Czeslaw Niemen & Slawomir Kulpowicz - Song For Harprit More: Album "Samarpan" relies heavily on the Indian influence in this sleek kind of almost pop - like jazz. The pitter patter rhythm of the 'tabla', has been used throughout, with a sustained control - never overwhelming the melody, and never fading away either. (Max Babi,AllAboutJazz). Czeslaw Niemen was born in Stare Wasiliszki in Grodno Province. After the World War II it became a part of Byelorussian SSR and in the 1950s he was allowed to move to Poland. He made his debut in the early 1960s, singing Polish rock and soul music. He possessed an unusually wide voice range and equally rich intonation. He was also an ardent composer and a keyboard player. Soon after his first successful concerts in France, he started to use the pseudonym Niemen instead of his real name, gaining wider notoriety in Poland and making it easier to pronounce by foreigners (Niemen is a Polish pronunciation of the Neman River and this way he wanted to mark his birth country). His song of 1967, "Dziwny jest ten świat" (Strange Is This World) became the most important Polish protest song of that era. He was one of the first Polish performers to wear long hair and colourful clothes and introducing the style of psychedelia to communist Poland, which annoyed the officials. The first three LP album's Niemen recorded with his band "Akwarele" (Watercolours). Subsequently, he recorded with his other new bands: "Enigmatic", "Grupa Niemen" and "Aerolit". In 1969 he changed musical style to progressive rock while recording the monumental album Enigmatic. The most notable song from it was "Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod" (A Mournful Rhapsody in Memory of Józef Bem), based on the 19th century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The rest of Enigmatic songs were a sung poetry as well. Niemen played Hammond organ, later mellotron and Moog synthesizer on his records.
In the early 1970s, Niemen recorded three English language albums under the CBS label. In 1974 he recorded Mourner's Rhapsody with Jan Hammer and Rick Laird from Mahavishnu Orchestra. In the seventies, Niemen turned to jazz-rock fusion and electronic music (Katharsis album). In 1972 he also contributed with a song performed by him in "Wesele" (The Wedding (1972 film)) by director Andrzej Wajda , laureate of an honorary Oscar. Later, Niemen also composed film soundtracks and theater music. In the 1990s he showed interest in art painting and computer graphics. He died of cancer in Warsaw.
Slawomir Kulpowicz was a member of probably the most important band of Polish Jazz of 1980s - the Quartet. Created by four equally talented musicians, it was the typical "band without a leader." The ensemble consisted of Kulpowicz on piano, Tomasz Szukalski (saxophones), Pawel Jarzebski (bass) and Janusz Stefanski (drums). Although the promise of the Quartet, which formally existed for only two years (1978-1980), has never fully materialized, the band won a permanent place in the history of Polish Jazz. It was probably the most ambitious and original attempt by any Polish Jazz musicians, except Zbigniew Seifert, to re-interpreted the music of late John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner. Kulpowicz was a graduated of the Academy of Music in Katowice (1974), the home of some of Poland's most recognized contemporary composers, including Gorecki. However, it was not pianists like himself, but John Coltrane who was his greatest inspiration, and to to whom he devoted his master's thesis entitled the "Art of John Coltrane." In 1976, Kulpowicz joined the Zbigniew Namyslowski quartet with whom he toured extensively. Later on Kulpowicz worked as a leader of his own group inFormation which fluctuated from duo, to trio, to quartet (with Tomasz Stanko), to sextet, and finally devoting himself to solo work. But it was a 1978 appearance at the "Jazz Yatra Festival" in India which had a profound and life altering effect on Kulpowicz. Since then, he has visited India several times on a musical and spiritual quest. He has paired with Indian sitar master Shujaat Khan and with Turkish master musician Burhan Ocal. This turn Eastward and Inward created an urge to express his spiritual yearnings through his work. His desire lead him to meet musical master Alice Coltrane and culminated in a spiritual jazz album "Samarpan Songs" and in his "St. John Passion". From the mid 80s computer technology captured Kulpowicz's imagination. He successfully used the new medium in his works for film scores, stage productions, commercials, and television programs. Slawomir Kulpowicz passed away on February 2008.
VIDEO DESCRIPTION:Cz. Niemen Composer Singer-Songwriter MultiInstrumentalist Poet Painter S. Kulpowicz Musician Pianist Composer Producer Synthesizer Gong Vocals Song for Mohindar Ananda Maa Samarpan The Only Prayer Harprit Janusz Smyk Saxophone Anna Faber Harp Witold Szczurek DoubleBass Krzysztof Zawadzki Krz.Przybylowicz Percussion Jerzy Pomianowski Tabla Tamboura Muhammad Kamaluddin/Tabla

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