Trebunie-Tutki and Voo Voo with “Tischner”: highlander tradition, rock and philosophy at the synagogue

Ethno Jazz Festival invites you to an extraordinary evening of music and philosophy in the reflective surroundings of the White Stork Synagogue.

Two leading bands in Poland’s world music scene will join forces on 6 March for the “TISCHNER” project.

“TISCHNER” is a musical remembrance of the ideas of Father Professor Józef Tischner, a priest and philosopher and, above all, a wonderful human being.

These seemingly different bands’ paths crossed through an album and many subsequent concerts, united by dialogue. The project’s coherence comes from respect for shared values and the Reverend Professor, while diversity supplies its strength. We hear powerful rock riffs, rhythms and instruments from around the world, jazz and lyrical songs in the spirit of the author of “Filozofia dramatu”. Highland culture, present in every track, beautifully complements them and adds a new dimension.

All of this is sung in the powerful voices of Trebunie-Tutki, a group loved by Father Tischner: native highlanders and pioneers of Polish world music, helped by the globetrotters of Voo Voo…

TREBUNIE-TUTKI are ambassadors for Podhale and Polish culture at festivals across Europe, Asia and North America, including the World EXPO exhibitions in Portugal and Japan. Their style, recognisable throughout Europe, has been shaped both by family musical traditions and a love of highland culture, and by innovation and an avant-garde approach to their heritage. Trebunie-Tutki were the first Polish band to appear repeatedly in the top ten of the European Broadcasting Union’s World Music Chart.

Trebunie-Tutki readily experiment and collaborate with outstanding artists, including London's Adrian Sherwood, Jamaican group Twinkle Brothers, Kyrgyzstan's “Ordo Sakhna”, the “African Head Charge” choir and excellent Polish musicians such as Włodzimierz “Kinior” Kiniorski, Krzysztof Ścierański, Michał Kulenty, Katarzyna Gaertner, Wojciech Waglewski and Voo Voo, and Krzysztof Herdzin.

Love of tradition and fidelity to highlander culture do not limit the band's creativity. Drawing on traditional instruments, the highlander scale, musical structure and performance character, Krzysztof Trebunia-Tutka creates NEW HIGHLANDER MUSIC, developing and enriching indigenous music with new melodies, contemporary lyrics and avant-garde arrangements together with the band.

Trebunie-Tutki’s work earned the Honorary Ambassador of the Polish Language title from the Polish Language Council. Their “Tischner” album with Voo Voo went Gold, received two Fryderyk nominations and won a Machiner. Their latest, “Songs of Glory/ Pieśni Chwały”, recorded with Jamaican roots-reggae stars Twinkle Brothers, received a Polish Recording Academy nomination, went Gold and reached number 11 on the prestigious World Charts Europe EBU. Last year, the band performed in Luxembourg, Latvia, China and the USA, among other countries.

Krzysztof Trebunia-Tutka’s new artistic project, ‘Legenda Tatr’, performed by Trebunie-Tutki with the Arthur Rubinstein Łódź Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, raises music inspired by highland traditions to the status of national art.

VOO VOO have been together continuously for a quarter of a century. They are one of the most enduring and hardworking names in Polish music history. Their recordings echo many different worlds, now considered classics, but above all reveal Voo Voo's deeply personal world. The band's finest works, written in an accessible language, remain an inspiration for creative exploration in contemporary music.

Do Voo Voo play jazz? Yes: their music has jazz’s infinity and momentum. Rock? Yes: it has rock’s simplicity. Anything else? Certainly. They play a lot! Even their most rock-oriented work contains elements of ethnic or classical music, sometimes with unconventional instrumentation. The band enjoy dialogues with artists from across the world, from Asia through Podhale to South America and Africa, but also enjoy meeting “just among themselves”.

All this creates an art far removed from established divisions and rigid rules. In 1995, bandleader Wojciech Waglewski received a Paszport Polityki award for “bringing together the music of different cultures”. In 1994, 2008 and 2009, he won the Fryderyk, the Polish music community’s most important award, in the Composer of the Year category. Each Voo Voo member also works with other groups, and these experiences allow them to keep refining the band’s original sound.

But nobody quite knows what to call this music… And that is fine: just listen. With your spirit, not only your ears… And remember that, as in good cinema, some stories here happen beyond words and outside the frame!