Milo Kurtis - vocals
Andrzej Kasprzyk - saxophone, flute
Jacek Malicki - guitar
and others
Grupa W Skladzie
TRZECIA FALA 002
By Adam Baruch
This is the second installment in a new series of archival releases/reissues, initiated and piloted by Łukasz Strzelczyk under the Trzecia Fala moniker. The purpose of this series is to expose, showcase and most importantly document for posterity the early Polish avant-garde music movement, which rests almost completely buried by the tides of time, mostly forgotten and criminally neglected. The fact that this music was created at all is a miracle, considering the circumstances surrounding its birth. The Socialist Regime was naturally quite suspicious and often outright offensive towards "antisocial elements", as artists not following the regime directives were often referred to. The importance of having this music available is a momentous achievement and a vital effort to preserve the Polish cultural heritage, which unfortunately suffers from chronic neglect. Therefore it is encouraging to see that the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage supports this wonderful effort. The albums in this series are pressed in very limited volumes, so an immediate purchase is highly recommended.
This album presents, for the
first time on record (as hard as it is to believe), music recorded by the
pioneering ensemble Grupa W Składzie, which was active in the early 1970s and
most recently reactivated in 2012. Over time the accidental/fortuitous lineups
of the group included a long list of participants. The founding members:
vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Milo Kurtis, saxophonist/flautist Andrzej
Kasprzyk and guitarist/painter/photographer Jacek Malicki, were later
supplemented by some of Poland's
legendary Jazz musicians, such as pianist Andrzej Bieżan, bassist Helmut
Nadolski, trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski, drummer Władysław Jagiełło and many
others. The wonderfully researched booklet accompanying this album presents the
history of the group, which of course has missing parts due to some facts being
lost in the mist of oblivion over time (unfortunately the text is in Polish and
has only a brief synopsis in English). The interconnections between avant-garde
music and other Art Forms, which are of course inseparable, are also well
reflected in the text. There are also many wonderful photographs and a plethora
of biographical information, which constitutes a first-class document of great
importance.
The salvaged music, which
consists of six tracks, presents mostly recordings from the 1970s, with one
exception (on the last track) which was recorded by a reunion lineup of the
group in 2012. The recording dates and exact personnel are all rather vague,
but the music certainly makes a point on its own right, showing the early/pioneering efforts by Polish avant-garde/improvised music scene, which will
reach its first artistic peak about a decade later (by the mid 1980s). Stylistically
the music utilizes many of the devices characterizing early avant-garde, such
as sound collages, accidental noise, usage of sound producing objects and novel
approach to vocal techniques. The intuitive expression seems to be a guiding
force, which of course can be associated with the need to transfer the lack of
freedom of speech into a freedom of nonverbal expression, a transference often
used by Artists operating under oppressive regimes.
In retrospect the boldness and
far-reaching artistic vision of the people involved with creating this music is
truly astounding. Considering the relative isolation of the Polish scene from
developments taking place across the Iron Curtain, its achievements are in
every respect equally revolutionary and daring. There is no doubt that the
currently flourishing Polish avant-garde scene, which is obviously a leading contender
on a world scale, has its roots in these underground acts of wonderful
"madness", performed decades earlier by these pioneers. For serious fans of Polish
Culture this album is an iconic event, closing one of the many gaps still
existing in the beautiful tapestry, which is Polish Music. Hopefully many such
events will follow in the future!
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