Why Do You Love Poland?

some people are beyond help untill they have enough themselves - my brother doesn't have enough yet - he hasn't hit the hard bottom so far - but as soon as my mom passes he definitely will

I was referring to the quality of singing by church choirs in Poland, which is awful. Nothing like good Polish-American church choirs.

Yea but a lot of ppl thinks they sing great after a few drinks.. i think nalewka is rly the most common

I love Poland because it's the first country I ever lived on alone and by myself and left quite an impression like no other country.

Such impression that I started learning polish some time after leaving Poland and I plan on moving there again and hopefully staying.

Wonder why that is, DominicB.

I don't know. Choral church singing is an artform in the Ukraine and Belarus, and used to be an artform in Poland, too, and still survives among Polish Americans. Somewhere in the past 100 years, something major went wrong and Poland became a musical desert.

Well that certainly made up for it with some of the finest instrumental performers this side of paradise: Paderewski, Horszowski, Brailowsky, Henryk Szering etc.
Then there was also the "Polish thrush", often mentioned in the same breath as Caruso, Jan Kiepura! Can't forget about him.

You really have to have lived some time in Poland to see it, but believe me, Poland has lost it's musical touch, a few exceptions notwithstanding.

The examples you have noted are all from long ago. Brailovsky was not Polish or from Poland. He was a Jew from Kiev. Szeryng was also a Jew, from Warsaw, but left the country when he was still a child. In the same vein, Rubenstein and Lewandowski belong on your list.

Yeah, I think it's probably a combination of communism and over-fascination with western music. Church choirs, they hardly seem to exist anymore. I do remember once visiting in the countryside (near Sandomierz) and before the service began the congregation was singing along with the organist which was nice.

Where I am it's just the priest, organista, nun or katechetka singing and the congregation joins in.

I think it started before that, between the wars, when disdain toward anything connected with "the village" versus the city started to grow. A large part of folk and traditional culture, including music, seem to have been jettisoned at that time.

I'm guessing that church choirs fell out of use at about the same time. I play organ, and can easily find lots of Polish church music composed before 1918. After that, much less original music was composed and published, and what was was not usually published in choir format. The break is quite sharp.

In terms of music Poland is very cut off from and alienated from its own past. Much more so than other countries in the region. There was no Polish Maria Tanase

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_T%C4%83nase

How about Śląsk or Mazowsze? Golec uOrkiestra or Zakopower, Trebunie Tutki or Rokiczanka?

When was the last time they were on TV?


It's hard to rebuild those connections and the first three sound to me like they're running away from Polish traditions as much as connecting with them (don't recognize the last, I'll try to check them out).

@kaprys

It's a matter of degree. Compare their number and audience with that of their counterparts in countries where folk music is very much alive, vital and ubiquitous, like the Ukraine, Russia or Ireland.

As for the groups being on TV, well it's about the quality of what they show. And just because something is on TV doesn't mean they re good.

'W moim ogrodecku' has about 15 million views on YouTube. A group that I have never heard on tv or on the radio.
Mazowsze was founded over 60 years and they're highly professional and still touring.

These are great - some excellent music and their last album is very interesting. I cant abide Golec uOrkiestr, but used to enjoy Brathanki.

As I remember, the Trebunia people (aren't they a family?) did a reggae fusion album a couple of decades ago with some Jamaican performers - it worked well.

@DominicB, I can only take your word for it, as you've become far more familiar with contemporary Poland than I. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention Szpilman along with Godowsky and Josef Hofmann (later a proud US citizen).

As an organist, I am enthralled by the Polish-born Jewish composer Louis Lewandowski. Just incredible.

@jon357
There was a time back in the 1990s, I think, when a lot of musicians turned to folk music. It was when Brathanki and Golec uOrkiestra became popular. Not as well known as they used to be, they're still recording. You can't forget Kayah&Bregovic - although based on Balkan tunes, the songs got a new vibe with Polish górale singing the back vocals and Kayah's lyrics are just amazing.

Zakopower are a relatively new thing and a nice modern mixture of folk and popular music. The singer's younger brother is in another similar band Future Folk.

And there's nothing like góralska muzyka-most górale seem to be very musical and their music is an important part of their folklore. They love it, Poles love it, too. Both in the traditional and modern versions.

Polish patriotic songs such as "Warszawianka" I find especially stirring to listen to, quite touching, even if one isn't Polish.

An excellent song.

Moving as well! Catch the conclusion of "Zakazane piosenki" (1944??), where Danuta Szaflarski, accompanied by the remaining leads, sings the song, her eyes filling with tears as she mouths the lyrics.

Merged:

i love poland

i lived in nyc for 44 years. being in europe is wonderful. my only regret was leaving my parents. it is nice to not have to pay 1100 usa a month in rent for a small dinky room and work like a dog. the best is not worrying yes some people in poland and italy are not the friendliest but who cares neither am i. i just like the food so fresh. being able to be proud of my caucasion heritage, its all about money in new york and i would rather be here than there. the values here are nice. again i miss my parents i have no friends but again i dont care i just refuse to eat rabbit

Do you speak either Polish or Italian even at the minimum level? Only wondering because it's amazing what knowing the language can do for one's experience.

On the other hand, I can only say that I'm sure it wouldn't be any easier for a Pole or an Italian in the US without requisite knowledge of English:-)

I love many things here in Poland. Christmas, family life in villages, traditions, neighborhood, nature, some foods, transport in city, more natural and fresh fruits&vegetables than Western EU, the weather in summer. What I do not love, the weather in winter, express ways, queue in Biedronka, the price of spicy pepper :), high-cost apartments (accommodation).

How unique is Poland?

BTW, your post is so poetic and dripping with love that you squeezed all meaning out of the word "love".

Americans abuse this word a lot. You just killed it. If you "love" everything, you love nothing.

I love exactly 7 people and myself. Few others I like and the rest I don't give a rat's rear end about.

Apropos overuse of certain words, in Woody Allen's "Manhattan", an ex-girl friend keeps saying so-and-so's a genius, her boss is a genius, her former husband was a genius etc., whereupon Allen quips at one point, "Gee, ya know a lotta geniuses don'tcha! Maybe you should meet some stupid people every once and a while so ya know what it's like to talk with a real person."

I cannot say that I "love" any one country. I love people, but even though for instance, I could imagine myself living in Germany if anywhere outside the US, I would never declare that I love Germany. It's going to sound ridiculous.

The concept of loving your country is part of the scam perpetrated by the ruling elites. With that concept firmly in place, convincing cannon fodder to be cannon fodder was made easy.

The logic being: if you love it you should be ready to die for it.

No, thanks.

If you're a peasant that what it must seem to you. Anyway define 'love for one's country'.