Jarek Adamów is a Polish muti-instrumentalist – accordion, clarinet, hurdy-gurdy and many other things – with a strong interest in the raw tradition. He digs into it deep here with a small local folk group Sami Swoi (three women, one man) from Kopyłow, right on the Ukrainian border. There’s absolutely no connection with current events, Adamów is just fascinated by their old-style singing and spent months with them. He admits that ‘the sound sometimes is not perfect, but we don’t live in a perfect world.’

These are raw field recordings with simple but effective accordion accompaniment. A lot of the songs are solo, in a few the voices combine in unison (when they hit the tune accurately). Adamów made Expedition to the Lost World, Part I in 2006. That was titled Winter, this is titled Spring, reflecting when they were recorded and ‘the feelings inside of me and the singers.’ Some of the songs are very lively, like ‘Mary’, which is dance-like and includes foot-stamping and a primitive cymbal, but sounds like a spoon on a beer or vodka bottle. This is probably wonderful for Polish speakers with a serious interest in Polish folk song, but harder work for anyone else, although strangely absorbing.

Simon Broughton
Simon Broughton
Songlines

 

 

Jarek Adamov, the same musician as in the previous album, but here with a completely different project, though equally deeply rooted in ancient traditions. Jarek has recorded and played with four tradition bearing old singers of Sami Swoi, a vocal ensemble for the last 30+ years, preserving their singing on a recording, and it appears that since the recording, two of the four singers have sadly passed away. The songs and singers come from the Polish-Ukrainian border; as the sleeve notes say, "in the past a place of one of the most bloody conflicts in European history (…) Those who survived rarely came back to look into the past“. The album captures very traditional, archaic singing traditions, some solo singing, some harmony singing - sometimes a capella, sometimes accompanied by Jarek on accordion, bass drum and cymbal. The recording is simple and sounds at times more like a field recording, giving the album even more authenticity. Perhaps more of an important record of traditions before they are forgotten, rather than an album that is readily accessible to larger audiences.

Michael Moll
Michael Moll
FolkWorld

 

 

Er ist Bewahrer und gleichzeitig Suchender. Seit seiner Abschlussarbeit am polnischen Musikkonservatorium in Lódź beschäftigt sich der vielfach ausgezeichnete Musiker mit der Wiederbelebung traditioneller Folklore. So versucht er in zahlreichen Projekten alte Lieder vor dem Vergessen zu retten oder die Traditionen etwa auf der Basis der Drehleier in neuen Kompositionen fortzuführen. Jetzt sind gleich zwei neue Alben erschienen, die der Multiinstrumentalist während der Pandemie aufnahm. Die Zusammenarbeit mit dem seit 35 Jahren bestehenden Gesangsensemble Sami Swoi ist der zweite Teil der Entdeckungsreise in die reiche Welt traditioneller polnischer Folksongs. Vierzehn Jahre nach der Liedersammlung „Winter“ folgt nun der Teil „Frühling“. Zehn Monate lebte Adamów in der ländlichen Region von Kopylów an der ukrainischen Grenze, um die Lieder über das Alltagsleben und die Natur und ihre Hintergründe zu studieren, die die drei Sami-Swoi-Mitglieder vor rund achtzig Jahren von ihren Großeltern gelernt hatten. Das von Akkordeon und Percussion begleitete Ergebnis sind authentische Aufnahmen, die vom ersten Ton an zutiefst berühren. Ebenfalls unter die Haut geht sein zweites Projekt. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Kooperation mit dem ehemaligen Mitglied der Warsaw Village Band Marcin Kozak. Die zwölf instrumentalen Improvisationen entstanden mitten in der Natur in den Karpaten und im Winter in einer Hütte am warmen Feuer. Auf ihrer Reise zu den Quellen der Musik ist dem Duo ein intensives Album gelungen, das Zuhörende in unbekanntes Land führt. Mit seinem starken rhythmischen Akzent ähneln die auf verschiedenen Flöten gespielten Melodien der Tiefe der Musik der Völker im Himalaya. Inspirierend.

Erik Prochnow
Erik Prochnow
Folker

 

Jarek Adamów’s Musical Expedition to the Polish Borderlands

Jarek Adamów, a Polish artist involved in many traditional music projects, collaborated once more with Sami Swoi, a rural music collective of elder vocalists that originated in 1980. Adamow provided his vocalizations, diatonic accordion, percussive footwork, and low-frequency drumming and mixed it with the live recordings of traditional intonations of the four seasoned Sami Swoi singers (three women and one man).

Although recorded in modern times, the material on “Expedition to the lost world part II – Spring” from the border area of Poland and Ukraine has an ancient, timeless feel. All the songs are traditional compositions with arrangements by Adamow.

Musicians: Jarek Adamow on accordion, bass drum, foot tapping, drums and vocals; Jadwiga Palonka on vocals; Stanislawa Dutka on vocals; Irena Remiszewska on vocals; and Wladyslaw Kuczyński on cymbal and vocals.

The album is dedicated to Jadwiga Palonka and Irena Remiszewska, who passed away after the recordings were made.

 

Angel Romero
Angel Romero
World Music Central

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