Of course, none of this is true. The Sobieskis didn’t receive the full-time jobs and vehicles Lissa had promised them. In 1949, they bought a dilapidated car with their own money, which they used during their Campaign to Collect Musical Folklore. The idea of folklore reserves was immediately rejected. The idea of playing kozły and bagpipes during boy scout events met with a positive response, but was never implemented. It was the same for the participation of village musicians in state ceremonies.
But the Folk Music Festival really took place. It was an exceptional event that truly gave value to folk musicians and could have revitalised folk traditions. Instead, however, it focused on stylisations and theatrical staging, creating an artificial folklore represented by the bands Mazowsze and Śląsk, which in a certain sense was just a continuation of the spectacular performances staged during the national harvest festivals of the Second Polish Republic.
One of the things that contributed to the destruction of folk music was the mechanisation of villages. It caused a rupture in the relationship between folk songs and work in the fields, which had been at the heart of the rural audiosphere. The lack of singing during work made the repertoire of well-known songs disappear very quickly. Older people forgot the songs, and younger people never had a chance to hear them.
The appearance of accordions, brass instruments and drums made Polish folk music much louder. This had a significant impact on the nature of performances. Previously, wedding guests had often suggested melodies to the musicians, but now this was impossible because of the noise. A division was created between the stage and the audience; the musicians and dancers were no longer a unified whole.
Although villages became more prosperous, those who benefitted from agricultural mechanisation were those who had already been rich. Many of the poorer villagers left for large towns and cities to find work and food, where they were met with rejection and felt despised. Andrzej Bieńkowski recalls the reaction of the first generation who moved from villages to cities: ‘These people often reacted with contempt, and even hostility, to folk music. It was an uncomfortable reminder of poverty and backwardness.’
Folk instruments were bought up by antique dealers and local ethnographic museums. Villages fell almost completely silent. Music was still played in some houses, but hardly anyone was interested in it. The transmission of folk music from generation to generation had been interrupted.
Since 1966, the Festival of Folk Bands and Singers has been held in Kazimierz Dolny, thanks to which many folk musicians began performing again. It was not until the 1970s that traditional music started to be broadcast on Polish National Radio. Nowadays, folk music is quite popular in Poland, and sometimes mazurka dance parties in big cities are even wilder than techno parties and raves.
But that’s a topic for another article.
Originally written in Polish, August 2020, translated by Scotia Gilroy, Dec 2020
Sources: 'Portrety Obcego' by Alina Cała, in 'Tygodnik Powszechny', nr 8 (3372) (Kraków 2014); 'Rola i Znaczenie Dźwięku Dzwonów w Kształtowaniu Poczucia Zadomowienia' by Małgorzata Dziura, in: 'Journal of Urban Ethnology' (Warsaw 2019), 'Polska Muzyka Ludowa i Jej Problemy' by Marian and Jadwiga Sobieski (Kraków 1973); 'Muzykanty' by Franciszek Kotula (Warszawa 1979); 'Sprzedawcy Wiatru' by Adam Czech (Warszawa 2008); 'Tradycje Muzyczne a Ich Przemiany: Między Kulturą Ludową, Popularną i Elitarną Polski Międzywojennej' by Piotr Dahlig (Warszawa 1998).