By Raymond Rolak
Detroit– Karolina Cicha’s, compelling interpretations of the old songs of the Kresy (the Polish Eastern Borderlands) traditional folk music and performance art thrills the most critical ear. Cicha sings in the languages of the Kresy—Polish, Belorussian, Ukrainian, Russian, Lithuanian, Tatar, Romani, Yiddish, and even Esperanto. She also uses her primary instrument, the accordion, to further highlight her art. A student of Poland’s diverse cultural traditions, Carolina honed her skills at the renowned Gardzienice Academy for Theatre Practices. With cellist and vocalist Bart Pałyga, Karolina brings forth a new boldness of rock and pop to old songs of Poland’s multi-ethnic cultural landscape.
Karolina Cicha and Bart Pałyga will visit the United States for the first time this fall, playing over 10 concerts on their tour. This will include the Chicago World Music Festival on Sunday, September 20th and at the Detroit Institute of Arts on Thursday, September 24th. Their tour will promote “9 Languages”, a project showcasing the multicultural region of Podlasie in northeast Poland.
“9 Languages” will be presented at the World Music Festival Chicago, the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, the Landfall Festival of World Music, Alverno College’s Global Union World Music Festival and the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). The tour will end with a concert co-presented by Live Sounds at the legendary DROM club in New York as part of the New York Gypsy Festival. The tour is presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
“9 Languages” is linked to the traditions of Podlasie, the home region of multi-instrumentalist and composer Karolina Cicha. The project draws on the full range of traditional music and the language of contemporary music. “9 Languages” features songs in the minority languages of the Podlasie region of northeast Poland, bordering Russia, Lithuania and Belarus: Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Russian, Romani, Belarusian, Yiddish, Polish, Tatar and Esperanto. It features traditional folk instruments, such as the morin khuur, dotar, Jew’s harp, duduk, accordion and mandolin. The concerts present multidimensionality of Polish culture and diversity for people of all cultures.
“9 Languages” was awarded the Grand Prix of the Polish Radio New Tradition Festival and has been performed at the most prestigious folk festivals. This fall, the concert will be staged as part of the official selection of the World Music Expo WOMEX in Budapest.
Karolina Cicha is a vocalist, composer, actor and multi-instrumentalist. Her new album, “Greetings from Yiddishland”, with songs composed to texts written by Jewish poets from Podlasie region, will premiere at the 2015 Warsaw Singer Festival. Her newest project, “Poland Pakistan: Music Without Borders” was produced with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Islamabad. The goal of this musical journey was collaboration between Cicha and Shafqat Ali Khan, a songwriter and master of the ghazal tradition of Indian classical music.
Bart Pałyga is a cellist, multi-instrumentalist and improvisational artist. He specializes in more than a dozen string instruments from around the world.
The Detroit concert is sponsored by the Wayne State Slavic Department and will be held in the Detroit Film Theater and held at 7:00 pm. Be aware of the M1 rail project construction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPJIMQS7C5Q&feature=player_embedded