Kujawska Atlantyda (Justyna Piernik/Zdzisław Piernik/Danuta Kaczmarek/Janusz Prusinowski Kompania/Warszawa Wschodnia) / Poland
A father, Zdzisław Piernik – an exceptional performer and author of contemporary music, and his daughter, Justyna Piernik – a renowned interpreter and lover of traditional folk music. Together, they created a project focused on the search for their own cultural and family roots. They are supported by a group of their friends, also renowned on music stages: Warszawa Wschodnia, Janusz Prusinowski Kompania and Danuta Kaczmarek - a folk singer from Śmiłowice.
Kujawska Atlantyda is an exceptional summary of a musical and social experiment - an attempt at reconstruction, reinterpretation and revival of the traditional Kuyavian music in its natural context.
The programme will feature ritual songs, lyrical songs, dance pieces and traditional chants, as well as refined kujawiaks, chodzone and obereks. The concert, which premiered in 2014 at Wszystkie Mazurki Świata Festival is the result of a search for a Kuyavian musical idiom - both in singing, as well as in instrumental music.
As Justyna Piernik says: “There are not many people in Kuyavia, cultivating the local musical tradition with its characteristic stylistic feature. The inspiration to focus on this kind of music came from my father, a musician raised in a village in the region, who as a child played violin, bought by his father. Before war, my grandfather sung and played bass with his brother, a violinist and harmonist during house dance parties. However, in the 1950s my father decided to leave the village, as many people did at the time, and pursue musical education outside Kuyavia. He became a horn player, a soloist, performer of classical and contemporary music, improviser. He settled in Warsaw and forgot about his musical roots. We remembered them at the turn of the centuries, where I started looking deeper into the traditional music of other countries and other regions of Poland.”.
Performers:
Justyna Piernik - vocals
Zdzisław Piernik - tuba
Danuta Kaczmarek - vocals
Janusz Prusinowski Kompania, featuring:
Janusz Prusinowski – vocals, violin, hurdy-gurdy, accordion
Piotr Piszczatowski – baraban, second violin
Piotr Zgorzelski – bass, upright bass, dance
Warszawa Wschodnia, featuring:
Justyna Piernik, Joanna Górska, Ewa Grochowska, Anna Jakowska, Jagna Knittel, Monika Walenko-Ilitsang, Cezary Szymański, Taras Szumejko
The concert took place in 2016.