It is truly uplifting when instead of insisting on looking for common links connecting two countries as different as Poland and Denmark, these links are created anew. Instead of looking for cultural ties in both the distant and not-so-distant past (and in the case of Poland and Denmark such connections can be found, for example in the figure of the outstanding Baroque composer Kaspar Förster the Younger), we can offer contemporary audiences new “cultural crossroads”. Four Danish musicians playing three string and one plucked instrument (a cittern – a member of the lute family) perform original music inspired by, inter alia, Danish folklore. In Poland, the ensemble will present a new programme inspired by the Polish-Danish roots of its double bass player, Mathaeus Bech, who was brought up listening to both Polish and Danish lullabies. At first, the musicians will present their vision of Danish musical folklore, but it will be a folklore conjured up fully from their imagination, that is new melodies written in the style of traditional Danish music. This will be followed by a piece commissioned especially for this occasion and written by the Polish composer and percussionist Albert Karch. In the last part of the concert, entitled “Crossing Borders”, the artists will try to highlight the universal character of music, which appeals to people regardless of what divides them (fortunately, in this case, only the amber sea).
Bartłomiej Gembicki