Monodia - Requiem Polskie: Polish Requiem for the victims of Smolensk's tragedy

Requiem Polskie
Polish Requiem for the victims of Smolensk's tragedy
Monodia

Label: Sluchaj Uchem, 2011
Catalog: SU 4
Format: CD

Tracks:
1. Cokolwiek w swiecie jest wszystko marnosc
2. Przyjdzie Panie zaginac ratunku potrzeba
3. Jezu zraniony na me duszne rany
4. Wszystka moja nadzieja u Boga mojego
5. Zegnam cie mój swiecie wesoly
6. Niech Jezus Chrystus bedzie pochwalony
7. Swiety Boze, Swiety Mocny

Monodia

is a Polish vocal ensemble, practicing old Polish religious and secular songs in the melodic variants collected by Adam Strug in the Lomza District and Kurpie Zielone region of Poland. In the Polish language ‘monodia’ means singing in unison a capella or with an accompaniment of traditional instruments such as a hurdy-gurdy.

The ensemble rejects major-minor scales, which since the 18th century have dominated keyboard and operatic conventions. Monodia reconstructs ancient chants and early music by using antique musical scales, original methods of performing, and vocal manners, which were saved by the oral tradition of folk artists.

The verbal tradition continued by Monodia includes the songs of Polish chivalry, baroque and eighteenth century prayers, romantic devotional songs, and various folk songs that express reverence and devotion to God.

The lyrics of their songs are drawn from the pages of the ‘Pelplin Songbook’ written in 1871, and consisting of 1102 Polish devotional songs for the whole liturgical year. The songbook includes anonymous texts by medieval authors, as well as poems from the most beloved Polish poets such as Kochanowski, Wujek, Boleslawiusz, Trembecki, Zabczyc, Naborowski, Krasicki, and Karpinski.

Polish folk songs that inspired Monodia are an expression of musical and poetic genius of the people from the Polish countryside. Their mastery is on one hand reminiscent of the vocal art of the Middle East, and on the other, an integral part of Polish cultural heritage that inspired great works of Polish composers like Krzysztof Penderecki (Polskie Requiem), and Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki (3rd Symphony of Sorrowful Songs).

What can’t be expressed with words - let it be sung in a prayer

On April 10th 2010 a Polish presidential plane was carrying a delegation to Katyn, near the city of Smolensk in western Russia, to commemorate the mass murder of the Polish elite: the 20,000 officers murdered by Stalin’s NKVD in 1940.

The presidential plane hit the ground, killing all of the 96 people on board, including the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, 8 crew members, and many leaders of Polish government, parliament, and armed forces. There were no survivors.

The cause of the catastrophe has remained not clear till now.

Those who perished were a very important part of contemporary Polish political and intellectual elite; the importance and scale of the tragedy could be only compared to those who perished in Katyn’s massacre 70 years before.

‘Requiem Polskie’ album is dedicated to all the victims of the tragedy. The songs chosen for this release have been sung for last 2 – 3 centuries in Poland during funeral rituals and prayers.