Atom String Quartet, photo: press material
Open-air concerts by Polish folk artists and an international conference on world music will accompany Warsaw Cross-Culture Festival 2013. The event is co-organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
The ninth edition of the country’s largest festival of multiculturalism and world music begins on the 25th of September. It will bring together experts from Europe, Asia and the U.S., and serves as an important forum for exchange and cooperation in supporting the development in this growing field.
Guests invited to attend the conferences are professionals from the U.S., Russia, Pakistan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal and the U.K. There will be directors of popular world-music festivals in Europe: Fruzsina Szép of the Sziget Festival, Carlos Seixas of FMM Sines, Zlata Holušová of Colours of Ostrava, as well as promoters of the folk genre like Isabel Soffer of Live Sounds and Alexander Cheparukhin of GreenWave. Participating in the conferences will be experienced event organisers including Danka van Dodewaard and Magnus Bäckström and those who they work with to bring about their events, such as music journalists Jiří Moravčik and Andrew Cronshaw.
The conferences will feature discussions of the most important trends and developments in the music world, and different models of organising the market to effectively promote artists. Visitors will learn about the roots of the ethnic Polish scene, talk about possibilities for its future and assess the potential reception of Polish artists abroad.
- Participation in the conference is open to everyone who is interested in the subject and considers themselves enthusiasts, or even contributes to the genre. Publishers, promoters and managers are also encouraged to participate. Interested parties need only register at: biuro@festival.warszawa.pl
Joanna Słowińska, photo: press material
Foreign visitors will have the opportunity to see an evening presentation of selected musicians currently involved in the new Polish folk scene. The first night of the festival will be hosted in a tent in front of the Palace of Culture and Science and will feature the acts Vołosi (combining classical style with highlander spontaneity), Joanna Słowińska (the violinist whose compositions mix electronic and traditional sounds), Kwadrofonik (reinterpreter of folk motifs), Karolina Cicha (sings in dialects found near borders), Atom String Quartet (folk-inspired string quartet) and the St. Nicholas Orchestra (25 years of experience playing exclusively on traditional instruments).
- All concerts are free and open to the public.
The event is organised Metropolitan Estrada, in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and partnered with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Sounds like Poland - program
CONFERENCES
Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Auditorium)
- 12 pm MUSIC WORLD MAP: in search of the centre. The international debate on market trends and opportunities for Polish artists featuring:
Isabel Soffer, Live Sounds, USA
Fruzsina Szép, Sziget Festival, Hungary
Magnus Bäckström, Uppsala Konsert & Kongress, Sweden
Calrol Seixas, FMM Sines Festival, Portugal
- 14.45 LISTEN TO WHAT’S POLISH: roots and the future of Slavic folk. Experts talk about Central European ethnic music featuring:
Maria Pomianowska, Warsaw Cross-Culture Festival, Poland
Alexander Cheparukhin, GreenWave, Russia
Zlata Holušová, Colours of Ostrava, Czech
Andrew Cronshaw, "fRoots Magazine", Great Britain
CONCERTS
19.00-22.30 – Tent number 9. Warsaw Cross-Culture Festival, sponsored by PKiN
- Karolina Cicha
- Atom String Quartet
- St. Nicholas Orchestra
- Kwadrofonik
- Vołosi
- Joanna Słowińska
Sources: Press materials, author: Lucyna Szura; 28/08/2013
Translation: SMG 28/08/2013