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CD Review
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Paste Magazine, CD Review >>
Warsaw Village Band
People’s Spring
World Village
3.5 stars
Having been twisted into propaganda by the former Communist regime, Polish folk music is nearly dead in its homeland. However, certain traditional folk troupes still exist who maintain an interest in carrying on the music. Enter the Warsaw Village Band, a collection of young upstarts who’ve mastered the traditional forms, adding slight modernizing touches to broaden the music’s appeal. People’s Spring, the group’s sophomore release, takes an enchanting foray into the sounds of another place and time. Embraced by an odd mix of punk rockers and ethnomusicologists, these otherworldly songs feature frantic drive, ethereal swirl and the instrumental prowess to win over even purists.
Obscure traditional instruments such as the suka (a 16th-century Polish fiddle), hurdy gurdy and Polish dulcimer give the album its distinctive sound. And the driving, nearly disorienting mix of trumpet and multi-layered female vocals elevate the polyrhythms and various passages of “To You Kasiunia” to escapism of the highest order. Whether an exercise in musical revisionism or an introduction to an exotic ethic, People’s Spring proves nothing short of a revelation to Western ears. In such able hands, the future of Polish folk music appears to be safe for a long time to come.—Matt Fink
04/01/04
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