polish national revival. With the coming of the world wars and then the Communist state, folk traditions were oppressed or subsumed into state-approved folk ensembles. The most famous of the state ensembles are Mazowsze and Śląsk, both of which still perform. Though these bands had a regional touch to their output, the overall sound was a homogenized mixture of Polish styles. There were more authentic state-supported groups, such as Słowianki, but the Communist sanitized image of folk music made the whole field seem unhip to young audiences, and many traditions dwindled rapidly.
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Dance music
Polish dance music, especially the mazurka and polonaise, were popularized by Chopin, and they soon spread across Europe and elsewhere. These are triple time dances, while five-beat forms are more common in the northeast and duple-time dances like the polka and krakowiak come from the south. The polonaise comes from the French word for Polish to identify its origin among the Polish aristocracy, who had adapted the dance from a slower walking dance called chodzony. The polonaise then re-entered the lower-class musical life, and became an integral part of Polish music.
Podhale
Main article: Music of Podhale
While folk music has largely died out in Poland, especially in urban areas, the tourist destination of Podhale has retained its traditions. The regional capital, Zakopane, has been a center for art since the late 19th century, when people like composer Karol Szymanowski, who discovered Goral folk music there, made the area chic among Europe's intellectuals. Though a part of Poland, Podhale's musical life is more closely related to that found in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine and Transylvania.
Local ensembles use string instruments like violins and a cello to play a distinctive scale called the Lydian mode. The distinctive singing style used in this scale is called lidyzowanie. The lead violin (prym) are accompanied by several second violins (sekund) and a three-stringed cello (bazy). Duple-time dances like the krzesany, zbójnicki (Brigand's Dances) and ozwodna are popular. The ozwodna has a five bar melodic structure which is quite unusual. The krzesany is an extremely swift dance, while the zbójnicki is well-known and is perceived as being most "typical" of Podhale. Folk songs typically focus on heroes like Janosik.
Other regions
Outside of Podhale, few regions have active folk scenes, though there are music festivals, such as as the Kazimierz Festival, which are well-known and popular. Regional folk bands include Gienek Wilczek Band (Bukowina), Tadeusz Jedynak Band (Przystalowice Male), Stachy Band (Hazców nad Wislokiem), Franciszek Gola Band (Kadzidło), Edward Markocki Band (Zmyslówka-Podlesie), Kazimierz Kantor Band (Głowaczowa), Swarni Band (Nowy Targ), Kazimierz Meto Band (Glina), Ludwik Młynarczyk Band (Lipnica) and Trebunie-Tutki (Poronin).
Classical music
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like the polonaise, and produced such composers as Frederick Chopin. Poland was then a center for musical development before declining. Karol Szymanowski soon gained prominence, however, and, like Chopin, included elements of Polish traditional music in his works. He was the most well-known Polish composer prior to World War I. Between the wars, a group of composers formed the Association of Young Polish Musicians; these included Grażyna Bacewicz, Zygmunt Mycielski, Michał Spisak and Tadeusz Szeligowski.
Following World War II, some composers, such as Roman Palester and Andrzej Panufnik, fled the country and remained in the exile. In the early 1960s, however, a number of composers known as the Polish composer's school arose, characterized by the use of sonorism and dodecaphonism. The style emerged out of the political crisis in 1956, following Stalin's death; that same year saw the Warsaw Autumn music festival inaugurated, from whence came additional popularity for the Polish composer's school. Composers included Tadeusz Baird, Boguslaw Schaeffer, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Witold Szalonek, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Wojciech Kilar, Kazimierz Serocki and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.
More modern composers include Krzysztof Meyer, Paweł Szymański, Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Krzesimir Dębski, Hanna Kulenty, Eugeniusz Knapik and Jan A. P. Kaczmarek.
Composers
Contemporary Music
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Poland has always been a very open country to new music genres and even before the fall of the communism, music styles like rock, metal, jazz, electronic or New Wave were well-known. Since 1989, the Polish scene has exploded with new talents and a more diverse style. To the contrary of most European countries, pop music is not dominant in Poland. It is completely overshadowed by rock and to a lesser degree hip hop. Alternative music styles like black metal, Gothic rock, trip hop, EBM and post-rock are also popular. Poland has also two indigenous styles of popular music: sung poetry and disco polo. The latter is completely ignored by the mainstream media, while the former has its own radio stations and TV channels. Poland is a huge producer of the hip hop music. Hip hop is usually most popular in large urban centres. Rock is usually more dominant in smaller cities and rural areas but the radio rock stations are by far the most listened to radio stations in Poland. Every year a huge gathering of young Poles meet to celebrate the rock and alternative music in Jarocin or Zary. These events often attract more than 250,000 people and are comparable to Woodstock or Roskilde rock gatherings.
Contemporary Polish musicians and bands (in alphabetic order):
Female Vocalists
- Ania Dąbrowska
- Basia (left Poland in 1981)
- Edyta Bartosiewicz
- Edyta Geppert
- Edyta Górniak
- Ewelina Flinta
- Martyna Jakubowicz
- Anna Maria Jopek
- Reni Jusis
- Kayah
- Kasia Kowalska
- Natalia Kukulska
- Mandaryna
- Maryla Rodowicz
- Violetta Villas
Male Vocalists
Hip-Hop/Rap
Reggae
Rock
Sung Poetry
- Ewa Demarczyk
- Jacek Kaczmarski
- Jan Krzysztof Kelus
- Jacek Kleyff
- Jacek Kowalski
- Wojciech Młynarski
- Jeremi Przybora
- Grzegorz Turnau
- Michał Żebrowski
- Maciej Zembaty
Black Metal Scene
Synthpop/Electronic/EBM/Gothic
See also: List of famous Poles
References
- Broughton, Simon. "Hanging on in the Highlands". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 219-224. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0de:Musik in Polen