Music of Poland
Mazurek (Mazur), Krakowiak, Kujawiak, Oberek and Polonaise (Polonez) are registered as Polish National Dances, originating in early Middle Ages.
Polish music exhibits influences from a broad variety of styles which are represented by critically acclaimed bands, such as Perfect (Zbigniew Hołdys), Status Qwo, Maanam (Kora), T.Love, Golec uOrkiestra, Budka Suflera, Czerwone Gitary, Dżem, Big Cyc, as well as many other renowned artists, e.g. Czesław Niemen, Magdalena Ostrowska, Jacek Kaczmarski, Wojciech Młynarski, Czesław Mozil, Jakob Węgiel, Marek Grechuta, and contemporary singer-songwriters and pop icons including Margaret, Maria Peszek, Myslovitz, Edyta Bartosiewicz, and Doda; jazz musicians Tomasz Stańko, Krzysztof Komeda, Włodek Pawlik, Adam Makowicz, Leszek Możdżer, and Michał Urbaniak; death and black metal music bands Behemoth, Vader, and Decapitated; and film and contemporary classical music composers Wojciech Kilar, Jan A.P.
The origin of Polish music can be traced as far back as the 13th century, from which manuscripts have been found in Stary Sącz, containing polyphonic compositions related to the Parisian Notre Dame School.
Other composers include Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, Franciszek Lilius, Bartłomiej Pękiel, Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński and Marcin Mielczewski.
In addition, a tradition of operatic production began in Warsaw in 1628, with a performance of Galatea (composer uncertain), the first Italian opera produced outside Italy.
Shortly after this performance, the court produced Francesca Caccini's opera La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina, which she had written for Prince Władysław three years earlier when he was in Italy.
Feliks Janiewicz, Karol Kurpiński, Jan Stefani, Wojciech Żywny and Franciszek Ścigalski were Polish composers writing in the classical period style characteristic in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Polonaises for piano were and remain popular, such as those by Jacek Szczurowski, Michał Kleofas Ogiński, Juliusz Zarębski, Henryk Wieniawski, Józef Elsner, and, most famously, Frédéric Chopin.
Chopin remains very well known, and is regarded for composing a wide variety of works, including mazurkas, nocturnes, waltzes and concertos, and using traditional Polish elements in his pieces.
[3] Between the wars, a group of new and emerging composers formed the Association of Young Polish Musicians; which included future luminaries Grażyna Bacewicz, Zygmunt Mycielski, Michał Spisak and Tadeusz Szeligowski.
[7] After World War II, in the Polish People's Republic, folk traditions were commonly cultivated, but public performances and broadcasts had also highly organized and officially promoted forms.
There were more authentic groups, such as Słowianki, but the sanitized image of folk music made the whole field unattractive to some audiences, and many traditions dwindled rapidly.
[7] The regional capital, Zakopane, has been a center for art since the late 19th century, when people like composer Karol Szymanowski, who discovered Goral folk music there, made the area chic among Europe's intellectuals.
[7] Though a part of Poland, Podhale's musical life is more closely related to that found in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine, Slovakia, Moravia in Czech Republic and Romania.
Some prominent Polish jazz artists are: Krzysztof Komeda, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Adam Makowicz, Tomasz Stańko, Włodek Pawlik, Michał Urbaniak, Leszek Możdżer.
Some of the most popular and commercially successful Polish vocalists of 20th and 21st centuries are Czesław Niemen, Edyta Górniak, Myslovitz, Doda, Maryla Rodowicz, Kamil Bednarek, Ewa Farna, Agnieszka Chylińska, Sylwia Grzeszczak, Michał Szpak, Edyta Bartosiewicz, Anna Maria Jopek, Kasia Nosowska, Dawid Podsiadło, Sarsa, Monika Brodka and Margaret.
Kat was a major influence on Polish heavy metal music, developing their harsh sound with straightforward satanic lyrics, and later were heavily inspired by the poetry of Tadeusz Miciński.
[10] While still active, Vader later developed a death metal sound with occult themed lyrics, Imperator's style of music is disputed; reformed twice in the 1990s, the band eventually dissolved in 2000, with only one studio album released.
After their seventh album in 2009 Christ Agony eventually signed to Mystic Production and gained nostalgic recognition in Poland with support from European tours.
[16] During early and mid-1990s, Behemoth, Graveland, Infernum, Profanum, Kataxu and other bands developed a distinguishable Polish black metal style, which featured a decent atmospheric keyboard usage and nature sound samples (e.g. wind, raven cries), while still preserving the raw production values.
[17][18] Other bands of the 1990s such as Baphomets Throne, North, Mussorgski, Besatt, Infernum remained active, but were signed to underground labels and never received international acclaim.
In later years only Darzamat, after several album releases, were signed to Massacre Records, but their short lived European recognition was broken by lineup changes.
Turbo, with their popularity based on the protest song "Dorosłe dzieci", switched to a thrash metal sound after two albums released only in Poland.
[50] Due to problems receiving passports, Turbo remains a local act; they have disbanded and reformed several times, have released eleven albums, and are still active.
Other bands like Quo Vadis and Alastor remain active in underground scenes to incorporate in later years to their music groove, death or progressive metal.
The scene was loosely inspired by Polish bands such as Closterkeller, Pornografia, Fading Colours (all founded in the 1980s), and in later years by British acts like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Norwegian Theatre of Tragedy among others.
[citation needed] Battalion d'Amour with their poetic lyrics reached popularity with 1990s albums, which was lost after a change of the group's lead vocalist in the early 2000s.
Loriens popularity came with a debut album released by underground labels in Europe, USA, and Australia with promotion from Polskie Radio in their home country.
Delight which began as a power metal band reached recognition in Poland with support from extensive touring, and several both Polish and English language albums released in the early 2000s.
In 2005 after a performance at Wave Gotik Treffen in Germany Delight was signed to Roadrunner Records, although after one album released the group was disbanded with no official statement.
