Beyond Discords
What’s happening in Polish music? Once you start looking for answers to the question, you’ll discover a vast diversity and range of trends which are enchanting, fascinating and stunning. The industry abounds with important and bold records, so we need initiatives promoting praiseworthy music beyond the divisions of genre, generation and background.
To meet the challenge, the “Gazeta Magnetofonowa” quarterly and the Krakow Festival Office have joined force to create a brand-new annual phonographic award for best Polish album of the year. The first ever winner of the GaMa Award will be revealed on 7 March 2018 during the gala at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre. And such a special occasion must resound with good music, performed live by some of the nominees: Hańba!, Paulina Przybysz and Stefan Wesołowski. As well as the prize awarded by the jury of music journalists working in Poland and abroad, there will also be the Audience Award with readers of “Gazeta Magnetofonowa” casting their votes in an online poll.
The 20 nominated albums include those released by veterans, such as the jazz-rock 7 by Voo Voo, and debut LPs including the experimental neo-soul Assemblage by Martyna Kubicz aka MIN t. There are also bold, experimental projects in folk (Maniucha and Ksawery), folk/jazz (Zimpel and Ziołek) and jazz (EABS and the Młynarski-Masecki Jazz Band), heavier sounds from BNNT and Thaw, and ambitious pop including Chodź tu by Paulina Przybysz.
Igor Kuranda, “Karnet” magazine
