I thought I’d share another Zakopower song: Krapka Soli.
polska
My always obsession...
Odd Surfing
Nothing special -- just an odd little chain of clicks...
I watched some of Searching for Bobby Fischer last night. It's the story of Josh Waitzkin, a child chess prodigy who still plays chess. I know his several of his games well because a chess program I have include several of his self-annotated games.
In the movie, Josh's foil is child prodigy Jonathan Poe. In real life, the boy's name was Jeff Sarwer.
Jeff no longer plays chess. But he has a little on his web site about it, specifically the games against Waitzkin he played twenty years ago. He writes,
I found some old scoresheets of games I played in the 80's. There are games from the World Youth Championships, New York Open, and for kicks the only two tournament games I played against Josh Waitskin. The first game I won, and in the second I blew a winning position and a draw occured [sic] that I never realized would become chess folklore. (The book and film "Searching for Bobby Fischer). In short, I was 7, he was 9, and I quickly forgot about the draw and won the world-10 championships 2 months later.You won't find many tournament games of mine, but the truth is that I never played in too many tournaments -- I was always happier playing speed chess in the park or in some random late night cafe or something
Truth is, Sarwer didn't just stop playing chess because he realized he preferred speed chess in the park to tournaments. The truth is more tragic.
Anyway, the subtitle of Jeff's web site is "citizen of the world" and he has a little interactive map that shows all the places he's been/lived. "Wonder if he's been" -- oh, you know where I checked.
Turns out he's currently living there, I think.
Stalin’s Gifts
One of the great things about Stalin was his gift-giving sense. Take Warsaw, for example: he supposedly gave Poles a choice between a subway and this:
The Palace of Culture and Science (photo by koelk_h).
Apparently, Stalin liked to recycle his gifts...
Christmas Dinner
All the prep, all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the -- let's face it -- hassle, and what do you get?
First course: barszcz (beetroot soup) with "ears" (wonton-like dumplings)
Second course: wild mushroom soup.
Third course: pierogi (somewhat larger dumplings) filled with sauerkraut and mushrooms.
Fourth course: fried sauerkraut and onions.
Main course: baked salmon, served with roasted potatoes, scallops, and asparagus.
And after dinner, gifts, including a new book for L.
Christmas Preparation
Clean, clean, clean — the first three steps in the Polish Christmas prep tradition. This year, we only did the second on those three steps: having a toddler running around makes cleaning a Sisyphusian challenge.
The next steps in preparing a traditional Polish Christmas: cook, bake, bake, cook, cook, bake, cook. Due again to the Girl, we have time for only half that. And we’re getting a late start at that. Last year we did the dumplings and “ears” weeks in advance and froze them.
Last night, I got started on the pierogi (dumplings) and uszki (“ear” — little dumplings, more like wontons).
First step: saute the mushrooms.
Second step: make a pulp out of the mushrooms.
Third step: squeeze every last bit of water out of the mushrooms.
This third step is critical, since the mushrooms will be the one of the main components of the pierogi and the sole component of the little wontons. Too much moisture in the filling and instead of nice little dumplings, you wind up with a doughy mess.
The next step after the mushrooms is simple: do the same thing with the sauerkraut.
It took me about ninety minutes last night to prepare the mushrooms and kraut, though most of that time was simply waiting for it to cook. But it’s frightening: ninety minutes for the filling of one of several dishes for Christmas Eve dinner.
But what is time when you’re cooking? The only regret is how long it takes to prepare all the food versus how quickly everyone eats it — the cook’s eternal curse.
Zakopower
Just before K and I moved from Poland in 2005, Zakopower, a new band, was growing popular. They performed at a few festivals and they had a hit single.
Unusual music -- a combination of traditional highlander music (the original music sounds and looks something like this) with modern beats and instruments.
The first time I heard them, I liked them, but I wasn't overwhelmed. The song was "Kiebys Ty"
Original, but it just didn't grab me.
When K's dad came from Poland, he brought with him some music that K'd requested. Among the CDs was Zakopower's Musichal.
Listening to it, I realized that Zakopower had committed an frequent-enough error: they'd released the wrong song! Most of the songs, while pleasant, didn't grab me the first listen.
One did: "Love's Regret," with one Boguslawa Kudasik taking lead vocals.
If you're interested you can get it at CD Universe.
I listened to this song at least half a dozen times yesterday. The opening violin is so mournful that it can make one positively long for Podhale, the mountainous region of southern Poland from which this music comes.
What I love so much about it is how it typifies Goralski singing without being, well, typical. That sense of hanging on with white-knuckled vocal chords (wonderfully mixed, thank you) is at the heart of Goralski music -- singing as high and mightily as possible without losing control.
"That's why all the Goralski songs are so short," K explains. "No one can sing like that for too long."
At YouTube
- Video for "Kiebys Ty
- Sopot Concert (Two song set: a cover of Kelis' "Trick Me," and "Kiebys Ty")
Ojcow
I've been in the process of uploading old pictures to Flickr in an effort to make our collection there more indicative of our travels in Poland.
Ojcow lies just outside of Krakow. It's a national park filled with rock formations and ancient castle ruins.
K and I visited Ojcow in late November 2002, for "Andrzejki" -- the last night of partying before Advent sets in.
The first thing that strikes you about Ojcow when you arrive the bus station. There's a tree growing through it.
We never learned why they built it around that tree. Maybe a rare tree? Maybe an ecological conscience? Maybe an architectural novelty?
Ojcow is in an area formerly ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire during the partition of Poland. The Austrians declared that the Poles shall not build a single church on this ground. Occupied Catholic Poles being what they are (like most occupied people, very stubborn), they figured out a way to get around that. Such rule bending drives me absolutely nuts when my students do it.
Dziadek
K's father came for a visit. He brought mushrooms that he picked and dried this year; he brought plum vodka that is to die for; he brought oscypek; most importantly, he brought himself.
Dziadek has a personality that is difficult to describe, but easy to discern from his facial expressions.
Everybody Looks East
Right now there is a labor shortage in Poland for the simple reason that thousands upon thousands have gone West, primarily to Ireland and the UK, seeking work. Off the top of my head I can think of five people I know who are now in the UK: two former students and three friends.
But this leaves Poland itself short. So it’s doing what the UK did: look to the East.
Warsaw, Poland 9 October, 2007 With the failure of the Polish Government’s efforts to attract Polish workers back to Poland, Chinese and Indian workers will be brought to Poland in order to make up for the severe labor shortage that exists in the country. (Poland Looks To China And India For Help)