Author: Shaun ONeill

Shaun O'Neill is based in Poland. He writes, teaches, and when not playing, attending, listening to or recording music, you will find him in a field near Rudawa growing stuff.

LALA Land: Namena Lala’s Music, A World of Its Own

[nk_text dropcap_style="3" dropcap_color="#ffffff" vc_css=".vc_custom_1711537185140{background-color: rgba(1,0,117,0.22) !important;*background-color: rgb(1,0,117) !important;}"] Namena Lala, the solo project of Natalia Orkisz, showcased songs from her new album LALA to a packed Klub Re in Krakow on March 22. There’s plenty to admire during this live set: innovative vocal loops build, while clever, deft digital percussive touches and subtle shades of other instrumentation add to a creative palette bursting with lyrical verve. A classically trained cellist, she has put down her bow for this project, and much of her repertoire could be categorised as joyful experimentations in building disparate sounds on top of each other, low-fi folk electronica – soulful, trip hoppy, thick with striking imagery and melodic hooks. Yet it’s her astounding falsetto vocal that is the real showstopper throughout, like a child raised by wolves, in startling elfin gasps and yelps, she gives a human voice to the unfiltered ambience of the forest. [/nk_text][nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711544375464{padding-top: 55px !important;}"] All photos  by Adelina Krupski Photography for Kraków Music and Namena Lala [/nk_text][nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711539935106{padding-top: 55px !important;}"] Namena Lala – also the name of a Fijian volcanic islet – was decimated by Cyclone Winston in 2016, flattening all the human constructs, leaving only a wild bird reserve in its wake. A fitting metaphor for a world on the verge of environmental collapse, many songs have a sensitivity borne of the fragility of the planet and those we share it with. An urgency flows out in some of the songs as well as a profound sense of disappointment. Expectations Expired starts like the call of a witches’ coven – part Kate Bush and Agnes Obel – its ethereal incantation bemoans short attention spans in a reality boiling over with injustice – social and environmental – and our flailing impotence to mitigate it. [/nk_text] [nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711540042144{padding-bottom: 55px !important;}"] You should forget me as soon As the end of this tune I won’t have anything said against it As surely you’re aware This world just isn’t fair And there’s nothing you can do to fix it To fix it [/nk_text] [nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711539943759{padding-top: 55px !important;}"] The bewitchingly evocative Foki begins with what could be the sounds of a hammock swinging in the breeze but more than likely is a wooden boat creaking its way merrily downstream. She sings of a pristine world – Eden-like and untouched – the seals that frolic in these calm, clear waters catch the singer by surprise. Living on a planet in the throes of upheaval and change, she is comforted by the fact that some things transcend impermanence – at least she hopes that is the case. [/nk_text] [nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711540049387{padding-bottom: 55px !important;}"] Spokojna, że nic tu się nie zmieni [/nk_text][nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711541309941{padding-top: 20px !important;}"] Not shy of collaborating, she is joined on stage by plenty of other artists, including bandmates from Box Anima – Tomek Idziak on guitar and Wiktor Machowski on Cajon, as well as Ukrainian composer Ira Lobanok and guitarist Dominik Plebanek. Poppy single Children of Possibilities, laments a world driven by hyper-individualism and self-interest that has lost its spiritual compass. Eyes wide closed ..we are the only God we need …But why the world keeps crumblin’ down? [/nk_text] [nk_text] Jak w korcu maku, another single from the new album, is a touching ode to her parents, composed around a poem penned by her father before she was born. There’s a love and longing here so real you can almost touch it. It’s a place where nostalgia, gratitude and beauty coalesce. [/nk_text] [nk_text vc_css=".vc_custom_1711541515070{padding-top: 45px !important;padding-bottom: 45px !important;}"] Natalia’s stage presence is remarkable, her charming banter pulls each member of the audience into that zone where they are mere putty in her hands – encouraging them, confiding in them, soothing them, prompting them, inviting them to submerse themselves in her kaleidoscopic audio-visual adventure, an uplifting celebration of nature’s benevolent magic. They don’t need to be asked twice. If Namena Lala was a high-priestess preaching the word with this kind of vocal delivery, it’s a church I would sign up to in an instant. Her new album LALA is out now. [/nk_text]

Bluegrass on a Stranger’s Shore: Kraków Creek at the Underground Music Festival

Far away from the hills of Appalachia, stumbling down the stairs into a cavernous Kraków cellar bar is the last place you’d expect to uncover the southern musical harmonies and black hill banjo finger-picking joys of a bluegrass band belting out exceptional covers with a Pole, an Irishman and an Italian among the members.

Karl Culley: Stories Save Our Lives

Karl Culley showcased songs from his new album Stories Save Our Lives (Loose Wire Records) on May 20th – in Krakow’s Strefa Otwarta. Live, he’s always a treat, his voice’s hushed tones the perfect backdrop to the cauldron of percussive sounds he coaxes from his instrument. The collective result is intimate, barely amplified, yet somehow cinematic, spacious and grand.

Peter Gabriel Shows No Signs of Slowing Down – A Raucous and Reflective Concert in Kraków

Revered prog-rock icon, 73-year-old Peter Gabriel, started his new i/o tour in Tauron Arena, Kraków, last night. His music since leaving Genesis in ’75 has rarely been predictable, and his 4-decade-long solo career has always been required listening: genre-defying, experimental, musically diverse and ambitious, bristling with political/social commentary and wry wit.

Blood Lust: Jozef Van Wissem @Klub Re in Kraków

Jozef Van Wissem provides a night of Baroque wonder and macabre delight in Klub RE’s medieval cellar. Van Wissem looks fittingly otherworldly, like a shaman, the kind of soul who might guide you through a rather troublesome psilocybin journey, but who also might, given the wrong circumstances, make that trip even worse; he emanates pure serenity and calm wisdom.

Ninja Episkopat: A Post-Pandemic Jazz Assault

The bastard child of the pandemic, social media and the all-encompassing boredom we experienced in 2021, Ninja Episkopat is a fusion of electronica, contemporary and improvised music. Listen to their EP and read the review of their summer debut concert at Klub Baza.

The Thrill is Back. Incendiary debut from blues trio at Indalo Space

On Saturday night in Indalo Space, Luiz de Oliveira (guitar, vocals), Wojtas “Śwital” Świtalski (percussion) and Ethan Smith (bass) tore into energetic and bombastic blues covers of BB King, Muddy Waters and John Mayall to name but a few. This is blues for the 21st century, it’s musical medicine administered in the depths of a snowy mid-winter’s night. Fu•k it – this is a blues revival – and it’s here and now.