Thousands fans arrived on Sunday and were given the chance to see Polish pop acts including VooVoo i Haydamaky, Zakopower, Coma, T. Love and Lady Pank.

The 50,000-seat arena, which will also host a semifinal, was built on the site of the old 10th Anniversary Stadium, which had stood since 1955 and welcomed Pope John Paul II in 1983.

The opening of the new stadium — originally planned for last June — had been repeatedly put off because construction experts and firefighters were finding work incomplete or needing improvement, including faulty outside stairs.

Take a look at the November blog:

Foldable roof in National Stadium in Warsaw

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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One of the best known hits of Irena Jarocka was “Odpływają kawiarenki” (Sail Away Cafes).

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The concept behind the Wrocław Guitar Festival (Wrocławski Festiwal Gitarowy, often referred to simply as the ‘Gitara’) is simple. To give this majestic instrument a platform to shine. Every year the festival invites some of the leading lights of the music world to show off their skills on the six-string, and previous plectrum pluckers in Poland include the likes of Rafael Cortes, Tommy Emmanuel, Giampaolo Bandini and many more. Typically there is one main concert per night for the duration of the festival, which takes place in one of Wrocław’s most prestigious venues such as in the Philharmonic Hall, the Hala Ludowa, or the Great Hall of the Wrocław Town Hall. The festival is also accompanied by master classes, workshops, instrument displays, music publishing presentations, and meetings with the artists themselves.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have anyone of you attended it?

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Villas died at her home earlier this month of untreated pneumonia and complications from a broken leg. She was 73 and lived alone in a house in Lewin Kłodzki, in southern Poland.

Her funeral at Warsaw’s Powązki cemetery, a burial ground for many Polish celebrities, drew hundreds of fans of her powerful voice that spanned four octaves. They came with flowers, her picture, and the national white-and-red flag with a black ribbon attached to it in a sign of mourning.

Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski said in a message that her “unique talent and unconventional ways will not be forgotten.”

“She was exceptional, unusual, one of the best recognizable personalities on Poland’s musical stage in recent decades,” Zdrojewski said in a letter that was read during a funeral Mass at the packed St. Borromeo Church in Powązki.

From 1966 to 1969, Villas — a cascade of curly blond hair and crinoline dresses her trademarks — sang at the Casino de Paris and at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, performing with luminaries such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Paul Anka and Eartha Kitt.

She also recorded songs for Capitol Records.

She appeared in several United States movies, including 1969’s “Paint Your Wagon” with Lee Marvin and “Heaven with a Gun” with Glenn Ford.

In 1970, she returned to Poland to tend to her ailing mother, and found herself trapped as the communist authorities refused to approve her passport. She did not return to the U.S. until 1987 with a tour that started at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Born Czesława Cieślak in Belgium in 1938 to a Polish coal miner, she once said her career was launched in 1960 by the head of state Polish Radio, composer Władysław Szpilman — whose own story of survival during the Holocaust was the theme of director Roman Polański’s 2003 Oscar-winning movie “The Pianist.”

Villas was also known as a colorful personality who refused to bend to the requirements of a career. Since the late 1980s, she had given only occasional performances.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Cicha noc, święta noc

Cicha noc, święta noc,
Pokój niesie ludziom wszem
A u żłobka Matka Święta
Czuwa sama uśmiechnięta
Nad Dzieciątka snem,
Nad Dzieciątka snem.

Cicha noc, święta noc,
Pastuszkowie od swych trzód
Biegną wielce zadziwieni,
Za anielskim głosem pieni
Gdzie się spełnił cud,
Gdzie się spełnił cud.

Cicha noc, święta noc,
Narodzony Boży Syn,
Pan wielkiego majestatu
Niesie dziś całemu światu
Odkupienie win,
Odkupienie win.

Silent Night, holy night

Silent Night, holy night
Brings peace to people everywhere
And at the manger, the Holy Mother
Watches alone, smiling,
Over the Child’s sleep,
Over the Child’s sleep.

Silent night, holy night,
The shepherds from their flocks
Run greatly surprised
After the angel’s voice announcing
Where the miracle has been fulfilled,
Where the miracle has been fulfilled.

Silent night, holy night,
God’s (new)born Son,
The Lord of great majesty
Brings today to the entire world
The redemption of sin,
The redemption of sin.

Here are 2 different versions of this carol:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Polish is a Western Slavonic language spoken in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus, it has about 40 million speakers in the world. Poland is a nation which has 38.5 million individuals, as the official language of Poland, it play an critical function in communication of Polish, it is also utilized by the 10M Polish diaspora all more than the world. Polish is a single of Western Slavic group belonging to the Indo-European loved ones of languages. it is the official language of Poland which comes from West Slavic languages in Central Europe. Poland has a quick history of their country, but Polish Culture is extremely popular in the USA. The Polish heritage festival which last 3 day hold on every June in Milwaukee, is the greatest festival of Polish culture in the US. The Polish festival is an festival for families and singles complete of music and dance, food and concert, many folks will take element in this stunning celebration.

You can understand it on the web by getting into some Web portal, Polish World is a Internet portal in Polish and English. It has companies about polish dictionary, Poland travel, polish translation, Poland hotels and so on. You can also discover history on the web, there are numerous sorts of tasks waiting you to pick. You can study the crucial and interesting information of Polish which you are interested in, and learn its culture and background if you like.

Polish calligraphy is really fascinating, several individuals coming from various country’s eager to discover this variety of language art. For instance, most of common classic polish names written in Chinese calligraphy, divide into male name and female name.

Polish music developes really rapidly in the contemporary time. Given that 1985 promoting Polish music has promoted globally. Library and publishing center devoted Polish music with information about Polish composers to various types of competitions, so that Polish music is popular from then on.

You don’t comprehend Poland until finally you realize Polish Foods. Polish Conventional Foods is extremely scrumptious such as sunsets and authentic Polish cuisine, you can taste these foods as much as you can if you travel in Poland, so when you buy some meals which appears very good from your eyes, the seller will tell you how significantly it cost in Polish, possibly you can not understand what he or she stated, but they can make use of their physique language to tell you how significantly it price, then you ask them to repeat the what they mentioned a second ago as soon as, you will understand a new polish word.

In order to understand Polish far more, you can come to distinct spots to acquire information about Poland. This kind of as newspapers for information on nearby problems, politics, occasions, as effectively as accommodation, bargains, Restaurant and Gallery, and and so on.

When you are studying this language, don’t forget pick a useful learning tool this kind of as Rosetta Stone Polish.

Browsing by means of all the issues above, maybe you have discovered some thing on learning a foreign language, especially the one particular you have selected. Want to find out a lot more, click Rosetta Stone Arabic and Rosetta Stone Chinese.

Kraków emerged from WWII nearly unscathed. As a outcome, right now the city is Poland’s leading tourist attraction, with a lot of top notch sights. For far more information on the Rick Steves’ Europe Television series — such as episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel details on destinations and more 

Associated Polish Culture Content articles

W deszczowy dzień… On a rainy day…

Na przekór pogodzie

In spite of the weather

Na przekór przyrodzie

In spite of the nature

Mam w sobie słońce

“I feel the sun”

Słońce mam

“Feel the sun”

Wiatr bluesem kołysze

Wind rocks the blues

Muzykę wciąż słyszę

I still hear the music

Deszcz ścieka po włosach

Rain drips through my hair

Ja tańczę w kaloszach

I’m dancing in rain boots

Mam w sobie muzykę

“I feel the music”

Muzykę mam

“Feel the music”

Wiatr z deszczem zacina

Wind and rain jams

Szczęśliwa dziewczyna

Happy girl

Na przekór pogodzie

In spite of the weather

Na przekór przyrodzie

In spite of the nature

W słoneczny ruszam tan

I’m starting a sun dance

I pod parasole

And under umbrellas

Przechodniom zaglądam

of people I peek

Każdemu promień uśmiechu dam

Each one a beam with a smile I will give

Rozdaję słońce

I give the sun

Słońce mam

I have the sun

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Here is one play which I remember I recommended to my friends asking me about Polish plays for children and for other people and they found it wonderful to use. It is also related to winter and Christmas season because it has to do with a bear who is deeply asleep, like usually bears are in winter. But of course you can play it any time…

The Old Bear (Stary niedźwiedź)

Children chose one person as a bear. The bear is sitting in the middle of the circle pretending that he is asleep and it is snoring loudly, while other children are walking in a circle and sing:

Old bear is sleeping deeply,
Stary niedźwiedź mocno śpi,

Old bear is sleeping deeply,
Stary niedźwiedź mocno śpi,

We are walking on our tiptoes because we’re afraid of him,
Na palcach chodzimy, bo się go boimy

When he’d wake up he would eat us!
Jak się zbudzi to nas zje,

When he’d wake up he would eat us.
Jak się zbudzi to nas zje.

Then, children stand round thogether and recite:

The first hour (passed) – the bear sleeps
Pierwsza godzina – niedźwiedź śpi,

The second hour (passed)- the bear snores
Druga godzina – niedźwiedź chrapie,

The third hour – the bear wakes up and he’s catching us!!!
Trzecia godzina – niedźwiedź budzi się i łapie!!!

Then the person in the middle pretending to be a bear stands up and tries to catch somebody while children break a circle and run away trying to escape. The caught person is a new bear and the play repeats!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hope you enjoy it!

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Theories on the origin of the polka have been well explored before. Briefly, the music and dance are of Bohemian (Czech) origin. It was called the polka either after the Czech word for “half” in reference to the dance’s characteristic half-step, or in sympathy for the Poles’ 1830 uprising. The very word “polka” means Polish woman in the Polish language. One theory says that it may have been a Polish folk dance borrowed by the Bohemians. Another says it has Gypsy roots. Some say it can even be traced to a single person, a Bohemian girl named Anicka Chadimova.

At any rate, form its early 1830s beginnings it spread across Europe through theater performances and became a true craze. Its appeal was that it was so unlike any dance or music that existed at the time in western Europe, freewheeling and lighthearted. By the early 1840s it had captivated London. In 1844 it arrived in America, first performed in New York.

First Lady Julia Tyler was a New York socialite who had recently married the President. She and Mr. Tyler loved to dance, and she introduced the polka to the White House. One can just imagine skinny old hooknosed John Tyler twirling around the East Room floor with his wife during a cotillion ball, to the delight of various senators, diplomats, cabinet secretaries and their wives.

Classical composers picked up on the polka. Many accomplished composers such as Bedrich Smetana, Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss and his sons Johann, Edward and Josef, wrote many polkas for the symphony orchestra.

By the 1850s the polka craze had begun to subside. Yet to this day it remains a popular, if minor, music form in many countries. There are German polkas and Mexican polkas. Argentine, Scottish, Italian and Finnish polkas. Trivia question: The polka is the national dance of what country? Paraguay! There, it is often sung in the native language of Guarini, and it differs considerably from the polka with which we are all familiar. And the American polka has its own uniqueness, having been influenced by American popular music and infused by Polish migrants with Polish folk music. Ironically, the polka never was very popular in Poland and is not heard much there today.

In the U.S. the polka maintained its popularity among Central European immigrants and their descendants, and German American and Mexican American bands perform their own style of the music. During the big band era the Andrews Sisters had big hits with the songs “Pennsylvania Polka” and “Beer Barrel Polka.” The later was very popular with allied soldiers during World War II.

The polka was such a hit in the 1840s that the word polka was attached to the names of many products sold. There was no connection to the dance at all, and nothing very different about them, but entrepreneurs saw a good way to make a buck from its popularity by adding the word “polka” to an array of goods. There were polka hats, polka fans, polka cakes, polka hairstyles and polka curtain ties. A new fabric print was introduced that featured symmetrical placement of dots throughout the material. This was dubbed polka dot style and it is the only one of these “polka” products to have maintained its name to the present day, undoubtedly due to the fact that it was a new, unique product. The name polka dot stuck.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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