The Jagiellonian Fair Orchestra’s album premieres today. We hope it will expand and enrich the collections of many traditional music enthusiasts!
About the CD
“The repertoire of traditional musicians in the Lublin region has been influenced and enriched by people from many cultures and languages who left their musical mark as they passed through the land. The region became a meeting point of different religions, traditions and dialects, all of which found their expression in the various musical styles and scales, archaic singing, unique traditions, and delicate instrumental music.”
One of the Orchestra’s leaders, Ewa Grochowska, invites us to unleash our imagination and enjoy the album’s beauty: ‘This album will transport you into another time and place. Imagine it’s July, you’re wearing a stylish hat and are heading out on a trip around the Lublin region. You are accompanied by beautiful music from Roztocze (and other places)”.
According to Grochowska, the title refers to the founding dream of the Orchestra, which is open to new sources, inspiration, and people. Since 2014, when the Orchestra first performed under its current name at The Jagiellonian Fair in Lublin, more than 50 people have participated. Over the years, a permanent line-up of the Orchestra has emerged from its numerous participants. The group continues to perform on the festival’s stages.
Joanna Glińska, a fiddler, says, ‘The album features our best-loved dance tunes that you might have heard during The Jagiellonian Fair dance parties. I invite you to give the album a spin. I hope you have a lot of fun while listening to it”.
About the Orchestra
The Orchestra’s repertoire consists of traditional tunes from the Lublin region: polkas, obereks, ride tunes (podróżniaki), marches, waltzes, foxtrots and other melodies from various archival recordings and family traditions, or learned from the oldest generation of musicians and orchestras whose traditions date back to the early 20th century. The tunes arranged and performed by The Jagiellonian Fair Orchestra come from the repertoires of the Brass Band from Zdziłowice, the Brass Band from Wola Gródecka, the Stanisław Mróz Band from Makowiska, the Dudka Band from Zdziłowice, the Brass Band from Goraj, the Wojciechów Band, the Kurasie family band from Lubzina, the Bździuch brothers from Aleksandrów, the vocal ensemble “Jarzębina” from Kocudza.
The Jagiellonian Fair Orchestra is an educational and artistic project based on the belief that traditional music forms and connects communities–of the musicians who perform it (amateurs and professionals alike) and the recipients, listeners and dancers who enjoy dancing to its tunes. It also serves to popularise the local culture of the Lublin region.
Ewa Grochowska, Maciej Filipczuk and Marcin Kowlaczuk lead specific sections of The Orchestra and offer a repertoire developed through their meetings with masters of traditional music and tunes found in archival recordings. The Orchestra’s members are people of different age groups and musical and educational backgrounds. Both trained musicians and those who developed their skills on their own.
The album “Sesja Otwarta” / “Open Session” wraps up several years of The Orchestra’s work and contains 11 tracks. You can buy it in the online store at: sklep.warsztatykultury.pl
Contributors:
The music on the album is performed by:
Maciej Filipczuk (fiddle), Joanna Glińska (fiddle), Ewa Grochowska (fiddle, vocals), Tomasz Graczyk (double bass), Magdalena Jakubowska (clarinet, transverse flute), Jakub Korona (baraban), Cecylia Korona (fiddle), Marcin “Kabat” Kowalczuk (trombone), Kamil Królik (accordion, clarinet), Eliasz Kuśmierz (saxophone), Przemysław Łozowski (trumpet), Edyta Piekarczyk (tuba), Grażyna Pluta (transverse flute), Ewelina Prokopiuk (saxophone), Milena Siczek (fiddle), Julia Szafraniec (cello), Katarzyna Zedel (the Biłgoraj suka).
Recorded, mixed and mastered by: TONAKO Music Tomasz Kraśkiewicz
Graphic design: Małgorzata “Ryba” Rybicka
Photos: Roman Krawczenko
Sleeve notes: : Ewa Grochowska
Edited by: Agata Turczyn
English translation: Małgorzata Stanek