Back to Poland

Oops! I ran out of time to get a post in today. Although I want to keep this blog going with as few interruptions as possible, life keeps getting in the way.

So today's post will be a continuation of an old post on a Polish group called Blue Cafe.

Here's another great song from their album Ovosho. It gives you a little glimpse into a different , but equally attractive side of the group.

1. Blue Cafe - My Road (3.65 MB; 128 kbps MP3)

Roger Waters Opera - Polish Performance

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to go for the Roger Waters concert in St. Paul, Minnesota with a friend who had fortunately just broken up with his girlfriend (so he had an extra ticket!)

The concert was fantastic show. Roger performed numerous Pink Floyd classics and the entire Dark Side of the Moon album. The show was spectacular, with great props and massive high definition screens.

This gives me an excuse to present to you a (somewhat) rare selection today. When I was in Poland last month, I saw a CD on the shelves which claimed to be an opera by Roger Waters called Ça Ira. Frankly, I had not heard of this opera, but since it was a recording of the opera performed during its first full production in Poznan, Poland on August 25, 2006. The back of the CD dedicated it "To all my Polish friends." You can read more about the opera here.

The Roger Waters catalog is available on Amazon here. You can also get a reasonably priced 2-CD set of Ça Ira from Amazon. They also have a special version that is a hybrid SACD with a "making of" DVD here that seems like a slightly better deal overall. I have not been able to easily find the Polish performance that is featured on this blog.

Even though I'm not a huge opera fan (I don't mind it sometimes), I enjoyed this opera. Here, I present the overture from the opera and a song from the third act that is very slightly reminiscent of The Wall (probably because of the youth choir). So, here are songs from the Polish performance of Roger Waters' Ça Ira.

1. Roger Waters - Ça Ira Overture (3.76 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Roger Waters - To Take Your Hat Off (2.45 MB; 128 kbps MP3)

India - America - Poland - Spain - Colombia

Here's an unusually international post.

Here I am, an American of Indian origin listening to the radio in Poland and finding myself really enjoying a song that turns out to be by a Colombian musician.

So, this song comes on the radio and I ask my hosts in Poland who this is and they say it is a popular song by Fuanes. I assumed it was a Polish artist fusing some Spanish melody with his singing. After failing to communicate with the salesperson at the CD store when I asked for the "popular Polish group Fuanes,", I was finally told that I was looking for the CD by a Spanish singer called Juanes.

I eventually walked out of the CD store with the CD. Then, Wikipedia tells me that Juanes is a very big star from Medellin, Colombia. He's a huge star with a record number of Latin Grammys. Not only that, I was embarrassed to find that the album from which this song was taken (Mi Sangre; 2004) has sold almost a million copies in the US!

Here's great Spanish music, coming to you from Poland (from a man of Indian origin who is an American citizen!)

You can find his complete discography on Amazon here. Mi Sangre is available here. Why he's not a fixture on American radio, I just don't know.

Visit the artist's site at www.juanes.net.

1. Juanes - La camisa negra (MP3 Removed by IFPI)

Driving to Blue Café

While one of our hosts in Poland were driving us around Olsztyn, she had a CD playing in the car that was pleasant. The tunes were toe tapping and never jarring. Although the lyrics were in english, I could detect a distinct accent at times.

I asked our host about the CD and she said that it was a Polish group called Blue Café. This is from their newest CD Ovosho. The lead singer has an incredible controlled smoky voice not unlike Diana Krall or Norah Jones. She also seems to have quite an incredible range. Most of the songs on this album are in english, with a few Polish songs thrown in. On an interesting note, this band's Love Song served as Poland's entry to the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.

Frustratingly, this CD seems to be available on Amazon for about the same amount as I paid for it in Poland.

Again, I really did have a hard time picking a couple of songs to feature here. Given a choice, I would highlight about 6-8 songs here which all highlight different aspects of the group's talent. However, I'll stick to the catchiest melodies. The lyrics are not particularly sophisticated or subtle, but then again, let's not forget that groups like Abba took lyrics like "Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight, Take me through the darkness to the break of the day" all the way to platinum status mutliple times over!

Let's see how this is received. If there is enough demand, I may feature a couple more songs from this album later.

1. Blue Café - Barok (2.61 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. Blue Café - Baby, Baby (3.57 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Poland Trip Finds

Those of you who read my other blog know that I was having all sorts of adventures in Poland last week. I managed to pick up a few CDs there that I will feature on this blog at least during the first part of this week.

A well known rock band in Poland is Lady Pank. According to Wikipedia, this band has been around in various incarnations since the early 80s. There was even a time in 1986 that one of their songs got heavy rotation on MTV in the United States.

When I was in Poland last week, I picked up their latest album that has just been released and immediately fell in love with it. Very straightforward, clean, rock music which just happens to be in an unfamiliar language. I would classify it in the same genre as favorite 70s-80s-90s rock bands like Kansas, Boston, and Supertramp. Very catchy melodies and solid vocals.

Amazingly, I liked all the songs on this album (titled Strach Się Bać), so decided to relatively randomly pick a couple of songs to feature here. The first is the album's title track. The second is a more mellow track called Nie mam nic, prócz Ciebie (lady). I picked it simply because the title was so irrresistable! The big 25 on the cover of this album makes me think this is their 25th album. Quite an achievement for any band!

It seems Amazon lists several of their albums, but at outrageous prices. You can find the Amazon discography of Lady Pank here.

1. Lady Pank - Strach Się Bać (3.7 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Lady Pank - Nie mam nic, prócz Ciebie (lady) (3.69 MB; 128kbps MP3)