Booming drums, bowed bass, a tish of cymbal, sheets of scratchy fiddles, and bawled female vocals in the style of the traditional rural 'white voice'. It's a surging exuberant noise as this bunch of young Poles dig into the songs and dance music of their country's villages, in an approach the sleevenotes describe as "bio-techno". It's a mass of churning organic acousticity, emphasised with some well-integrated use of echoes and effects; none of your old-hat techno thud-tick here, except possibly for a hint in the dancier of the two remixes at the end of the album, which has a driving grainy groove slightly reminiscent of the acoustic-writ-large approach of Sweden's Hedningarna.

"In the beginning, they just beat the drums in any rhythm occurring to them until they met in a common sound," say the booklet notes. And it has to be said that once having found that common sound, which is indeed an effective one, they pretty much stick to it; the onslaught of edgy scrape and thunder slows and speeds but rarely relents, and the album perhaps works best taken a few tracks at a time.

The six band members, three male, three female, provide the voices, the pair of battering drums, a touch of jew's-harp, and the fiddles, bass and Polish suca, whose strings are stopped, lyra-like, by the fingernails of its player, the main singer Katarzyna Szurman. Welcome tonal variety is injected by guest trumpeter Piotr Korzen Korzeniowski, whose ecstatic echoed solo improvisation over At My Mother's is a high point, and the first track is opened by the hammered dulcimer of another guest, Marta Stanislawska. The band have paid their dues in terms of going to the villages and meeting surviving traditional musicians there, but this is no academic copying of details. In a country that's rich with remarkable new music in all genres, it's a celebration of the essence, the spirit and texture of village music, and proof that it has the energy to skip across the generations to be embraced as an adventure by at least some of the cool youth.

The melodic basis of one track, Polka Folkisdead, is credited to the praised playing of village musician and instrument-maker Kazimierz Zdrzalik, but it would have been good to see an acknowledgement of where, or from whom, the band learned the rest of the material. Perhaps that information didn't make the transition from the original release, on Poland's ever-interesting Orange World label. The Jaro version is available from the Jaro online shop.

"One of the new promising New Folk Bands from Eastern Europe. WVB perform folk music combined with medieval music and a pinch of 'Apocalyptica'."

"WARSAW VILLAGE BAND blows a wind of change into the Polish folk scene For Western Europeans, Poland remains an unknown neighbour, even if the country already has one foot in the door of the European Union. And despite the fact that the Polish folk scene is presently bursting with vitality. The Warsaw Village Band is one of the most outstanding groups to come out of Poland in the past few years. Folk music is undergoing a kind of renaissance in Poland, and has become extremely fashionable.

Old persons who still play the traditional Polish instruments were a major inspiration for the musicians of the WARSAW VILLAGE BAND. It was with the help of those people that most of the band members learned to play the old instruments auto-didactically. 'We travelled from village to village, seeking out the old people; we listened to their music and their stories. What surprised us most was that no one else in the villages is interested in this music anymore. These are old people, and when they die, the music will die with them.' It is entirely thanks to these old people that the band musicians know how to play the instruments in the traditional way.

The most interesting instrument in the collection of the WARSAW VILLAGE BAND is certain to be the Suka, played by Sylwia: an old Polish form of the violin, originating in the sixteenth century, with strings that are played with the fingernails. The other two women in the band play the zither and the cello, two of the men play drums, and one of them the violin and hurdy-gurdy.

The women sing with powerful voices, song that is sometimes rather shrill but always forceful and impressive. 'The vocal style is based on the so-called white voice, a special traditional technique originating with the shepherds, who always shouted at the top of their voices. This is combined with the traditional techniques for playing the old Polish instruments.'"

"The WARSAW VILLAGE BAND adds medieval sounds and a pinch of Apocalyptica to folklore!Violins sing, a cello is played by brute force, drums resound into the farthest corners."

"The success of the WARSAW VILLAGE BAND stems from its musicians' great love for their national musical heritage and their will to preserve the old musical traditions. For these musicians, however, preservation does not mean restoration but ? as we have experienced with 'The Pogues' or 'Les Negresses Vertes', for example ? reanimation, i. e. the transportation of the old songs? spirit into the here and now. Polka gets a shot of Techno, and despite the acoustic instrumentalisation, the band conjures up sounds that have electronic impact."

I felt in love with Polish music only last year when I heard Stara lipa and the first cd of the Warsaw village band. This cd was under their Polish name Kapela ze wsi Warszawa and excited me because of it's energy and positive atmosphere. Now their latest cd is on the bigger, international Jaro label and it should be! The six young musicians reached the top of international folkmusic in their six year of existence. On this new cd the groups shows a great development. Still the basic is Polish traditional tunes and songs but brought in a magical way, full of strong rhythms and ancient melodies. Sometimes sweet and friendly, often heavy and threatening but never dangerous. Check the vocals or the fantastic co-operation between fiddles and percussion. The cd contains more than one hour of intriguing music with two re-mixes as bonus. This cd proofs that traditional music is from all times. But can only survive when, besides preserving, new generation of musicians make the old tunes and songs their own. The interpretation this Polish band gives to tradition should be in everybody's cd collection.

Kapela Ze Wsi Warszawa is a traditional band, full of ancient singing (something described as "white voices" which to you and me means Värttinä or certain types of singing from the Baltics) and amazingly played traditional instruments. Those include skrzypice (an old Polish fiddle), bass, fiddle from Plock, jew's harp, baraban drum, frame drums and dhol. A strategic use dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, double bass and trumpet add even more hues to this wonderful musical canvas. There is also humor, and extra helps make this band unique. This is, in the end, music that could only come from Poland, a country at the crossroads between the esoteric North, the mystical East, the passionate South and the analytical West, with the added spirit of a people who have seen more than their fair share of oppression. lass="just">"Pada Deszczyk" (The rain is falling) and the "Zurawie" (Cranes) are probably the best expressions of this. They sound a bit menacing, trance-like, very traditional and imbued with a youthful spirit. The wonderful liner notes (in Polish and English) talk of songs about breaking with the old traditions, especially related to forced marriages or the attitude of the society towards women.

There are also two studio remixes where the notion of the trance power of traditional music (central to the raison-d'etre of KZWW) is enhanced through collaborations with DJs. These are far from fillers, and offer unexpected insights and elements from places like India.

Proud, inquiring, revolutionary, masterly performed, imbued with a youthful enthusiasm that revitalizes you on every listen and manifests why it still means something to be searching for music all over the world, instead of being content to listen to mainstream pop. This is a recording for anyone who is mesmerized by Värttinä, music from the Baltic States, the energy of Roma music or the mysticism of the Sufi, Dervish and Chassidic traditions.

"The most important things for us are emotions connected with old Polish music, wildness and the truth which comes from the roots."

One of the most interesting albums of 2003 is from a country that's barely featured on the world music scene - Poland. It's been a country in change for 20 years now, but there's plenty of music there, some of it ancient - and that's what the Warsaw Village Band has been discovering and bringing to light on their album, People's Spring. They're a young group, ranging in age from 16 to 25, with plenty of energy, many ideas, but also great respect for tradition.

"Warsaw Village Band started in 1997," explained member Wojtek Krzak. "The most important for us is music from Mazovia area, the heart of Poland. There we can find very archaic music, which is our favorite style. Warsaw Village Band is a result of response against narrow-mindedness and surrounding us mass-culture, which in fact leads to destruction of human dignity. The band is a radical return to sources in search of musical inspirations and immemorial virtues. It's also an exploration of folklore and archaic sounds. It's also fun, joy and spontaneity. The most important things for us are emotions connected with old Polish music, wildness and the truth which comes from the roots. We started to play old Polish instruments. Our passion is traveling to small villages and visiting old musicians who show us their tradition, technique of playing." Krzak is also quick to give credit to "Wlodzimierz Kleszcz, (he is the producer of such a fantastic projects as Twinkle Brothers& Trebunie Tutki in cooproduction with Adrian Sherwood) who helped us at the beginning. He build first image of the band. We recorded with him our first album in Polish Radio Studio ("Hop sa sa"- by Kamahuk1997). From that time the band has changed the members and from year 2000 started with quite new crew except Maciej the drum player and Maja the cello."

Krzak learned the old way - from a traditional musician, while the rest of the group all attended music school, picking up the folk sound while in the band. It seemed natural for them to gravitate toward traditional music, for its real emotions, "love, passion, sadness. These emotions are timeless. Traditional music is free, we can find there a lots of wild energy, passion. These are what we like the most. We can find there rhythms like in punk-rock music, rock riffs and many other styles. The problem is how to discover it. The most important is carefully listening to old tunes."

Interestingly, the music of Mazovia has a very trance-like quality, which gives WVB a very contemporary feel, although they play acoustic instruments - not unlike Sweden's Hedningarna, in some ways.

"Trance is very important for Mazovia area polish music. You can hear the dances which could be very long, based on a very simply rhythms played on the drum, violin an "basy" (kind of traditional cello) Techno it's nothing new, we knows it from the ages, but we forgotten about it. Bio- because it's very naturally for human nature, Bio- because it's played on wooden acoustics instruments, Bio- because it's the rhythm of ours hearts."

Apart from the instrumental music, another Mazovian quality is the voice, and its peculiar "white singing."

"It's a unique technique of singing on polish villages," explained Krzak. "It's like wild shouting. Singing on scream. It's typical for Mazovia area music."

Like many cultures, Poland has its indigenous instruments, in their case the suka, a traditional fiddle, which WVB feature prominently in their sounds.

"Suka and Fidel Plocka are both very old instruments, they come from the Middle Ages. The technique of playing is like an Indian Sarangi. You play on it sitting down on a chair, you have it on your elbow. You play on it by nail technique, not fingers. You press the strings by your nails no fingers. It's typical for baroque music, but the primitive models were used on the Polish villages."

People's Spring includes two remixes, once in a modern trance style - a perfect fit - and another in, surprisingly, an Indian style.

"Well, every style of music comes from India," noted Krzak, "because our civilization comes from that areas, but there is no special influences between Polish music and Indian. Mazovia music is rather free from Gypsies influences. You can hear such influences on the south of Poland in mountains. Mazovia music is very special style, you can hear there rather Jewish music influences than Gypsies. Remixes are just in a modern style. It's a sign that we live in a global village."

And being part of that global village means offering alternatives, which is exactly what the Warsaw Village Band want to do.

"We are trying to create a new cultural proposition for the youth in an alternative way to contemporary show-biz. That's our fight!"

Neue Folksounds aus dem Dorf Warschau

The Warsaw Village Band

Wie Polens musikalische Jugend die vergessenen Klänge ihrer Ahnen wiederentdeckt Dass Warschau neuerdings ein Dorf und polnische Folklore die Leidenschaft junger polnischer Musiker ist, darüber könnte man in erster Linie schmunzeln. Doch eine Gruppe von jungen Musikern aus der polnischen Hauptstadt will Polens Jugend jetzt eine Alternative zum Pop-Mainstream aufzeigen. Gerade hat die in ihrem Land bereits mit viel Aufmerksamkeit und zahlreichen Preisen bedachte Kapela Ze Wsi Warszawa (übers.: Kapelle aus dem Dorf, das Warschau heißt) ihr zweites Album veröffentlicht und will damit auch westeuropäische Ohren öffnen. Da mag es hilfreich, dass man sich mit The Warsaw Village Band jetzt einen - für uns -leichter aussprechbaren englischen Namen zugelegt hat.

Seit ihrer Gründung im März 1997 haben die zwischen 17 und 30 Jahre alten Musiker und Musikerinnen auf allen wichtigen Folkfestivals Polens gespielt sowie zahlreiche Radio- und Fernsehauftritte absolviert. Doch hierzulande sind sie, trotz eines Gastspiels beim Tanz&Folkfest Rudolstadt vor drei Jahren, mehr oder weniger unbeschriebene Blätter für die Musikpresse. Dies soll sich mit der gerade erschienenen CD "Wiosna Ludu" (für den westlichen Markt "People's Spring") ändern. Anlässlich deren Veröffentlichung im Februar, die vor allem dem Engagement des Bremer Labels Jaro zu verdanken ist, waren das "Nesthäkchen" der Band, die gerade 17-jährige Maja Kleszcz (Bass, Gesang) und der 22-jährige Wojciech Krazak (Violine, Drehleier) zu einem Promo-Termin nach Berlin gereist. Begleitet wurden sie Majas Vater, dem polnischen Journalisten Wlodek Kleszcz (Radio SA Warszawa), der von ihnen allen nur "godfather" genannt wird. Und obwohl es um die Musik der jungen Band und ihre eigene Geschichte geht, drängt sich immer wieder Majas Vater als Sprachrohr in den Vordergrund unseres Gespräches, ganz so, als hänge sein Herzblut am Erfolg der neuen CD außerhalb der nordpolnischen Heimat. Nur schwer kann man sich seinen Ausführungen über die polnische Musikkultur entziehen und mit den eigentlichen Akteuren, mit Maja Kleszcz und Wojciech Krazak ins Gespräch kommen. Er sei nun mal Musikjournalist, entschuldigt sich Majas Vater lachend, wenn er mal wieder in die Beantwortung einer Frage eingreift und weit abschweift.

Durchbruch beim Sopot-Festival

Begonnen hat alles mit der Teilnahme am "Folk May Day Festival" in Radom, hundert Kilometer südlich von Warschau, bei dem die gerade gegründete Band aus sechs Warschauer Musikschülern und -studenten ihren ersten Preis gewann. Das damalige Konzert, das aus lediglich drei tranceartigen Stücken bestand, wurde vom polnischen Radio übertragen und öffnete den jungen Musikern erste Türen. Bereits einige Monate später traten sie vor mehreren tausend Folkfans, die die Band gar nicht mehr von der Bühne lassen wollten, beim "Olecko Station Festival" (ca. 260 km nordöstlich von Warschau) auf.

Nach einigen Umbesetzungen und der ersten CD "Hop SaSa" - von Wlodek Kleszcz produziert und mit dem Publikumspreis des Polnischen Radios als bestes Folk-Album des Jahres 1998 ausgezeichnet - kam der große Durchbruch in Polen im August 1999 beim "International Music Festival" in Sopot (in der Nähe von Danzig). Dieses 1962 aus der polnischen Schlagertradition entstandene Festival wird seit den 90er Jahren zunehmend von westeuropäischen Popgrößen geprägt. Und seit einigen Jahren gibt es hier auch einen Weltmusikschwerpunkt. Die Warsaw Village Band spielte dort 1999 zusammen mit Weltmusikstars wie Goran Bregovic, Taraf de Haidouks und Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares. Die bulgarischen Sängerinnen gehören für die jungen Polen zu ihren Idolen. Bei diesem Festival wurden sie von Ulrich Balss "entdeckt". Der Geschäftsführer des Bremer Labels Jaro war für die Organisation der Weltmusikbühne in Sopot mitverantwortlich.