„Kapela Wileńska” [The Vilnius Folk Band] – the best street band in Poland

„Kapela Wileńska” [The Vilnius Folk Band] was a winner of 9th edition of All-Poland Street Bands Festival in Piotrków Trybunalski. The Vilnius band defeated 30 other competitors.

“The competition was hard, we needed to show our best. There were top street bands from all over Poland, there. All of them knew, what they were there for. We were determined to win, but till the end we did not know, what the jury comprising highly valued professionals – verdict would be.

The artists were judged by a jury which included the following persons: Benjamin Przeździęk and Karol Olszewski (both from Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Białystok), as well as Lech Nowicki from TVP Polonia. The Vilnius band was the only group from abroad.

According to the organizers – The Street Folk Association and the band “Fakiry” – the Piotrków Trybunalski Festival is the biggest folk festival in Poland: “There is a street folk music, in a broad sense, presented during the festival; that folk which till now was sort of musical tradition passed on to us from our grand grand fathers, redefined today as a street culture element”. The event is held under the patronage of the Minister of  Culture and National Heritage of Republic of Poland – Bogdan Zdrojewski.

The festival  consisted of several parts this year. Main part was: auditioning for the competing bands at the City Amphitheater. Other parts of the festival included: “Dance at the planks” – an outdoor dance at the Central City Square, the street band concerts, many competitions for the Piotrków Trybunalski residents (including ” Let us go back to the old days…”) and the old bicycles and cars exhibition.

The festival was held  from 25^th to 26^th of May.

Source: http://zw.lt/kultura/kapela-wilenska-najlepsza-kapela-podworkowa-w-polsce/

Tłumaczenie by Jadwiga Granowska w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Jadwiga Granowska within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.