Polish Sounds of the Future // Past - The Bartenders at Jarasum Jazz Festival 2020

PROJECT WEBSITE: http://polishsounds.pl

Warsaw-based group The Bartenders was formed by the leading aficionados of Jamaican ska-jazz in Poland, and is a top Polish representation of the genre abroad since 2006. Connected by their fascination in Jamaican music of the 60s & 70s, The Bartenders are critically acclaimed both in Poland and abroad. They released five LPs and EPs (including two releases in 2020), some of their songs topped Polish radio charts and they performed at numerous important ska & reggae festivals in Poland and abroad (eg. Germany and Peru, where they played online at one of top ska festivals in South America). They perform both with their own sets and as a backing band for top Polish and international artists. There is certainly no better ska-jazz group in Poland and within the genre The Bartenders are also a well-known name around the World.

Online concert by The Bartenders (and their guests), presented at Jarasum Jazz Festival 2020, is a special one-time show Wiecho-pomne Wydarzenie Artystyczne, originally prepared by the band and its guests for Warsaw Uprising Museums XIV Innocent Sorcerers Warsaw Festival. This material was performed live only once, in November 2019, and was never aired anywhere so its having a grand online premiere at Jarasum Jazz Festival 2020. The concert presents premiere ska-jazz versions of songs (from various periods of the last 100 years) that use the Warsaw dialect of Polish language. This dialect was almost completely lost during World War II when occupying forces of Nazi Germany killed or displaced 800.000 out of 1.300.000 pre-war Warsaw citizens, brutally destroying not only most of the buildings, but also the unwritten cultural heritage of Warsaw streets and neighbouroods. Luckily, some parts of the dialect survived and some post-war poets, authors and musicians made it their goal to use their art to keep this dialect alive against all odds, which is an approach thats perfectly in line with Warsaw character. The goal of the presented concert was to cherish their efforts, and present some of such songs from various eras / styles in ska-jazz form, as they were never played before.

The set of MCs and vocalists, performing with The Bartenders during the presented concert, is a colourful cross-genre all-star crowd, unified by the love of Warsaw history and cultural heritage. From local hip-hop legends Eldo (Grammatik, Parias) and Duże Pe (Masala Soundsystem, Senk Że, Emma Dax), through Warsaw-loving actor and entertainer Kuba Kozak (Grupa Teatralna Warszawiaki) to reggae / dancehall legend Gorg (Vavamuffin, Transmisja) and last but not least The Bartenders own vocalist Kuba Kaczmarek. All of them sing and play their hearts out on stage and thanks to this the atmosphere of Old Warsaw is definitely in the air during this show.

THE BAND: Witek Haliniak trombone / Piotr Jaros tenor sax, baritone sax / Andrzej Mikulski keyboards / Jacek Orłow drums / Kuba Pajewski guitar / Janusz Rutkowski bass / Dawid Somló percussions / Mikołaj Tabako trumpet

THE VOCALISTS: Duże Pe / Eldo / Gorg / Kuba Kozak / Kuba Kaczmarek

THE VIDEO: Jan Bąk camera, editing, post-production / Grzegorz Telenga camera / Piotr Skiba timelapse videos

THE AUDIO: Jacek Szczepanek sound engineering, multitrack recording, editing, mix, mastering