- Title: Polish folk group believe they may have helped inspire Bowie's “Warszawa”
- Date: 19th January 2016
- Summary: CHOIR SINGING "HELOKANIE"
- Embargoed: 3rd February 2016 10:08
- Keywords: Bowie Slask Warszawa
- Location: BOCHNIA, POLAND
- City: BOCHNIA, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Reuters ID: LVA00340PU7UH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The older generation of performers in the "Slask" Polish song and dance ensemble believe they have found the forgotten story of one song written by the late artist David Bowie.
Unknown to the younger singers and dancers of the folk music group , who promote regional dance and song in Poland and abroad, it is believed Bowie's song Warszawa from the 1977 album "Low" might have been inspired by a song the group performed at the time.
Bowie never performed in Poland, but in 1973 he stopped in Warsaw on a train journey from the Soviet Union. It is believed the stop lasted more than 40 minutes and the artist decided to go for a stroll where he bought a few records at a local bookstore - probably one of the scarce attractions in the grey communist city at the time. One of those is believed to be an album by "Slask" with their song "Helokanie", which they say could have inspired fragments of "Warsaw".
"Helokanie" is not a traditional folk song, but was written by the composer and founder of the "Slask" Stanislaw Hadyna.
"We knew about it in the seventies, because then I danced in the team, but quite a long time passed and we forgot about it. Only the death of David Bowie reminded us that such a thing took place," Slask's current artistic director, Kazimierz Ratajczak, said.
"We have prepared (the song "Helokanie") for the upcoming concerts to remind that an artist like David Bowie heard it somewhere and wrote a song basing on it. "Helokanie" must have made a great impression on him," he added.
For the younger members of the folk group, the possibility that this brief encounter made musical history has produced a strong impression.
"It was pretty moving, because what Bowie used was a minor (tone) version of what we perform, so definitely sadder and the tone is so very nostalgic. The fact that a great star was inspired by our creativity, and at the same time uses it in such a subtle and sad way is an amazing feeling," one of the young singers in the choir, Anna Tchorzewska, said.
Bowie, the visionary British rock star who coupled hits such as "Space Oddity" with trend-setting pop personas like "Ziggy Stardust," died on January 11 at age 69, apparently of liver cancer, just two days after releasing what appears to be the parting gift of a new album. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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