View from the Stage at the Most Beautiful Festival in the World. photo by Lucyna Lewandowska

We always play what we like - six foreign and over 20 Polish bands at the Pol'and'Rock Festival

28 July 2021

“Despite the pandemic, we have a few mega surprises for you that will come to this festival from around the world. And as we always do, we play what we like!" - Jurek Owsiak, the originator of the Most Beautiful Festival in the World and the conductor of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity

The upcoming Pol'and'Rock Festival is in many ways a completely new festival. It will be organized not only in a new place but also in new, pandemic conditions. The event, which was popular with hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world, will be a hybrid festival, i.e., one that will combine live concerts with an internet broadcast lasting nearly 50 hours. A group of 20,000 festival goers will have fun at the Makowice-Płoty Airport, and thousands of fans of good music can sit in front of their screens, because traditionally, good music at the Pol'and'Rock Festival cannot be missed.

We move among the music and bands we like. Having my broadcast in Antyradio, I know what music my listeners listen to and in which circles it is best perceived at. And this is the type of music we like to listen to.

Jurek Owsiak, the originator of the Pol'and'Rock Festival

When creating a story about the 27th edition of the Most Beautiful Festival in the World, the organizers first used the line-up that was to appear at the festival in 2020. Fans of good sounds pointed out that the bands announced for the previous edition of the event, which became an internet event due to restrictions, represented a high level. The new internet event, organized with the utmost care for the safety of musicians and service staff, was called the Most Beautiful House-party in the World. Due to global restrictions, only Polish bands, friends of the Pol'and'Rock Festival, presented themselves on the stage of the Most Beautiful House-party in the World. In turn, bands such as Clutch, Tagada Jones, Jinjer or Limp Bizkit, confirmed their availability for the upcoming editions of the festival, but like the entire music industry - foreign bands have become hostages to the prevailing strict regulations, travel restrictions and pandemic situations.

The construction of this year's line-up began in March. After the Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity organized in the era of the pandemic (finished, incidentally, with a record result of PLN 210 813 830.10!), the time has come to think about how The Great Orchesta of Christmas Charity Foundation can thank you for your support.

During COVID, of course, we’ve reached out to our friends. This includes the well-known band TABU, which will start the festival on Thursday. It is also the band Kroke, to which we come back after many years, because they play masterful, beautiful klezmer music. It's Raz Dwa Trzy - they played with us several times, but we think they will sound extra special this year. Also Renata Przemyk, who gave a great concert two years ago, BOKKA, the band Dubioza Kolektiv, which we bring from the Balkans, and Hańba !, who will be with us for the first time and play Silesian street music. In addition, Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa, which will play at the Academy of the Finest of Arts, and jazz programmed together with Jazz Forum.

Jurek Owsiak about working on the line-up of the Most Beautiful Festival in the World

The line-up of the 27th Pol'and'Rock Festival is a real mosaic of genres, inspirations and musical styles – sentimental returns to the stage of the Most Beautiful Festival in the World, performed by, for example, Dżem band or Pidżama Porno (a band that competed with Kult in terms of fans asking for their performance at the festival), intertwined with musical discoveries both from Poland and abroad. The most noteworthy, however, are foreign bands that will perform for the first time (or, in the case of Dubioza Kolektiv, for the third time) to the audience of the Most Beautiful Festival of the World.

“We are rummagers. We spend a lot of time on the Internet, watching what is happening in the world, catching music that surprises us, we like it a lot, whether it comes from Mexico, the United States, France, Spain or Italy. People already know about our festival. They are often very happy that we speak to them and we want to share such music.”

Jurek Owsiak on how he finds bands that will play at the Pol'and'Rock Festival

Playing such surprising music is the French band Slift, which will play in Poland for the first time. The music of the French band can be described as cosmic rock - heavy, vibrating like a spaceship’s engine sounds intertwined with psychedelic rock sounds, forming a story about futuristic intergalactic adventures. Thanks to the Pol'and'Rock Festival, Polish audiences will discover a band whose music is more and more frequently exchanged in the same breath with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, or Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees.

Slift

Another experimental formation, whose music opens new and undiscovered horizons also comes from France. Igorrr is a surprising combination of heavy metal, electronic music, Balkan folk and classical baroque music. Music critics of publications such as Metal Hammer, Metal Injection or AllMusic appreciated the avant-garde work of the formation, and at the Pol'and'Rock Festival, the audience will have the opportunity to see the band for the first time in a new, refreshed line-up – with vocalists Aphrodite Patoulidou and JB Le Bail and new guitarist, Martyn Clement. Invariably, the band is headed by the eccentric multi-intsrumentalist musician, Gautier Serre.

Igorrr

Morgane Ji from Reunion Island will also make her debut on the Main Stage. In the music of the mesmerizing singer, modernity meets tradition, and electronic sounds meet folk music. Characteristic – warm, a bit rough - – the singer's voice perfectly matches the energetic, electrifying music of the singer/musician. Morgane Ji's performances are unforgettable shows, during which the audience wanders with their guide through a world filled with deep emotions and visions.

Morgane Ji

One of the bands whose presence the organizers of Pol'and'Rock planned already in 2020 is Dirty Shirt. The Romanian band is another band that combines folk music with heavy metal playing. Widely recognized as one of the most original bands from Eastern Europe, the Dirty Shirt triumphs at international festivals. The pieces of Dirty Shirt, whether recorded in English or Romanian, are full of energy, catchy, full of power and appeal to a very wide audience.

Dirty Shirt

Jahcoustix returns to the Most Beautiful Festival of the World. Jahcoustix combines a philosophy of tolerance and a positive attitude to life with a message that fits perfectly with the World's Most Beautiful Festival. The atmosphere that prevails at the artist's concerts, as we had the opportunity to see in 2011, is great, and in front of the stage there will certainly be dancing, swinging festival-goers. This year, the audience will have the opportunity to see the mature artist who has released 8 albums and performed in 40 countries around the world.

Jahcoustix

Dubioza Kolektiv will score a hat-trick, that is three concerts at the Most Beautiful Festival in the World. The musicians from Dubioza Kolektiv do not take conventions into account, and they have never wanted to compromise creatively – at the beginning of their activity they decided to talk about difficult topics, raise controversial issues and openly demand attention to them. In the spirit of a truly Balkan tradition, the musicians drew inspiration from various musical genres, interweaving local flavors with music from around the world, such as ska, punk, reggae, electronics and hip-hop. The band feels great on the stage of the Most Beautiful Festival in the World, because they share the values of the festival.

Dubioza Kolektiv

The 27th Pol'and'Rock Festival will take place on July 29-31 at the former Makowice - Płoty airport in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The area of 78 hectares will house campsites, a stage where nearly 30 performers will perform, the Academy of the Finest of Arts zone with meetings with outstanding guests and evening concerts, as well as partner spaces.

The Festival will include, among others, Dżem, Dubioza Kolektiv, Hańba !, Black River, Tides from Nebula, Renata Przemyk, Morgane Ji and Kasia Kowalska. At the Academy of Fine Arts, you will meet Arkadiusz Jakubik, Andrzej Chyra, Marta Lempart, Elżbieta Dzikowska, Jakobe Mansztajn (Make Life Harder), Przemek Kossakowski and the Down the Road team, Łukasz Czepiel, Radek Kotarski, and advocates Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram-Abram. Wawrykiewicz (meeting about polexit).

The festival will take on a hybrid form - it will be available both to the participants present on site of the festival, but also to people following its course on the Internet. In the stationary form, 20,000 participants will be able to participate in the event, including vaccinated and unvaccinated people (in accordance with the regulation of the Council of Ministers) – holders of special tickets. The event's broadcast will be available on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch, as well as Onet and Antyradio.

Łukasz

Press Office at at The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity