Serfing Poland: R.U.T.A. and "Jak To Dawny Dobrze Belo"

Some traditional folk presented with the energy of punk is on tap in our random tune for today. The band, R.U.T.A., is from Poland and was formed by the founder of the Warsaw Village Band. Their songs are often no more than two minutes long, and strive to reach elements of hardcore rock and punk through their focus on songs that lament the fate of peasants in past centuries to draw parallels with issues today that fuel groups like the Occupy movement. You can find this song, Jak To Dawni Dobrze Belo, on R.U.T.A's debut album Gore (2011).

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.T.A.; https://culture.pl/en/artist/ruta

Polish Folky Punk: R.U.T.A. and "Jak to Dawni Dobrze Belo"

R.U.T.A., which seems to stand both for the Union of Reactionary Artistic Terrorists or Movement for Utopia, Transcendence and Anarchy, is a band from Poland that combines punk with elements of Polish peasant folk songs and traditional instruments. The result is roughly a stripped down but just as in-your-face punk sound that your Polish great-great-grandfather might have heard had punk existed among disaffected youth in his day. R.U.T.A. is made up of modern Polish folk musicians and members of well-known Polish punk bands, and they take for their inspiration folk-songs from the era of Polish, Ukrainian and Belorussian serfdom and turn them into songs of oppression, action, revolt and rebellion. You can find this song, Jak to Dawni Dobrze Belo, on their debut CD Gore (2011).

Amazing Range: Basia and "From Now On"

Okay, I'm pushing the boundaries of world music here, but regardless I'm going to do it anyway. Today's song is by Basia, the stage name of Basia Trzetrzelewska, who had a series of Latin-jazz-pop crossover albums in the 1980s and 1990s. Her vocal range is an astounding three octaves, and she is also known for multi-layered harmonies. A native of Poland, she started with the Polish all-female group Alibakbi between 1972 and 1974, and then joined the rock band Perfect from 1977-79. While in Chicago in the early 1980s, she met Danny White and they started the jazz-pop group Matt Bianco. In 1985 Basia started her solo career, releasing three successful albums. She withdrew from recording in 1998 until 2004, when she was persuaded to work on a new Matt Bianco album. In 2009 she released her fourth solo album. This song, From Now On, is from her first album, 1986's platinum Time and Tide.

Renegade Violin: Nigel Kennedy with Kroke and "Kukush"

My day escaped from me today so I won't be able to give you a thoughtful essay related to today's artist and song. However, perhaps I will get a chance to explore the idea of being a renegade and rebel in the near future on another post. In the meantime, please enjoy today's tune, Kukush by Nigel Kennedy and Kroke.

Nigel Kennedy is a British violinist and violist who started in the classical tradition and later took up jazz, klezmer and other genres. As a child musical prodigy, he was invited to play with Stéphane Grapelli in a concert at age 16. He later played with classical luminaries Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz and Arthur Rubenstein. He recorded classical music based on rock songs by Jimi Hendrix and The Doors, and in the early 2000s began exploring klezmer music with the Polish band Kroke. He is often criticized for his approach to classical music and for what some see as an abrasive personality.

He plays this song with Kroke, a Polish band founded in 1992 that started as a klezmer band with strong Balkan influences and which currently draws on a variety of ethnic music and sounds of the Orient. Their music has brought them to the attention of people like Steven Spielberg, Peter Gabriel and Nigel Kennedy, with whom they wrote and recorded this song, Kukush, for their collaborative album East Meets West (released 2003), which consists of traditional material and original compositions drawing from Central and Eastern European traditions and Arabic influences.

Kukush showcases Kennedy's electric violin playing. Take a listen and feel like a renegade or rebel yourself!