In regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and many refugees seeking safety in Poland, plenty of initiatives sparkled across the country. The “Spring Convention” of Polish folk groups is another one of them. The concert will take place on Saturday, March 12th, at 7 P.M. in Strefa, a music club in Cracow. The profits will be donated to Polish Humanitarian Action.
StrefaEtno is a Cracovian music club that unites and promotes artists creating folk and folk-inspired music. Every year they organize a concert of Christmas carols, but with spring coming soon, they decided to broaden the repertoire to welcome the new season. Traditionally, Poles made an effigy of Morana, the pagan goddess of winter, cold and death to later burn or drown it. It symbolized a farewell to winter. During the concert, groups will sing folk songs, talk about their origins and stories surrounding them.
The concert will be opened by Ruta Miata, a training group led by Sofia Herian, who graduated from the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts and now popularizes Ukrainian folk. The next performers will be Swada, who often perform abroad with original projects and a female group Dola-Zespół Pieśni bez Tańca (Singing Group with No Dance) who present mostly ritual, traditional songs. Then, an á cappella group Łada will perform Croatian and Serbian compositions. A male group Mołodcy will close the concert with Cossack’s works.
The income from tickets will be donated to Polish Humanitarian Action, an organisation supporting the victims of humanitarian crises since 1992. Their newest focus is to help the refugees from Ukraine.