Zespół Pieśni i Tańca ‘Łastiwoczka’ z Przemkowa / Song and Dance Ensemble ‘Łastiwoczka’ from Przemków

Przemków, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Lower Silesia (Dolny Śląsk)

The ensemble was founded in the year 2000. It is made up of descendants of Lemkos from Podkarpacie who were resettled to Lower Silesia as part of Operation Vistula (Akcja Wisła) in 1947. Its sizeable line-up consists of adults as well as children and adolescents. The ensemble’s rich repertoire mostly comprises common and ritual songs sung by a multi-generational group in Lemko and Polish languages based on the oral legacy of the oldest members of the community. Most notable are their polyphonic performances of ancient flirting, wedding and military service songs as well as ballads.

For more than twenty years of its existence, the ensemble has garnered silverware at numerous national competitions and festivals, including the National Festival of Folk Bands and SIngers in Kazimierz Dolny, in Hungary, Germany, Romania and Turkey. The performance of the ensemble’s vocal section at the International Festival ‘Wratislavia Cantans’ in Wrocław in 2019 met with very positive acclaim from professional music critics.

Recordings with the ensemble’s repertoire are kept in the archives of Polish Radio 2, the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Karkonosze Museum in Jelenia Góra.

Both the folklore of the Lemkos and the language they have retained in their everyday communication are currently regarded as precious cultural heritage of the province of Lower Silesia. The common acceptance and acknowledgment of the cultivated traditions are attested by the widespread participation of the inhabitants of Przemków in the Spotkania Trzech Pokoleń z Kulturą Łemkowską (Three-Generational Meetings with Lemko Culture) held in the autumn, where the participants sing age-old songs, serve and eat the delicacies of the Lemko cuisine and reminisce about the beloved dead who remain in the memory of the living. A great watra (a type of campfire) in their honour is also lit every year in Michałów.