Radical Polish Ansambl (RPA) is a utopian attempt to combine the most archaic elements of the Polish countryside traditions with the most avant-garde elements of contemporary experimental music. The artists – six “folk” violinists and a percussionist playing the “dżaz” – a folk percussion set – known from bands such as L. Stadt, Lautari, Tęgie Chłopy or Odpoczno – took up the challenge of reconstructing the music of a Polish-Indian composer Taduesz Sielaka.
It has been known for a long time that the Polish mazurka reached such countries as France, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, the Azores, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands or the Philippines. It turns out that it also reached India, where it formed an extraordinary marriage with the tradition of Hindustani classical music. Nearly 70 years later, evidence for that fascinating cross-cultural experiment was found by a Polish clarinet player Wacław Zimpel in the archives of the Delhi Public Library. Expansive, trans-like and semi-improvised pieces clearly derived from mazurkas were signed with a Polish-sounding name श्री तादेउश शिएलंका (Sri Tadeusz Sielanka in Polish). Who was really Tadeusz Sielanka? And how did his ‘cosmic’ mazurkas sound? The band has been addressing the two questions for more than two years now. The answer is their debut album “Tiers Monde”.
Maciej Filipczuk – violin, music direction
Emilia Bolibrzuch – violin
Łucja Siedlik – violin
Maria Stępień – violin
Mateusz Kowalski – violin
Marcin Lorenc – violin
Piotr Gwadera – dżaz
Michał Mendyk – szeptun
