Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.21 07/98)
excerpts from an interview with Zbyszek Florek (Keyboards)
The truth is that we did not choose symphonic rock at all. It was a sort of natural progression. We started playing together and this form just evolved. We liked it and decided to go along this way. Then we added flute to our sound, later on Emila joined the band with her vocal and cello, our arrangements became more complex... So it was not a conscious choice but a natural evolution of sound.
When you started, have you ever thought about becoming that "successful" like you are today and getting such positive reactions from all over the world?
At the beginning, we never thought about it. We were very young - when we started we were only 17-18 years old - and we played just for ourselves as we enjoyed it very much. We hope it remains so - we continue playing because it is for us a source of great pleasure and joy. We become more and more professional... we want to play at our best. Of course, we would like to earn our living by playing music. We are very happy that our music has met with such positive reactions. It is really great for us. But while playing new songs we have never thought about the reaction we can get, whether it will be liked or not.
You chose to sing in you own mother language which I think fits very well to your music but can't be understood by everyone. Why didn't you choose to sing in english?
Our second album will be released in two language version: Polish and English. But we think that we made a good choice - to release our debut album in Polish version only. We received very good reactions, with many people saying that the album would be less interesting if we decided to sing in English. Polish is our own language first of all; we feel all its intricacies and can express all our feelings and ideas. What is more, while recording our first album we never thought about reaching such a wide audience. It was the main reason we decided to stick to Polish.
For not understanding your lyrics, can you tell what the lyrics of your songs are mainly about?
It is really hard to say... The lyrics from our debut album were written mainly to fit the music. We wanted to emphasize the mood of our music with lyrics. And so they tell about dreams, love... The do not touch any particular subject... You cannot find any ideology in them or any particular message. Their main task was to supplement the music. It will be similar with our second album: there will more about dreams and angels - as the titles suggests - lyrics will be even more ethereal than on the first record so it is very hard to say what they are about. You just have to feel them more that understand.
Were the reactions always positive or which feedback did you get so far?
Yes, we were lucky to get positive reactions, mainly from Holland where we have a large group of devoted fans. We received many invitations for concerts and festivals which for us is a sort of evidence that people like our music and enjoy our performances. For us - as for every performer - it is the greatest reward.
Lately I heard the rumour that your flute player Ewa quit the band. What were the reasons for her departure?
For some time already there have been musical and social differences between Ewa and the rest of the band. It's been hard for everybody involved; in this situation Ewa's departure was only a question of time. Beside, recently Ewa did not work as hard as the rest of us, especially while working on our new material for the second album. She was not ready to enter the studio with us and it was the main reason we decided to go separate ways. Right now we have a very good new flute player, Jacek Zasada, and we are very happy with the way everything was settled. We have known him for a long time and he is a very valuable addition to our line-up.
I saw your explosive live performance at the Festivals in Zwolle and Uden (NL). How important it is for you to play live?
I personally prefer playing live to sitting in the studio and recording. When you stand on the stage and play you can feel the immediate reaction of the audience, it is also great fun. We do enjoy it and it is very important for us.
At these concerts you also played some cover versions and also rearranged Deep Purple's "Child In Time". Will "Child In Time" or other different cover versions ever be released on CD or do you only play them live?
We will release an EP with the live version of "Bajkowy" ("Like A Fairy Tale") from our first album and the fragments of Camel's "Snow Goose". As for "Child In Time"... time will tell. Maybe we will think about a live album? Who knows?
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 1998