Jacek Hałas / Poland
A musician, singer, dancer, composer and dziad. For years he has been searching for signs of dziad songs in the living tradition, in home archives and in ethnographers’ research, he also plays an instrument traditionally used by wandering singers – a hurdy-gurdy. By combining his experience and imagination he created a new, artistic form of dziad art.
This time, Jacek Hałas wants to invite his audience to the borders of eschatology and deliberate about the non-eternal. The old songs of the poor, beggars and wandering singers about the beauty in the world, a lyrical story of death, love and wandering, serving as a warning, contemplation and solace. In Polish tradition, Pieśni przygodne (Casual songs) are pious songs of a more general nature, not connected directly to any liturgical context. However, the world “przygodność” can be understood twofold - as “incidentality” or “adventurousness”. The first meaning of the word sentences the being and the memory of it to strokes of luck and episodic nature, while the second one means the happiness of fate and the memory of it.
Jacek Hałas focuses on the traditions of wandering singers, workshops and educational activities. Together with his wife, Alicja (folk percussion instruments), they travel across Europe as Nomads of Culture since 2005 with a traditional yurt, where they present the results of their research and activities, carried out together with artists from all over the world. The singer is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, connected with leading bands of the Polish ethno scene, including Muzykanci, Lautari, Bractwo Ubogich, Transkapela, as well as the House of Dance in Poznań and theatres - Węgajty and Strefa Ciszy. Laureate of many prestigious awards, including the Grand Prix of the New Tradition Festival (together with Muzykanci) and the final nomination of his solo album Zegar bije (The Clock is Ticking) in the Folk Phonogram of the Year Competition in 2005. He performed in many European countries, as well as in Asia, North and South America (Womad Chile) as a soloist and with Muzykanci band.
Jacek Hałas – vocals, hurdy-gurdy
The concert took place in 2016.