Wolosi & Lasoniowie

Wolosi and Lasoniowie – Where the traditional meets the classical
Wolosi and Lasoniowie combine the seemingly disparate worlds of traditional and classical music to create a completely new muisical entity.
Wolosi are musicians from Silesian Beskids who previously played in the band Walasi. Jan Kaczmarzyk, Zbigniew Michalek, and Robert Waszut were born and grew up in Trojwies which is a triangle of three villages: Istebna, Jaworzynka, and Koniakow. It’s a region where tradition is more than simply alive - it’s vibrant, it’s thriving, and it continues to be passed on down the generations. Hardly any musical occasion goes by without traditional
melodies being played on violins and gaidas, and Silesian Beskids is rich in pastoral instruments too such as the archaic trombita.
Wolosi is a name that puts the musicians firmly in touch with a tradition that is hundreds of years old. The settlers from historical Wallachia (territory of modern day Romania and Moldova) who came to Silesian Beskids in the 15th and 16th centuries made a huge mark on the local musical culture. The common cultural heritage is evident both in melodic and stylistic similarities. Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the melodies played by Wolosi bring to mind the music of Romanian lautari? But that Carpathian element is just one of the inspirations in this multi-plot story. The traditional musicians, Wolosi, are joined by city born-and-bred classical musicians Krzysztof and Stanislaw Lason. They’re associated with the Music Academy in Katowice, where Krzysztof is an assistant professor and his brother Stanislaw is a recent cello graduate. They too are part of a musical dynasty - their father, Aleksander Lason, is an acclaimed conductor, pianist, and composer, and a member of generation ‘51. Music has constituted a natural part of their lives, but thanks to the influence of their father, they got to know it from a completely different perspective to Wolosi.
Despite the all-encompassing definition of the world-music genre, the music played by Wolosi-Lasoniowie cannot simply be labelled world music. The virtuosity and mutual understanding between the musicians creates a magic which takes their art to a completely new level. Tradition is the starting point for the journey, a creative inspiration for their own compositions. Melodies from Silesian Beskids are quite pronounced, but the pervading musical character is broadly Carpathian. The true value of their art is in how the musicians adapt these elements and put them together to create new musical experiences. Improvisation is key to their performances. It takes maturity and a rare talent to balance such technical skill and imagination, but their music proves that Wolosi and Lasoniowie have it balanced to perfection.

In 2010, the band was awarded Grand Prix, Czeslaw Niemen’s prize and the audience award called “Burza Braw” in the “Nowa Tradycja” festival organized by Polish Radio. In 2011 their composition named Dusk (Groniczek) won Grand Prix during Svetozar Stracina Grand Prix 2011 in Bratislava.