Po Śladach

The Janusz Prusinowski Kompania (formerly Trio) are the leaders of the Polish traditional revival. The title of this album, meaning ‘In the Footsteps’ comes from a poem by Prusinowski about the old masters from whom they've learned their music. ‘I look for the footsteps, as eternal as the echo, as vibrant as life,’ he writes. Several of the 18 tracks have vocals (by Prusinowski), but most are instrumental and are various forms of mazurka, the three-beat Polish dance at the heart of the revival. It's Prusinowski's fiddle that takes the lead on these, sometimes with the full band of winds, trumpet, percussion and bass, sometimes stripped down with just frame drum and bass.

Michał Żak adds extra colour with a high Indian bansuri (flute) on ‘Stepy’ (Steppes), which gives it a slight Baul flavour, and seductive clarinet on ‘Deszczowy’ (Rainy), a haunting and memorable song. What these musicians have learned over the dozen years they've been active is how to combine skilled and sensitive arrangements with the ragged but correct flavour that gives the music its character, ‘as vibrant as life.’ Hopefully this first release on Buda Musique will bring their music to a wider audience.