House of Polish Culture: Night of Culture

The Night of Culture will take place in Vilnius for the 13^th time. It is an interdisciplinary event and this year over 100 events will take place during the festival, e.g. interactive shows, concerts, performances and exhibitions. Clearly, there will be some Polish accents: KTO Theater from Cracow will perform on the Cathedral Square and in front of the House of Polish Culture, the best bands will play Vilniusian, Polish and Lithuanian music, moreover, tasting of Polish cuisine is also in the programme!

Traditionally, the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius will join the Night of Culture. The House of Polish Culture participates in the festival for the 8^th time, the first time being in 2009 within the “Cultural Exchange Vilnius-Warsaw” programme. Every year the programme of the festival is different. We have already hosted such Polish bands as: Will’N’Ska, KiteArt, 100 Uśmiechów, Katarzyna Niemyćko-Zvonkuvienė, Filmik, Polish Theater Studio, Betty Be, Frekenbok, StaraNowa, Black Biceps, etc. “We are happy to have the opportunity to add our Polish programme to the cultural map of Vilnius during one of the largest festivals in the city,” said Bożena Mieżonis, the coordinator of cultural projects at the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius, during her interview for “Kurier Wileński”.

The organisers and the initiators of the project offered a wide and varied programme to their audience. 

Kapela Wileńska (the Vilnius band, TN) was created in 1988, when a group of young boys united by the love for Polish songs, decided to start a band. The idea was very creative and original. These young musicians had no role models, as there were no such bands in Vilnius, with the folklore only fragmentarily present. The band members were intensively searching for old songs lyrics, as well as creating new ones. Their repertoire consisted of popular and well-liked hits of the interwar period, for instance, the excellent retro music from Vilnius, Lviv, and Warsaw. They were able to immediately capture the mood, lightness and grace of Polish hits and adapt their outward appearance and  stage behavior to it. Kapela Wileńska performs not only in Lithuania but also in Lviv, Moscow, and Vienna.  At the very first Festival of Culture the band received the main prize, the Audience Award. The band has been awarded many times at the Borderland Festival (Polish: Festiwal Kresowy, TN) in Głogów and the Festival of Backyard Bands (Polish: Festiwal Kapel Podwórkowych, TN) in Toruń. Graceful, witty and inventive performances allow this band to gain a steadily wider audience.

The “Gryčia” band unites people of different nationalities who are not able to imagine their lives without music and singing, without fun until dawn, or without trips and concerts. The main goal of the band is to popularise folk music, that is why you can find songs of various national minorities in their repertoire.

The Warsaw Band from Targówek was created over 20 years ago. They play mainly popular songs that are specific to the Warsaw folklore (including U Cioci na imieninach) and their own compositions that maintain a similar style. In their repertoire you can also find hits by Stanisław Grzesiuk, the biggest artist of post-war Warsaw (including Bal na Gnojnej) and retro songs – those created during the interwar period (including Petersburski, Włast, Gold and Wars, e.g. Już taki jestem zimny drań). The Warsaw Band from Targówek has previously won a prestigious National Festival of Retro Song organized by Mieczysław Fogg’s Foundation under the auspices of the Minister of Culture, Art, and National Heritage, the Mayor of Warsaw and the Fogg Family.

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Chief Organiser: The House of Polish Culture in Vilnius

Patronage: Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Vilnius.

The project is co-financed by the Polish diaspora funds of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

The project is co-funded by the Department of National Minorities under the Government of Lithuania.