They combine music with dance and the archaic with the modern, village melodies with traces of Chopin’s rubato, love of improvisation close to jazz with the expressiveness of rock music.
Apart from concerts, they run dance and music workshops and play exceptional interactive concerts for children.
From 2008 Kompania:
- have issued 4 awarded albums: Mazurki, Serce, Knee-deep in Heaven, In the Footsteps, and participated in more (e.g.: Grażyna Auguścik Orchestar. Inspired by Lutosławski)
- toured in USA a couple of times, including concerts in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Chicago World Music Fest etc.
- toured in Japan and Korea
- played at hundreds of festivals, dance parties, weddings and events in Poland and all over the world: Vietnam, Finland, Sweden, France, Spain, Estonia, Malta, Italy, Croatia, Turkey and many many more…
- performed with Alim Qasimov, Matthias Loibner, Atom String Quartet, Grażyna Auguścik, Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Olejniczak, Michał Urbaniak, Artur Dutkiewicz & others
- showcased at WOMEX and Tallinn Music Week
- performed at Polish National Theatre and Polish Radio, recorded for the Library of Congress etc.
- Janusz Prusinowski was awarded with Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis and received the annual prize of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
Line up
- Janusz Prusinowski – fiddle, voice, dulcimer, Polish accordion
- Piotr Piszczatowski – baraban drum, frame drum, dance
- Michał Żak – wooden flutes, shawm, clarinet, cello
- Szczepan Pospieszalski – trumpet, cello
*They also perform as a trio or in the line up of 5 with a guest musician (cello, drums) or a guest dance leader
Reviews
Of all 10 discs, this was the one that seemed to be paying the most vital and exciting tribute to Poland’s traditional music heritage.(…) A powerful statement of faith in the strength of Poland’s traditional culture.
Simon Broughton (on Knee deep in Heaven album, Folk Phonogram 2013 Competition, Polish Radio 2)
What struck me right away about this music was its amazing ability to mix the feel and power of village dance music with the personal contemporary sensibilities of the players. (…) Listen to the music about three minutes in and hear the amazing resemblance to some of those classic jazz improv tracks from the late ’60s and early ’70s.
Michal Shapiro on Womex performance (Huffington Post 2012)