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World Snapshot
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Bay Area Reporter, World Snapshot >>
What is going on here? The opening chords are savage, stark, frightening. After 18 seconds of raw assault, the CD begins with "In the Forest (W boru kalinka)," a traditional Polish song about confronting dreams with reality. As the disc advances through its hypnotic 43- minute program, the raucous Warsaw Village Band's 16th-century Polish fiddle, cello, dulcimer, frame drum, hurdy-gurdy, bara-ban drum, and vocals receive occasional support from a siren, Feel-X's live scratch, the Lipsk Women's Choir and other distin guished traditional artists.
The Warsaw Village Band gives ancient music from the lowland Mazovia region of Poland a welcome shot in the arm. Save for "When Johnny Went To Fight in the War," an original lament against "humanity's stupidest in vention," the songs are traditional with a distinctly modern edge. WVB counts among its influences Janina and Kazimierz Zdrazalik, teachers of metaphysical songs, trance melodies and traditional dances; the Lipsk Women's Choir, whose sound and repertoire reflect a melding of eastern and western Slavic cultures; and the Marian Pelka Band, whose senior members create ecstatic, trance- inducing music. What's most striking about this mind-opening recording is that it's difficult to tell what's more driving, the pulse of modern youth or the voice of peasant tradition that has endured war, economic hardship, and the joys and pains of love.
-Jason Victor Serinus 04/28/05
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