In the thousand years since the Polan tribe became a nation on the flatlands of northern Europe, the territory that comprises modern Poland has been ruled by a Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, a Napoleonic duchy, Germany and the USSR. The interaction between Poland and those outside cultures affected the development of a Polish culture that would, in turn, affect cultures around the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of Polish music.
Polish folk music has it roots in the same Slavic tradition as Ukranian, Czeck and Russian music, and is strongly related to dance. The mazurka is perhaps the best known of the Polish dances. A lively three-beat form that accompanies a vibrant, improvisational dance, the mazurka comes from the Mazowsze region in east-central Poland. The kujawiak and oberek dances, which employ a similar beat to the mazurka, also come from central Poland. The kujawiak is a slower, dignified style, which evokes stalks of grain swaying gently in the wind. It is often paired with the oberek, a vigorous and acrobatic dance which sees the dancers spinning around the room.
Southern Poland, and the city of Krakow in particular, give us the krakowiak and the polonez. The krakowiak, a duple-time galloping dance, is the national dance of Poland, and is generally performed in traditional Polish garb, with women in flowery skirts and aprons and men in embroidered vests and square hats. The polonez (more commonly known as the polonaise in the West) is a triple-time form derived from the 17th century chodzny, or "walking dance."
Along with the mazurka, the polonez became a popular dance in European ballrooms in the nineteenth century. In the early part of that century, in the wake of the French Revolution, a tide of nationalism rose across Europe. Polish nationalism and the accompanying Polish independence movement, invigorated Polish culture, with folk-influenced Romanticism as the dominant artistic style. Composer and ethnologist Oskar Kolberg amassed the first comprehensive collection of Polish folk songs during this period. Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin wrote fifty-seven mazurkas and sixteen polonaises, contributing greatly to the popularity of those forms in Western Europe. Stanislaw Moniuszko used Polish folk themes in opera, including his great operatic work, Halka. Polish artists, scientists and scholars spread Polish culture across Europe, forging cultural connections that would influence artists and thinkers well into the next century.
Poland finally regained independence after the First World War, but soon found itself at the center of the events that would lead to World War II–notably its invasion and partition by the Soviet Union and Germany. Six million Poles, half of them Jews, were killed in the Second World War, a higher percentage of the population than any other country, and when Poland's boundaries were redrawn at the end of the war, it lost twenty percent of its land. Ethnic groups were forced to migrate, mixing Poles, Germans, Ukranians and Jews and disrupting regional cultural landscapes. Klezmer music was annihilated along with the Jewish population. Gypsy music and musicians met a similar fate. Since the nineties, klezmer music has rebounded in many countries across Europe, but still remains largely absent from Poland.
Poland emerged from World War II as a Soviet client state: the People's Republic of Poland. Under communist rule, folk musicians were relegated to state controlled ensembles. These ensembles existed to perpetuate an image of Poland as a proud peasant republic. The distinct folk traditions of northern, central and southern Poland were homogenized into a bland "national music." To the average Pole, the folk music played by state ensembles was unfamiliar and boring, and as regional music groups withered away, the vibrant folk tradition in Poland withered with them.
Since the fall of the USSR and Poland's acceptance into the EU, Polish folk music has revived in Poland and throughout Europe. Podhale, the mountainous southern region of Poland, has become a bastion for traditional folk culture. In the regional capitol of Zakopane, strings band still play goralski music (named for the Goral mountains which border the region) dressed in felt trousers, broad leather belts, and blow hats adorned with cowrie shells. One is still likely to find couples dancing as high-voiced men sing songs of Polish folk heroes in the traditional idyzowanie style. Zakopane has become a popular tourist destination for people wishing to immerse themselves in traditional Polish life.
In the cities, folk music exists in different forms. The Trebuina Family Band is a traditional Polish string and wind band that made a name for itself in 1994, when it teamed with Jamaican reggae outfit The Twinkle Brothers, to produce two albums of Polish-reggae fusion music. The albums were an unlikely success in Europe and beyond. The Motion Trio, an accordion trio whose repertoire encompasses traditional Polish melodies, experimental soundscapes, and avant garde idioms, has played to great acclaim around the world, and has shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Joe Zawinul and Bobby McFerrin.
The popular Warsaw Village Band, formed as a direct response to the co-opting of folk music during the Communist era, attempts to reclaim folk music for modern Polish youth, merging traditional instrumentation and themes—including the unique bialy glos ("white voice") vocal style—with modern beats and performance styles. These hybrid folk forms complement the western-influenced pop, rock and hip hop scenes which dominate Polish cities.
Outside of Poland, EU citizenship has opened up doors to Polish emigrants, who have set up communities in many major cities in Europe, bringing their culture into contact with others, the results of which are entirely new hybrids of traditional styles.—Alex Barron
