News
New season of the Traditional Music Center opens with Polish punk and folk’n roll
05.09.2011
Viljandi Traditional Music Center welcomes its fourth season on September 9 with an evening which consists of three unique parts which both look back at the Folk Music Festival which was held in the summer and tune in to the forthcoming autumn and winter months. At 20:00, Reigo Ahven and Celia Roose join their forces on the stage of the Grand Hall as an introduction to the party. "The drum sounds, the number of which exceeded the number of leaves on the trees during Viljandi Folk Music Festival, have grown into songs by the beginning of the new season. Whether these are lullabies, women's swinging tunes or men's war songs - let that be a surprise," said Ahven. "Together with several other people, we want to weave our songs and rhythms into a fabric of good wishes into which the values which protect and inspire all the future performers can be wrapped."
The headliner of the evening is the Polish punk and folk'n roll band Roberto Delira & Kompany which has been compared to the legendary Swedish group Hedningarna which performed in Viljandi this summer.
The head of the band, Roberto Jarowski, is known in Poland as an initiator of different musical experiments. He became an active musician five years ago when he went to Norway to work as a builder and became fascinated by the buskers on the streets of Oslo. He quit his job, took the hurdy-gurdy he had brought from his homeland and started playing on the streets. Busking helped him earn some money and learn how to play the instrument. Even though Jarowski had briefly played in a few bands before that, his dreams started to come true after he returned home from Norway.
Having gotten to know the songs of Hedningarna, Jarowski thought that this kind of mystical and suggestive feel would work well with Polish traditional music. As a result, two projects were launched - Ich Trole and Zywiolak.
His third band, Roberto Delira & Kompany which performs in Viljandi on September 9, sounds more primal than his previous bands and the repertoire consists of not only Polish traditional music but also songs by Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Latvians. The cornerstone of the band's music is the bowed gusli which was built by Jaworski himself. It is an instrument which resembles both the small kannel and talharpa.
As a tribute to the slipper shuffling event which took place during the festival in the summer, the opening party of the season ends with a performance by the band Vennakese. Three brothers, Heiki Int (guitar), Asso Int (diatonic accordion) and Meelis Int (bass guitar), play and sing about the sea, land, love, youth, fatherland, etc to accompany dancing. A young accordion player Martin Müller is joining them on the stage.
The opening party of the season is supported by the Polish Embassy.