Tallinn Music Week (27th March – 2nd April 2017) is a great opportunity for Polish musicians to network and foster contacts that can lead to interesting collaborations in the future. It is a major meeting point for Eastern, Western and Central European creative communities and can serve as a bridge to the Scandinavian market. The organisers of the festival work closely Tallinn’s government as well as the office of the President of Estonia. In 2016, nine Polish artists performed: Caci Vorba, Resina, Hatti Vatti, Matat Professionals, Soniamiki, Xenony, Małe Miasta, Sotei (Sobura & Teielte) and Chłopcy Kontra Basia.
The Don’t Panic We’re from Poland programme supports the Polish delegation and Polish bands playing at Tallinn Music Week.
Polish gigs at Tallinn Music Week
Coals
Coals is a young duo from Poland comprised of Katarzyna Kowalczyk and Łukasz Rozmysłowski, who started the band in September 2014. The name of the band is connected to the region they come from – Silesia, which is famous for its coal mines. Coals found early fame from home-recorded songs they published on the Internet. They are inspired by artists such as Spooky Black, Ben Howard, Sharon van Etten, Slowdive and Sigur Rós. Coals have played gigs at many major Polish festivals like Open'er, Live Festival and OFF Festival. In 2015, they recorded a session for the well-known KEXP radio station, where their song Weightless was KEXP Song of the Day. They’re also going to play at Icelandic Airwaves, Budapest Showcase Hub and Tune in Tel Aviv in the near future.
- Date: 31 March 2017, 10:00 PM
Venue: Venus Club, Tuborg Green Club: Full House Agency Stage
Janusz Prusinowski Kompania
Janusz Prusinowski Kompania is a group of musicians who follow the traditions of village masters they have learned from – Jan Lewandowski, Kazimierz Meto, Józef Zaraś, Piotr and Jan Gaca, Tadeusz Kubiak and many others – but they are also an avant-garde band with their own characteristic sound and language of improvisation. They combine music with dance and the archaic with the modern. Their tours and concerts also incorporate educational activities, both in Poland and abroad. Kompania’s unique style is the result of their attempt to find new ways of interpreting the most important elements of village music from central Poland. It brings together mazurkas – sung, played, danced to, improvised live – and modern man.
- Date: 1 April 2017, 11:30 PM
Venue: Vaba Lava Stage 2, Viljandi Folk Music Festival Night
Moo Latte
Moo Latte is an African-rooted music producer and multi-instrumentalist from Poland. Active mostly on the Polish and Scandinavian music scene, he also produces also for rappers and vocalists from Western Europe, the United States and Canada. In his productions, Moo Latte floats between jazz, old school sounds of post-J-Dilla's grooves, organic textures of live instruments and experiments inspired by the West Coast of USA. His debut single The Circle has been released by AIA, an American label based in Colorado. Currently, he publishes his music with labels such as Oaktopus Records (PL), 5:55 (PL) and collaborates with other artists as part of collectives: Flow Theory (UK), Pom Peri Posse (SE) and Melody Soul (US).
- Date: 1 April 2017, 6:30 PM
Venue: Home Concert at Vana-Lõuna 39A
- Date: 2 April 2017, 1:00 AM
Venue: Sinilind Café, TMW Hip-Hop Night
Rhythm Baboon
Rhythm Baboon is a producer and DJ living in Gdańsk, Poland. His latest fascinations are genres from Chicago: juke & footwork. The mix of dirty and obscure ghetto sounds from the Windy City seem to be the ideal environment for Rhythm Baboon’s music, which creates new contexts and narrations that go far beyond the genre’s typical sound. Thanks to his unconventional flavour he has become one of the leading producers of Polish Juke, releasing 3 EPs. The most important one for him, Rhythmwerkz (2015), empowered him as a footwork producer and enabled him to perform at numerous Polish festivals. Last October, the renowned U Know Me Records label released Rhythm Baboon’s latest work The Lizard King EP (12”). Just before that, he had debuted on the London NTS Radio with a guest mixtape.
- Date: 31 March 2017, 2:45 PM
Venue: City Stage, Tallinn Botanic Garden
- Date: 1 April 2017, 03:45 AM
Venue: Balti Jaam Pavillion, AUX @ TMW
RAT
RAT is a Polish band that performs music at the junction of dub, hip-hop and electronics. Their compositions are supported by a strong beat, deep bass and complemented by an electronic aura that makes their music coherent. The band's compositions are similar to ON-U SOUND and Adrian Sherwood's productions strongly connected with the 1990s. RAT takes the listener on a dub and hip-hop journey. RAT’s deeply lyrical songs set the mysterious duo apart. To underline the urban vibe of this project, the band chose the symbol of a rat. The rat is considered to be an intelligent animal, which moves around the city easily, while at the same time it is perceived as a dirty misfit, an unwanted outsider. They record at their own recording studio Nervous Breakdown.
- Date: 1 April 2017, 2:15 PM
Venue: City Stage, Apollo Bookstore at Solaris Centre
- Date: 1 April 2017, 10:00 PM
Venue: Sinilind Cinema, TMW Hip-Hop Night
Sutari
Sutari was created by singers, instrumentalists and performers continuing the tradition of singing Polish folk music. Sutari is a fusion of diverse music experiences and passions and uses traditional instruments, while they also make use of everyday objects and explore their potential as musical instruments. In searching for the harmonies and consonances found within Polish vocal tradition, rather than making changes to the songs themselves, Sutari’s intention is to reach for hidden features concealed within their structures. Whilst maintaining the style, temperament, melody and rhythm, above all, they preserved the essential content of the songs – femininity, intelligence and their general attractiveness – thereby emphasising the essential contemporary elements of sound and interpretation.
- Date: 1 April 2017, 10:00 PM
Venue: Vaba Lava Stage 1, Viljandi Folk Music Festival Night
Source: press materials; compiled by NR, 22 Mar 2017