Special concert to celebrate Oskar Kolberg Year

6 November 2014

To mark the Oskar Kolberg Year, a concert of traditional music was held at Warsaw's Presidential Palace on 5 November 2014. In attendance were president Bronisław Komorowski and his wife Anna Komorowska.

"Today's evening is inspired by the Kolberg Year, now nearing its close. I'd like this concert to draw attention to folk art and artists who rework it in very creative ways," emphasised Anna Komorowska before the concert. Inviting the audience to listen to the music, she added that all of the artists put a lot of hear into their playing and are very professional.

The concert, which also welcomed Małgorzata Omilanowska, minister of culture and national heritage, and Mateusz Szczurek, minister of finance, featured four bands. First up was Kapela Maliszów, a family band from the southern region of Beskid Niski, who played the oldest Polish bridal song "Oj chmielu, chmielu", among other pieces.

The Malisze family was followed by Sutari, three artists who fuse music and theatre, with a folk ballad titled "Siostra", as well as "Chłopacy"of the region of Kujawy, and "Kalina malina" of Lubelszczyzna. Next, the audience was treated to traditional Kurpie songs and pieces set to poet Bolesław Leśmian's works "Nocą umówioną" and "W słońcu" played by Adam Strug and his band. The concert concluded with a performance by the Janusz Prusinowski Trio, who played mazurkas by Stanisław Dziąg and Jan Lewandowski.

2014 marks the birth bicentenary of Oskar Kolberg, composer, folklorist, and ethnographer. In December 2013 the lower house of Polish parliament, Sejm, passed a resolution declaring 2014 the Kolberg Year.

Oskar Kolberg was born on 22 February 1814 in Przysucha, Radom Land. He attended the Warsaw Lycée, and took piano and composing lessons with Józef Elsner and Ignacy F. Dobrzyński. A particular influence on young Kolberg's musical interests was his acquaintance with friend Fryderyk Chopin. Kolberg was mainly interested in music from a folkloristic and ethnographic perspective. He set out on his first field trip around Mazowsze in 1839. He began documenting musical folklore by supplementing previously published song collections with sheet music. He died on 3 June 1890 in Kraków. (PAP)

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