The Polish programme at this year’s Primavera is taken from the second edition of the Don’t Panic! We're From Poland project, which is led by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute since 2008. At the beginning of May, the Polish showcase also played at The Great Escape Festival in the UK.
Four artists from Poland were invited to participate in Primavera Sound 2014. According to the idea, the choice of representatives was made within the Don’t Panic We're From Poland project by Alberto Guijarro – Primavera’s Artistic Director, who in 2013 came at the invitation of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute to participate in the Katowice OFF Festival. The result of his visit is an unusual set of artists: Warsaw post-rock band Hokei, Anthony Chorale – a soulful Oliver Heim (known from Tres B) incarnation, Tobiasz Biliński aka. Coldair and representing extreme black metal – Furia.
Between 27th and 30th May, during showcases and individual concerts, the invited artists will play 12 times. Even before launching the festival, Anthony Chorale has been recognized as one of the top 10 new artists appearing at this year's Primavera.
The Polish presentation will be completed with a discussion panel devoted to the phenomenon of Polish metal, which fits right into the specifics of the Primavera line-up, and which ties in with Furia’s concerts. For the panel Massive and Mystic - a Story of the Polish Metal Underground, Jarosław Szubrycht (T Mobile Music), Łukasz Dunaj (Mystic Productions) and Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka of Decapitated have been invited.
Organized since 2001, Primavera Sound is one of the biggest music festivals in Spain. What characterizes Primavera is a strong international programme, which annually attracts more than 100 thousand music fans and music industry representatives from around the world. This year Brazil is their partner country. It is a great opportunity for the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and for the Polish music industry to establish new contacts and to present the potential of Polish music in context of the planned Polish cultural programme in Brazil. In addition to concerts and different panels, an important part of Don’t Panic! We're from Poland are networking activities. For this purpose, the AMI will organize a conference with foreign representatives of the music industry.
After five years of dynamic development for the Don’t panic! 'We're from Poland project initiated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Polish musicians are now permanently appearing at the most important European and American festivals. Those include, among others, South by Southwest and CMJ Music Marathon in the USA, The Great Escape in the UK, the Reeperbahn Festival and the C/O Pop in Germany, as well as Primavera Sound in Spain. The project was also divided its focus into jazz, world music, alternative and heavy sounds - in total, around 40 events in 14 countries, promoting the most current and electrifying phenomena of the Polish music scene. The slogan Don’t Panic! We're from Poland and its distinctive blue and pink rabbit has become synonymous with young, exciting and top quality music from Poland.
In April 2014, the first in a series of Don’t panic! We're from Poland compilations released by Warner Music Poland and Culture.pl came out to promote Polish music around the world, including on the iTunes and Spotify services.
Source: organizers materials, May 2014, translated: Katarzyna Maksimiuk, 23.05.2014