CONCERT The Baltic Union
Performing on stage:
Storösterlens Spelmanslag (Sweden)
Markus Svensson & David Eriksson (Sweden)
Synnøve Brøndbo-Plassen (Norway)
Opka (Lithuania)
Bogusława Drzewiecka
Kapela Łódzkiego Domu Tańca
Janusz Prusinowski Kompania
Concert curator: Janusz Prusinowski
Those who frequent the Festival may be well aware of it, but for many of our guests the following may come as a surprise – the dance called polska (short for Swedish polsk tanz – Polish dance) is the most important and most characteristic dance of Sweden and the whole Scandinavia. In his book Polskans historia, Magnus Gustafsson, violinist, researcher and co-creator of our joint projects, writes about over 20,000 melodies of various types of polska in Sweden alone. This vast resource has been passed on to us through historical records (village fiddlers in 18th-century Sweden knew notes and wrote down their favorite melodies in the so-called noteboks), and through direct transfer from musicians, singers, and dancers. The latter has continued into the late 20th century and has been well-documented.
The polska dance, just like our chodzonys (polonaises), kujawiaks, mazurkas and obereks, is based on the so-called Polish rhythms. The historical origins and development of the Polish style in European music are described in more detail in a separate text by Professor Ewa Dahlig-Turek. Here, I will focus on a question that the author does not answer. What is the source of Polish rhythms?
I would argue that the source of the Polish rhythms is the Polish language, the specificity of its rhythm, phrasing, and accent. When speaking Polish, we regularly place the accent on the penultimate syllable, naturally lengthening it. This causes the syllables at the beginning of words to become “dense,” creating a descending rhythm which, when transferred to singing, becomes the rhythmic foundation of the Polish style.
Since all the dances mentioned above are in triple meter (they are three-beat, they have three steps in the dance), when we insert words from songs or chants into their phrases, extraordinary musical phenomena occur. When a word has three syllables – Warszawa, zabawa, śpiewałem, tańczyłem – we hear a clear accent on the second (penultimate) syllable. In the kujawiaks, obereks, and mazurkas, it is the second step that is more accented, sometimes tapped out at the end of the phrase. However, when four-syllable words appear in a song or chant – przeczytałem, zapomniałem, koronkowa, malowana – we naturally arrange them in a triple measure, “densifying” it at the beginning and “thinning” it at the end, while still emphasizing the penultimate syllable. Rural singers and village musicians (who followed the phrases) played with the rhythmicity of words with four or more syllables, singing them using various micro-shifts and micro-accents. These co-transformations at the intersection of language, music, and dance are the source of the Polish polymetry and the two- and three-measure rubato, as well as other mysterious musical phenomena which remain nameless, even though they are widely practiced by musicians and singers.
Singing is the foundation of everything – as the source of instrumental music and dance, it will appear in many forms at the concert. Bogusława Drzewiecka, champion from Lipce Reymontowskie, together with Róża Grabowska will sing kujons, kujawiaks, and songs from the heart of the Łowicz region. The latter will be taken over instrumentally by the Kapela Łódzkiego Domu Tańca band. We will also hear extraordinary singing of the Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen, the continuator of the wordless singing and Norwegian dance singing traditions. Strong, masculine singing will also be present in the form of the Polish group Memento Mori Dance Club. The ensemble brings back to their original dance function the Renaissance and Baroque dance melodies which have been preserved to our times through the religious songs (contrafactum) that have been added to them. Sung and played polonaises and kujawiaks will open the club part of the concert.
The music landscape of the Baltic Sea region will be completed by the representatives of the Baltic countries. The national pride of Lithuania is its great wealth of songs. These distinct pieces, unrelated to the Polish style, include the mysterious, polyphonic sutartinias. The unusual, diverse qualities of singing will be introduced to the concert by the Lithuanian ensemble Opka.
The group Sounds and Stories from Ruhnu Island along with Leanne Barbo will lead dances and games from Estonia, completed by stories from the Baltic island of Ruhnu, a unique place on the Estonian map of traditions.
When I think of Sweden, I see a large group of fiddlers playing their favorite tunes together. This phenomenon, popular since the 1970s, when the revival of traditional music began in Sweden, is called Spelmanslag. It’s a wonderful experience to play together like this – we know that in Poland as well. This is why our guests this year include Storösterlens Spelmanslag – a group of violinists from Malmö led by Sven Midgren who enjoy playing together, co-creating something similar to a Dance House.
When I think of Sweden, I hear the sound of the nyckelharpa. We’ll be hosting two wonderful nyckelharpists, Markus Svensson and David Eriksson, who will enchant us with the beautiful polska melodies, found in the records of 18th-century musicians.
The band of Jan Szymański, the oldest active musician from the Łowicz region, is an example of the key cultural master-student connection which is also the essence of our festival. The student in this ensemble is Jeremi Kowalski, a talented harmonist of the younger generation. Let the majestic kujons, kujawiaks, polkas, and obereks be an example of how Polish rhythms, with their inherent rubato, sounded, and still sound, at rural weddings and parties.
My band, Janusz Prusinowski Kompania, will serve as a connector and introduce dances into the concert that, surprisingly, have a movement structure or musical phrase very similar to polska and come from different regions of Poland. Without even realizing it, we dance the Wielkopolska wiwats, the Kurpie powolniaks, or the Rzeszów “leg” polkas practically in the same way as polska.
The concert focuses on dance, so it couldn’t be complete without dancers. Swedish dances will be presented by Klara Andersson and musicians and dancers of the Storösterlens Spelmanslag, while Polish dancing couples will be led by Piotr Zgorzelski, Grzegorz Ajdacki and Dominik Wóltański.
The concert and club portions of the evening organically complement each other. We invite you to listen and dance.
Long live the Baltic Union!
Janusz Prusinowski
Buy tickets HERE