Tęgie Chłopy is already a brand. Their concerts and dances are famous for their joyful energy that “raises the ceilings”. The band plays dance music from the region of Kielce in Poland. Their energy, mastery, and irresistible vibe are, I believe, the top quality you can get in the whole of Central and Eastern Europe – and great fun.
They performed at many international stages. Recently at an excellent Sori Festival in South Korea: Festival Jazz sous les Pommiers in Normandy, Rudolstadt Festival, Bardentreffen in Nurnberg, Viljandi Paramusikaa Festival in Estonia and other.
They also showcased at Womex 2020 (digital) and Womex 2022 and Budapest Ritmo.
Their first album “Dansing” was chosen for the Best Folk Album of the last 25 years by the listeners of Polish Radio 2.
Line up:
- Maniucha Bikont – tuba, vocals
- Maciej Filipczuk – violin, vocals
- Ewa Grochowska – violin, vocals
- Mateusz Kowalski – accordion, guitar, vocals
- Michał Żak – clarinet, soprano saxophone, vocals
- Michał Maziarz – tenor horn
- Dorota Murzynowska – baraban drum
- Szczepan Pospieszalski – trumpet, electronics, vocals
- Marcin Żytomirski – violin, vocals, some lyrics
In more detail
Tęgie Chłopy band continues the traditions of live dance music of Kielce region in Central Poland which is known for its brass orchestras – that is why Tęgie Chłopy include a strong brass section, namely trumpet, clarinet, soprano sax, tenor horn and tuba.
The members of the band learned village musicians .Their master, Stanisław Witkowski, is an 85-years old clarinet player. Together with his four brothers he created a legendary band that performed traditional music during hundreds of wedding parties. People say that Witkowski brothers were able to lift the ceilings with their music – like Tęgie Chłopy now!
In October 2015 their first album was released – Dansing, related to to dancing tradition of playing at village parties. In 2019 Dansing was selected at the BEST FOLK ALBUM OF LAST 25 YEARS by the listeners of Polish Radio.
In December 2017 the second album was released called Wesele! (Wedding!) that recalls songs, melodies and customs of weddings.
The last album Rakieta (Rocket) was released in November 2021.
Tęgie Chłopy performed at most important Polish festivals and venues: Jazz on the Odra, Cross Culture Festival, EtnoKraków, Ethniesy, Jagiellonian Fair, Mazurkas of the World, Szczecin Philharmonics, National Philharmonics in Warsaw, Polish TV etc, as well as abroad: Korro Festival in Sweden, Book Fair in Abu Dhabi, Uijeongbu World Music Festival & Intn’l Sori World Music Festival in Korea, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Belgium, Luxembourg, France – and more…
Reviews
The showcase of Tęgie Chłopy was the best one in entire Womex 2022 Bojan Djordjevic, Todo Mundo & Pocket Globe Festivals.
(…) Tęgie Chłopy are doing wonderful work, and in this production we are witnessess to a combining of the group’s sharp intellect with a feel for the principle of musical phrasing that is a cornerstone of popular music. The tradition demands to be taken seriously and handled with care so that its sides and corners remain undamaged. In it, emanating from their toil, we can sense the dignity and virtue of a people born of the soil. Yes, this is nothing less than the language of the soil and of the earth. Our language. Thanks to this recording, we feel as if we have been born again.
Leszek Możdżer (musician)
For many years now, music that comes, to use a conventional term, ‘from the source’, whether urban or rural, has done everything to distance itself from its own roots. Dressed up like a shop dummy, kidnapped by ideology, it was emptied of all life and reduced to the status of a fading sepia photograph that helped tired hearts to continue beating, too often in a faraway place or in a foreign country. But for this music to rebecome the cultural pearl it once was, it needed no more than to have its energy and wisdom restored, to be placed in capable hands, and played with unaffected joy. On their latest record, Tęgie Chłopy provide ample proof not only that this must come to pass, but that, in fact, they have succeeded in making it happen.
Wojciech Waglewski (musician, VOO VOO)