CONCERT Old Tradition
– Laureates of the Old Tradition competition concert
The Old Tradition competition has been a part of All Mazurkas of the World festival for 13 years now. It is addressed to young instrumentalists, singers and bands that are rooted in the traditional Polish rural music.
The goal of the competition is to promote young musicians and singers who carry on the traditions of music from particular, modern or historical, regions of Poland, and to search for a formula that would ensure the music’s presence in today’s culture. The winners of the competition perform at the laureates concert on April 17. There will also be an Audience Award.
From among the 35 submissions, the Jury – Ewa Grochowska, Dorota Majerczyk, Andrzej Bieńkowski, Kuba Borysiak, and Janusz Prusinowski – has chosen 12 laureates and awarded 2 honorable mentions.
The laureates are:
• Aleksander Wąsik
• Do Kapelusza
• Gråcyki Orkiestra Tradycyjna
• Kapela „Cacani” z Nowego Sącza
• Kapela SOPA
• Kompania męska z Warszawy lewobrzeżnej praktykująca pieśni z prawego brzegu Pilicy
• Łukasz Kupczak
• Patryk Petersson
• Poliana
• Tomasz Hubiak
• Urszula Kalinowska
• Zespół Dobryna
Honorable mentions:
• Orkiestra Podróżniacy
• Śpisko Qmpanija
About winners:
Aleksander Wąsik, born 2011 / Accordion
Aleksander is a grade 6 pupil and has been playing the accordion since he was 7 years old. He has a drummer uncle, Józef Pańczak, in his family, hence his fondness for music from the Radom region. He has performed at various folk music reviews and festivals and has won awards in Wieniawa and Przysucha, among other places.
„Do Kapelusza” Band
They play the music of the wider Radom and Kielce regions drawing their inspiration from older singers and musicians. They play trance obereks, polkas interspersed with chants and other traditional songs from the region. They play at events with traditional and folk music.
Robert Czupryn born 1985 / violin – vocal
Michał Sołśnia ur. 1978 / frame drum
„Gråcyki” Traditional Orchestra
After many years of independent activities, the paths of instructors, teachers and animators came together and decided to integrate the dispersed community of young musicians. They created a space for activities and musical integration of children and young people.
The ensemble is inspired by traditional Kurpie music of the Green and White Forest. Mainly the works of Stanisław Pawelczyk and Aleksander Bobowski. They also draw on other sources such as the writings of Father Władysław Skierkowski. The orchestra is made up of more than thirty people. The ensemble has already performed at many events in the region, including the Kurpie Tabor in Zdunk in 2023.
VIOLIN: Natalia Mrozek, Patrycja Cicha, Lena Rutkowska, Aleksander Zdunek, Julka Prusaczyk, Julka Domalewska, Faustyna Dobrowolska, Julka Lemańska, Bartek Dzieżyk, Emilka Dzieżyk, Natalia Zadroga, Julka Biegaj, Karolina Nicewicz, Kornelia Bielska, Aurelia Kulas, Karolina Michalak, Diana Stręcel, Emilian Ruszczyk, Kasia Marczyk, Marcin Drabik (Birth years: 1983 – 2013)
PEDAL ACCORDION: Rolka Dawid, Wojtek Parzych, Dawid Sutkowski, Rafał Sendrowski, Wojtek Glinka. Michał Olchowik (Birth years: 1983 – 2009)
DOUBLE BASS: Kasia Kobylińska born 1992
FRAME DRUM: Karol Samsel born 1997
The “Cacani” band is a group of friends from the region of the Lachy Sądeckie, who have decided to maintain the musical traditions of their ancestors. It has been active since 2020 and models itself on the old way of performing Lachian music. Awarded the Grand Prix – the ‘Golden Heart of Zywiec’ at the Beskid Culture Week festival, in 2021. The sources of inspiration are archival recordings of Sącz music, sheet music and the oldest generation of musicians. In addition to playing typically traditional music, the band also performs with an accordion, playing arranged and stylistically extended music.
Jakub Sromek born 2001 /fiddle prym
Damian Cwynar born 2003 / fiddle seconds
Dawid Kocoń born 1999 / double bass
Łukasz Kowalik born 1999 / clarinet
Kacper Michalik born 2003 / trumphet
„Sopa” Band
The band plays highland music from the Beskid Żywiecki, with a traditional line-up of bagpipes and violin. The young musicians rediscover old melodies, preserving the joy of making music together.
Julia Pawlica born 2009 / violin, vocal
Marta Krzyżowska born 2008 / violin, vocal
Patryk Nowak born 2009 / Żywiec bagpipes
A men’s company from left bank Warsaw practising songs from the right bank of the Pilica River – A spontaneously formed singing group, the fruit of group meetings held at the Embassy of Traditional Music since December. They sing ballads and chants from our masters from Gałki Rusinowskie – Maria Pęzik, Barbara Kietlińska and Marianna Oracz. Sometimes also from Przystałowice Małe – songs by Marianna Kowalska. The task we set ourselves is to work on the repertoire of the Kajok micro-region – an area which has so far been explored more in terms of dance music. We sing the way men used to sing – at birthdays, dances, after work. Informally and with fun.
Witold Wojciechowski born 2001 / vocal
Antoni Hasso-Agopsowicz born 2003 / vocal
Franciszek de Latour born 1999 / vocal
Łukasz Kupczak – born 1992 / heligonka (diatonic buton accordion), vocal
Musician from Żabnica in the Żywiec Beskids, winner of folklore competitions. At the age of 13, he received the heligonka of his dreams from his uncle. Listening to the local players, he mastered the instrument himself. Later, he passed on his skills to his brother and then to his schoolmates, thus beginning his adventure with teaching music. Today he does this every day, running his own music centre and teaching children. He plays the heligonka every year with, among other things, the New Year’s Eve carol service.
Patryk Petersson, born 1994 / violin
He is a clarinetist and composer by training, having graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music. He has been a PhD student at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music since 2022. His adventure with traditional music began with the bands Rube Pigs and Tension, where he performed mainly as a clarinetist. For the past year, he has been teaching himself to play the violin, drawing on field recordings. His great inspiration is the play of Joseph Zaras.
The Poliana Singing Group – is a group of girls from the Żywiec region who have been singing while teaching or learning, so far in various configurations, until finally they all met on the way and decided to combine their voices to sound together.
Brygida Sordyl – 1987 – vocal /Adrianna Wędzel- 2001 – vocal / Martyna Wojtuszek – 1990 – vocal / Zuzanna Wandzel – 2003 – vocal / Patrycja Magiera – 2005 – vocal / Natalia Witas – 2002 – vocal / Agnieszka Sikora -1998 – vocal /Kinga Tomala – 2002 – vocal
Tomasz Hubiak born 1980 / vocal, violin
He performs old pastoral and dance repertoire, from the Ochotnica Highland region, collected in the early 1950s by Aleksandra Szurmiak-Bogucka and recorded in sheet music. This material was obtained courtesy of her daughter, Inka Bogucka.
Urszula Kalinowska born 1981/ soloist singer
Singer, animator of folk culture, early childhood education teacher. She was born in the northern Suwałki region, in Wiżajny, in a multi-generational farm family with musical traditions; her grandparents and parents were church singers, her father played the trumpet and clarinet. She learned songs from her mother, grandmother and her master Anna Andruszkiewicz from Wiżajny, and later also in the “Borderland” band from Józef Murawski.
She has performed on many festival stages, among others: in 2019 she took 3rd place in the soloist-singer category at the 53rd Festival of Folk Bands and Singers, in 2019 she was awarded a distinction at the Festival of Real Musicians in the Szczecin Philharmonic, in 2022 she took 1st place at the Suwałki Folklore Review in Suwałki. For several years she sang in the folk group ,,Pogranicze” from Szypliszki, with whom she gave concerts in Poland and abroad.
The ensemble “Dobryna” was established in 2012 in Bialystok. It performs authentic Ukrainian folklore from Podlasie and Ukraine, following the traditional manner of singing. It sings old songs in Ukrainian, including the Podlasie dialect. It performs ritual and lyrical songs. It upholds the tradition of carol singing with a star in Podlasie villages. It performs in Podlasie and other regions of Poland.
The ensemble has won many prizes and awards, including several times 1st place in the competition , “From Podlaska Krynica” in Bielsk Podlaski, 2nd place in the Hajnowskie Encounters with Orthodox Carols, 2nd place at the Festival of Folk Bands and Singers 2017 and others.
Aleksandra Iwaniuk, born 1992 vocal
Emilia Szabałowska, born 1990 vocal
Aleksandra Romanczuk, born 2000 vocal
Aneta Jawdosiuk born, 1999 vocal
Magda Tymoszewicz born, 1993 vocal
and:
The “Podróżniacy” Orchestra was formed from a merger of groups of young musicians learning to play wind instruments at the Traditional Music Centres in Zdziłowice and Goraj run by the Piszczałka Foundation. Its members learn the secrets of the traditional repertoire of the Roztocze brass bands – they play podróżniak [trans. the melody played along the way], polkas, obereks, waltzes and foxtrots in an old-fashioned style. They polish their performance practice during meetings with masters from the Zdziłowice and Goraj Brass Orchestras. The young orchestra has already played to dance, among others at the Fanfara festival in Hosznia Ordynacka, at the Lublin Tradition Stage and at dance parties in Zdziłowice and Żuraw. In 2023, the Orchestra was the winner of the Muzyczne Źródełko competition organised by the Radio Folk Culture Centre.
Julia Nieściur (born 2012), clarinet / Dawid Bielak (born 2011), trumpet / Sebastian Hałabis (born 2013), trumpet / Marcin Kańkowski (born 2009), trumpet /Antoni Machulak (born 2012), trumpet/ Przemysław Sobótka (born 2012), trumpet / Sebastian Zielonka (born 2013), trumpet /Robert Borkowski (born 2011), alto saxhorn
Aleksandra Łukasik (born 2015), alto saxhorn / Michalina Ostrowska (born 2012), alto saxhorn /
Hubert Szuba (born 2015), alto saxhorn / Paweł Widz (born 2014), tenor saxhorn / Wojciech Zyśko (born 2013), tenor saxhorn / Szymon Sobótka (born 2014), trombone /Ksawery Widz (born 2013), alto saxhorn /Rafał Stanicki (born 2012), baraban / Filip Majerowski (born 1990), horn
Śpisko Qmpanijo is an ensemble founded in spring 2022, bringing together enthusiasts of traditional music and singing from the Polish Spisz region (15 villages in the Nowy Targ and Tatra counties, close to the Polish-Slovakian border). It uses string instrumentation traditional to the region, extended by dulcimer, pipes and shepherd’s pipes. Over time, the repertoire has been enriched with songs from neighbouring regions on the Polish side – Podhale, Orawa, Zagórze, Pieniny, Beskid Śląski and Żywiecki, songs from the Podkarpacie region (Dębica, Rzeszów) – and further south, songs from Slovakia, Hungary, Roma and Rusyn (Lemko). Sometimes the ensemble prepares and performs church songs (together with the singing group of the Mass setting).
The traditional music of the Polish part of Spisz is a somewhat forgotten repertoire (although painstakingly written down by archival researchers, unfortunately it was simply put into files for many years) – one of the main objectives of the ensemble is to “dust off” these songs and give them a new shine (arrangement, harmonic elaboration).
Dominika Trybuła born 1992/ I violin, vocal
Igor Skrzypaszek born 1992 /II violin, vocal
Sylwester Fic born 1986 /bass, vocal
Paweł Gacek born 1983 / viola, vocal
Wojciech Śliwiński born 1983 / dulcimer, vocal