JANUSZ PRUSINOWSKI KOMPANIA (formerly: Janusz Prusinowski Trio) is a group of musicians who follow in traditions of village masters they have learned from: Jan Lewandowski, Kazimierz Meto, Józef Zaraś, Piotr and Jan Gaca, Tadeusz Kubiak and many others – but they are also an avant-garde band with their own characteristic sound and language of improvisation. They combine music with dance and the archaic with the modern. Their tours and concerts incorporate educational activity, both in Poland and abroad.
Kompania’s unique style is the result of their attempt to find new ways of interpreting the most important elements of village music from central Poland. It brings together mazurkas – sung, played, danced to, improvised live – and modern man. What new quality can be given to archaic and seemingly simple melodies and rhythms without resorting to trendy sample mixing? Where is the source of multi-layered rhythm, which is never even yet always perfectly precise? Where do these extraordinary melodies, challenging the equal temperament, come from? It turns out that traditional music of Polish villages can be a reference point for a variety of genres: reminiscent of Chopin in its melodic pattern and the use of rubato, sharing a love of improvisation with blues and jazz, evocative of contemporary music in its tone, and possessing the expressiveness of rock music. It is able to connect the East and the West, the North and the South, engaging in a dialogue with musical traditions of near and remote countries.
Dance makes music visible, tangible and meaningful – thus, dancers are a natural addition to mazurkas. Apart of concerts, Kompania’s music can be heard at the parties of village and urban Dance Clubs. The band also runs various music and dance workshops. It can be proudly admitted that many novices started their adventure with Polish music, learning to play the fiddle, the drum or to dance thanks to Janusz Prusinowski Kompania.
Janusz Prusinowski – fiddle, dulcimer, Polish accordion, singing
Piotr Piszczatowski – drum
Michał Żak – flutes, shawm, clarinet
Szczepan Pospieszalski – trumpet
www.januszprusinowskikompania.pl/en/the-band
www.facebook.com/prusinowskitrio