Zakopower bring a taste of the Tatras to London
Barka UK would like to give a special thanks to Katy Carr and Zakopower for their kindness and generosity in providing Barka employees and service users with tickets for their performance at the HMV Forum in Kentish Town on Sunday, 13 May.
It was a bright and pleasant evening as Katy Carr and Zakopower prepared to enter on stage. On exiting Kentish Town tube and joining the crowds you could hear and feel the anticipation for what could only be one of the main events of the Polish cultural calendar in London. The Forum – a former art deco cinema – looked impressive with its six dark, veined marble columns looming above its entrance. Posters of other concerts soon to be gracing the venue, including the likes of Gary Numan and Marillion, set the scene for what would be an important gig for Katy Carr, the power rockers from the Tatra Mountains and their expatriate faithful.
The appetiser came in the form of the bubbly and talented Katy Carr, herself of half-English, half-Polish origin. Carr’s powerful yet gentle, soulful voice filled the interior of the Forum, and was accompanied by some clever melodies and rhythmic strums on her keyboard and ukulele respectively. Her performance was sassy yet meaningful; Carr connected sentimentally with the largely Polish audience, both subtly through her music and lyrics, but also visually. Her sublime hit “Kommander’s Car”, about a Polish engineer who escaped from Auschwitz, was touching, while videos of Wojtek the Bear and having her name emblazoned over the white eagle on the bright red front cover of a Polish passport were great crowd-pleasers for the fun-loving audience.
Following the brief interval, Zakopower lived up to their name by offering the audience a relentless, energetic two-hour performance. The Zakopane-based band fronted by Sebastian Karpiel-Bułecka blended folk and traditional mountain dance music with rock: a daring combination which went down a treat for the crowd. As experienced through the lively delivery of “Boso” (meaning “barefoot”), Karpiel–Bułecka’s outfit stayed true to their roots while also managing to weave in a distinctly modern edge to their music. Eclectic musicians with real joie de vivre, Zakopower’s rich baritone vocals and sharp technique and melodic improvisation across a full range of instruments – both string and percussion – mesmerised the crowd. A cultured and feel-good night out to mark the beginning of British summer.
Lee Seaman
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