One of the hottest music bands on the current Polish musical scene and the only one that has truly successfully combined Polish highland folk with contemporary sounds.
Sometimes labelled as folk rock, Zakopower escapes all manner of classification – their music, originally inspired by the Podhale Polish highlands musical tradition equally features rock aesthetics, clever use of electronics, draws on jazz influences as well as incorporates African beats - the overall mix resulting in a truly unique, authentic and strong sound – fun, lively, infectious and instantly recognizable.
Named after the highland town Zakopane situated in the Tatra mountains and founded by phenomenal violinist Sebastian Karpiel Bulecka the band is seen as one of Poland's most popular bands ever. Their debut album "Music Hall" (2005) quickly reached gold status selling over 25 000 copies. They have been awarded numerous folk as well as various mainstream music awards in their native Poland, most notably the prestigious academy award Fryderyk award in 2008 for best polish ethno/folk album (for their second album "Na Siedem" featuring Nigel Kennedy's guest performance) and have been nominated for the Best Polish Performer in MTV Europe Music Awards (2006). Their concert DVD released in 2009 received gold status for best selling music DVD in the polish music market and remains a bestseller.
Their interesting instrumentation includes violin, highlands bass, bagpipes, highlands flute.
Unlike many ethno/folk inspired groups of today rather than unashamedly borrow from existing melodies the band develop and present entirely new original compositions - an ingenious mix of traditional and modern– drawing on folk aesthetics and technique but yet allowing it to develop and expand and bringing it in tune with the 21st century -theirs is a truly creative and progressive approach to making music. This is music with rare truthfulness to it and masses of positive energy and it cuts through any language or cultural barriers, easily reaching and fascinating audiences from all backgrounds. Skilled musicians, known predominantly for the very highly charged energetic performances, they are a versatile ensemble with vast and varied repertoire that delivers equally well at large outdoor shows as well as more intimate clubs and acoustic stages.
The band is made up of an eclectic group of musicians all bringing unique touch to this ingenious mix and is led by a phenomenal violinist Sebastian Karpiel Bulecka, recognized as the leading one of the young generation of Podhale region – an extraordinarily gifted and intuitive musician, vocalist and instrumentalist, great showman and charismatic band leader praised by critics both for his skills on the violin as well as stage manner and natural ability to engage the audience.
All seasoned musicians, they have recorded and performed with Nigel Kennedy and Goran Bregovic, worked alongside renowned international musicians (Doug Boyle, Mamadou Diouf) as well as collaborated with leading musicians from polish popular scene (Kayah, Voo Voo, T.Love, Grzegorz Turnau and others) and the jazz scene (Nigel Kennedy Quintet, Robert Majewski, Zbigniew Namysłowski)
They have amassed a great following in their native Poland and are steadily gaining a large fan base worldwide with fans demanding concerts from as far as US, New Zeland and Australia.
Predominantly a live performing band they tour extensively both in Poland and abroad,
giving on average about 100 performances a year (having developed a somewhat legendary status with their shows unfailingly attracting large audiences of crazed, histerical with euphoria fans) their touring schedule has so far taken them throughout Europe (including major festivals such as Rudolstadt, Sziget, Ostrava, Zagreb) as well as the US (NY, Chicago) and the Far East (India, China) and even Africa (Marocco).
Recently, they appeared in the exclusive line up of artists representing the very best of Poland at Nigel Kennedy's Polish Weekend at the London's prestigious SouthBank Centre, with their performance selling the Queen Elizabeth Hall, causing quite a stir and gaining them high critical acclaim as well as huge interest from both british promoters and the media.
Their next album, which will feature more instrumental focus is due for release in the spring 2011.
Media quotes
"Zakopower are to highlander music what the Pogues are to Irish music. Even if you can't understand a word of it you will love it."
"All my friends have gone crazy about Zakopower. Everybody's bought their album"
Nigel Kennedy
"Undoubtedly the most popular polish group ever"
Nigel Kennedy's Polish Weekend, Southbank Centre
"(…)emerging polish musical talent, a fiery folk group Zakopower"
Jazzwise Magazine
"(…the violinist Sebastian Karpiel – Bułecka leads Zakopower. ()The band is one of Poland's most popular groups"
Time Out
„(…) Sebastian Karpiel – Bułecka, of Zakopower: his violin became an electrified bird, flying and trilling with mesmerising high speed-elan"
1st June 2010 The Times,
Geoff Brown „Nigel Kennedy's World Cup Project at the Clore Ballroom" (Southbank Centre)
„Best band The great thing about Zakopower is that even my Polish friends can't understand what the f**k they're saying 'cos it's in Goralic mountain dialect. It's a bit like how Americans can't understand Irish. Zakopower play a semi-techno, popular adaptation of highlander music. It's kind of folky with violins but they've got a good edge of pop consciousness"
Nigel Kennedy, The Times, 21st May 2010, Emma Pomfret „Nigel Kennedy Jams with the Pole Cats"
