Warsaw Village Band - Instrumentation

Instrumentation

Notably, Warsaw Village Band have revived several musical traditions that were all but lost in Poland. The band use instruments rarely heard in modern music: frame drums, the hurdy-gurdy and the suka, a Polish folk fiddle from the 17th century stopped with the fingernails rather than the fingers, similar to the Bulgarian gadulka, the sarangi, or the rebec. The suka was practically unknown to the Polish people until member Sylwia Świątkowska began to play it in the band's concerts, and, later, on their albums. Additionally, many of the band's vocals are sung in a loud and powerful style remakably like the "open-throated" singing styles in Bulgarian music, called biały głos (white voice). This style of singing was used by shepherds in the Polish mountains to be heard for long distances.

Warsaw Village Band have also used modern elements in their music. Wykorzenienie contains scratching by the Polish hip hop artist DJ Feel-X, most likely as a nod to the phenomenal popularity of hip hop in Poland. The same album also includes electronic siren sound effects by the band's sound engineer, Mario "Activator" Dziurex, leading to a peculiar juxtaposition of new sounds upon old melodies.