MAREK GRECHUTA & ANAWA: KOROWÓD

MAREK GRECHUTA enjoyed a fruitful career as one of Poland's best known and favorite artists both before the fall of the communist regime and for many years after. Born in the far eastern city of Zamość, spent many years in the university studying music but in 1966 he formed the folk group ANAWA and set out to tackle the art of poezja śpiewana, a Polish art form used to describe a poem being used as the centerpiece of a song with only sparse instrumental accompaniment. Spending a few years honing their skills, ANAWA debuted in 1970 with a unique mix of poezja śpiewana. Baroque pop, chamber folk and slight progressive elements. The album was mostly poetic songs by Polish poets which featured a prominent violin and cello but a fairly sparse sounding album in relation to the band's second album KOROWÓD which simply means 'Pageant' in English.

Although GRRECHUTA formed ANAWA, the first two albums featured an equal billing as MAREK GRECHUTA & ANAWA and while GRECHUTA would go on to produce a great number of solo albums and hits, ANAWA on the other hand would only experience one single album after this with its sole moniker hogging the album cover. A much more adventurous release than the debut KOROWÓD immediately sets itself apart and embarks on a very expansive journey that continued the art of poezia śpiewana with progressive folk but with more emphasis on the progressive elements including a larger orchestral and symphonic approach. Arriving on the scene in 1971, GRECHUTA & ANAWA offered the Polish scene some of the very first glimpses into the more sophisticated universe of progressive music with more abstract philosophical subject matter and more emphasis on more complex composiitons.

Although lyrics play a vital role in this release, they are all in the Polish language so immediately anyone who doesn't speak the language will be alienated in that front however the music itself is just as captivating with impressive folk based constructs that offer classical musical accompaniments and a touch of jazz and chamber folk. The original album featured nine tracks but the later remastered versions added an additional eight bonus tracks. The music is a rich tapestry of funky bass grooves, softly strummed guitars, poetic lyrical prose including lush backing choirs and somewhat of a 60s beat vibe especially in the percussion department. The title track is one of the most ambitious as it incorporates a rock beat accompanied fluttering flute lines that pretty much dominate and gain increasing strength. The track takes its sweet time to unfold and features an extended running time of nearly ten minutes. The track ends in a psychedelic haze of flute fluttering and trippy bass grooves sounding as if they've joined Germany's Krautrock scene.

GRECHUTA would part ways with ANAWA after this release and go for a more mainstream approach after which he would become a Polish superstar in the 1970s. The next ANAWA release without GRECHUTA would continue on in the same progressive rock / folk manner sprinkled with jazzy accouterments but the band would fold soon thereafter. Given that folk lovers including those who crave the more progressive varieties tend to be focused on lyrical content it's no surprise that this album has not been as appreciated outside of the world of Eastern Europe due to the language barrier however the music alone on this one is more than worth the price of admission with some very sophisticated musical developments throughout this set of nine tracks. In many ways this sounds like some of the early progressive folk bands from the Italian scene. Imagine Le Orme singing in Polish then you're not too overly far off!