UNRECOGNIZED VILLAGE / World Premiere

After many years of engaging with village culture, I still find myself feeling that I know more about what I don’t understand than what I do about rural life. Perhaps because of this, I maintain a creative relationship with it—sometimes identifying more closely with it, and at other times stepping back to view it from a different, more distant perspective.

“Unrecognized Village” is a term often used to describe archival photographs about which we have no concrete factual information. Nonetheless, such images tell stories—often vivid ones—or reveal aspects of rural life so universal that they don’t require factual completion. The idea of the “unrecognized village” inspired me to create a body of musical material and compile it into a collection. Together with the ensemble, we have chosen to craft and compose pieces that reflect rural music through our own experiences.
Unlike inviting a composer to collaborate, we take full responsibility for the musical text and all meta-texts, which include personal reflections, revelations, questions, wonders, and less comfortable aspects of rural culture, seen as an ambiguous, separate, unrecognized, and dynamic phenomenon. It is something undefined in its entirety, along with our relationship to it. I hope that through this, you will not only hear the Radical Polish Ansambl but also the voices of past generations of rural artists, who creatively responded to the needs of their times. Perhaps you will also imagine where our continued interaction with this universal art might take us in the future.

– Maciej Filipczuk

RADICAL POLISH ANSAMBL is an ensemble that, starting from a deep analysis of traditional music performance techniques, focuses on local practices and the personal styles of violinists. Their aim is to formulate a universal, vibrant, and contemporary artistic expression. A key aspect of their work is ensuring that they neither simplify traditional music nor dilute its defining traits. They preserve the distinctiveness of each musical theme and its specific performance style, which serves as a model for them.

Their method relies on oral transmission, much like traditional village culture, positioning themselves as continuators of this tradition. Whether composing independently or collaborating with contemporary composers, they seek to develop a musical language and method of preserving compositions that function effectively outside of formal notation. This allows them to leave space for creative interpretation, something that has always been a part of rural musicianship.

For the festival concert, the ensemble has chosen their own arrangements of traditional, triple-meter dance tunes from various regions of Poland.

The ensemble consists of violinists Maciej Filipczuk (musical direction), Emilia Bolibrzuch, Łucja Siedlik, Maria Stępień, Mateusz Kowalski, Marcin Lorenc, and Piotr Gwadera, who plays the jaz / “dżaz” – a traditional rural percussion set.

Critical Acclaim:

“RPA’s collective improvisation flowed freely, balancing on the edge of archaic and postmodern music. They listen to each other perfectly and speak with one voice.”
—Małgorzata Kęsicka (Ruch Muzyczny)

“This seems like the beginning of a new path… [for Polish traditional music to] fully enter the stage of contemporary and avant-garde music.”
—Agata Kusto (Pismo Folkowe)

“A beautiful piece, evoking not only folk motifs but the entire Polish wedding tradition, including Wyspiański’s drama.”
—Katarzyna Borowiec (uwolnijmuzyke.pl)

“…suddenly the rhythms and melodies fall into place—they flow from the bodies, from their needs, expression, and cooperation; they are no longer just objects.”
—Adam Suprynowicz (onet.pl)