Amarok (Pol)

Ok, let me continue with polish bands revival.

The bio is copied from their official site. But without a couple of first paragraphs and it seems out of context. I suggest to put here the whole bio. Here it is (with some fixes of spelling):

Michał Wojtas - was born on 23rd of December 1977 in Kielce. He began to play as a child. He played only piano.
That time his musical abilities and creativity appeared. He found his inspirations in the music of J. M. Jarre.

With the end of primary school he started to play classic guitar. Later on he learned some techniques of playing on ethnic percussion instruments and so on. He was studying music mainly by his own, moreover he attended secondary musical school and also other institutions connected with music.

In the meantime he was creating for the TV Kielce and for local broadcasts.
In 1993 Michal for the first time heared about instrumental art of Mike Oldfield. This occurance changed the direction of his artistic development. As he was fascinted with Oldfield's music, he tried to imitate his way of playing on electrical guitar. Pink Floyd also influenced him. Then he met Bartosz Jackowski, person with similar inspirations, guitarist. In consequence they started to cooperate for next few years. Michał and Bartosz composed separately, but after they put it together,and that is how their music was created. Michał did also an arrangement.

In years 1996-97 they recorded the first demo. They went to Warsaw, to independent editor Ars Mundi. It was promoting music on Japan and western european markets. They got quite positive and warm feedback from the chief of Ars Mundi-Mieczysław Stoch. He was ready to risk and edit the debiut. But they resigned cause they didn't feel ready to do this. They wanted to wait until they ideas would be more clear and concrete.

During further work on the tracks and creating new music, Michał started to be guitarist in pop-rock group 'Soundwich' (later 'Tokyo').The group was giving concerts and the voices of critics were aprooving.'Sounwich' recorded two demo records. Nevertheless Michał left the group, he preferred to play music for Ars Mundi.

 In 1999 Michał started to study in Institute of Musical Education in Akademia Świętokrzyska in Kielce. One year later he decided to record demo with different instrumental tracks. Thanks to the fascination in Oldfields album 'Amarok', he gave its name to his project.

In 2001 there was the next meeting with Mieczysław Stoch . Soon after this, the decision about the recording the debiut of Amarok was made up. There were also some changes within the duet. Bartosz finally became the co-composer of a few tracks. The rest, arrangement and playing was the role of Wojtas.This time he found strong inspiration in music of Mike Knopfler and Jeff Beck.

During autumn of 2001 the project amarok was welcoming the studio. At the beginning of next year debiut was available in the shops. Soon after this fact Michał was proposed to play the guitar on the solo album of British musician Collin Bass (Camel), entitled 'In the meantime'; also on his single 'Gently, Kindly'.

 At the same time he was working on the material to the second album of Amarok. He also decided to invite Collin Bass as a singer.
 They started to work fast and in consequence in the end of 2002 the second album 'Neo Way' was ready.
 With the begining of 2002 the record was sold to many music markets in the world.
 Few months later Michal started to work on the next album, entitled "Metanoia". This time among tracks compsed only by Michal, there are some co-composed by Michal Ściwiarski -musician (keyboards, synthesises)
 And co-producer of this album.
 In difference from previous albums, Metanoia includes multimedia presentation and as well videoclip .
 Album had a crucial meaning ,cause apart from some influences, Michał started to look for his own style. This change was strongly connected with his spirituality.
 "Metanoia" it is not only studio project , but also concert project. The record appeared in shops in the end of March 2004.

Now albums:

Amarok

1. I'm a Rock 2:17
2. Fieldmour I 9:10
3. Fieldmour II 6:37
4. Avalon 3:16
5. Fieldmour III 8:36
6. Lavera 3:32
7. Aqu 2:54
8. Meriba 6:51
9. Seya 6:30
10. Massa 8:04
11. Astron 2:30
12. Khana 3:35

Lineup:
Michał Wojtas- guitar (electrical, slide, classical, acoustic, bass), piano, synthesizers, sampling, ethnic drums, percussion, woodwind, voice.

Guests: Małgorzata Stoch - violin, Joanna Jaworz-Dutka - flute, Krzysztof Pitula - percussion, - Agnieszka Dudek - solo vocals, Marta Wojteczek - voice, backing vocals, Robert Srzednicki - backing vocals, Bartosz Jackowski - backing vocals.

Released: Ars Mundi 2002 AMS 029 R





Neo Way

Should be:
11. Neo Way IV (5:30)

Lineup:
Guitars,piano,sampling and programming: - Michał Wojtas

Special guest: Colin Bass –vocal, backing vocals (tracks 2,4,7)

Musicians guesting: Lilia Wojciechowska - backing vocals, Marta Wojteczek - backing vocals, Agnieszka Dudek - backing vocals, Artur Szolc - drums

Released: Ars Mundi 2002 AMS 031 R




Metanoia

I found different timings:
1. Metanoia 6:28
2. Canticle 5:18
3. Rules 3:07
4. Look around 4:02
5. Tirzah 4:50
6. In Struggle 5:00
7. Come What May 3:12
8. The moment 4:13
9. Wind from the east 4:36
10. The day after... 3:51
11. Landscapes 7:24

Lineup:  should be Michał Wojtas, Michał Ściwiarski, Rafał Nowak (just a couple of bugs in polish spelling)
Released: Ars Mundi 2004 AMS 036 R


Edited by Tuzvihar - March 24 2007 at 11:28

Well, I've never heard them so I'can't tell if you're right or wrong.
And thanks! I'm doing a task assigned to me by Joolz. The task is to point out all mistakes in all polish bands' entries. Still a lot of work before me.