This is wonderful news as it’s a rare opportunity to present Polish music at this famous international showcase, now in its 20th year. On 23rd October, the singer and multi-instrumentalist Karolina Cicha will perform songs from the Wieloma Językami album accompanied by Bart Pałyga at WOMEX, the biggest internationally-recognised music showcase in the world. They are the only representatives of this part of Europe in the official selection. Over 1,000 artists from around the world applied, but only 14 bands qualified.
In Poland, Wieloma Językami was performed at some of the most important ethnic music festivals. During the Nowa Tradycja festival, Cicha and Pałyga received the Grand Prix and the Burza Braw Audience Award. Karolina Cicha took home the Czesław Niemen Individual Award for personality and stage presence, and Bart Pałyga the Special Award "Złote Gęśle". They have already performed their Wieloma Językami album in Ukraine, Lithuania, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Pakistan. They have more live performances ahead of them this year.
The first one is on 12th September at Isole che Parlano festival in Palao in Sardinia. The other stops on the world tour are:
- Legion Arts Festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (16th and 17th September)
- World Music Fest in Chicago, Illinois (18th September)
- Global Union in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (19th September)
- The Brink Lounge in Madison, Wisconsin (22nd September)
- Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan (24th September)
- Lotus Fest in Bloomington, Indiana (25th and 26th September)
- New York Gypsy Festival in Manhattan, New York (28th September)
In October, they will be in Budapest promoting the album at the Bela Bartok National Concert Hall, the WOMEX Expo main venue.
According to music journalist Jacek Świądra, Cicha is one of the most interesting voices and music brains of her generation. In Wieloma Językami, she sings in borderland languages, from Polish, through Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, Lithuanian, Tatar, Romani, and even Esperanto. The music accompanying her is by Pałyga.
Świąder writes:
Although both of them are linked to ethnic music, Pałyga's way of thinking introduces Eastern and Asian themes to Cicha's European rock sound. It contains an even bigger dose of enigma (…). Melodious and wistful songs like Ukrainian Oj u Poli are slightly different from the sharper trance Tatar songs like Sul Sulay, but together they become a meaningful and diverse whole. The last track, which includes Psalm 23 performed in Esperanto, is heart-rending against all the other local songs in local languages. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...” Utopian and blurred, it’s the most foreign of all the languages, somehow unwanted anymore. After all the wars and border changing, ethnic minorities in Poland make up only 2% of population.
Sources: Culture.pl, karolinacicha.eu, www.womex.com, edited by AL. & AZ, translated by ND, Sept 2015