ZAMEK Culture Centre

Radical Polish Ansambl is a sound lab launched by seven instrumentalists, who embraked on a long-standing, unprecedented experiment. Here, the musical language that the musicians learned first-hand from the countryside masters of central Poland, such as Kazimierz Meto or Stanisław Witkowski, undergoes unique transformation.

The RPA navigate the microcosm of traditional music, stopping to explore brilliant motifs and subsequently transpose them into the realm of minimalist avant-garde, doing so with tenderness and respect. Their music is not a “story” but a “state”, woven from contours, contrasts, elaborations and repetitions. That state is palpably tinged with understatement, mystery and reflection.

The band’s latest album, Nierozpoznana wieś (A Village Unexplored), was a fruit of collective composition. The artists invite the listener into a space which, in a curious balance, evokes familiarity and strangeness at the same time. Natural simplicity brings relief from the noise of the world today, and yet leaves one in a state of intriguing tension. 

Text by Dr. Łukasz Smoluch - ethnomusicologist from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.