Disko Disko Partizani !

“I’m a single leg! I’m a single leg! I’m a single leg! I’m a single leg! who o o – ooooo – ooooh – who o o – ooooo – ooooh – “ Rings a bell ? Beyonce obviously! Well the slightly altered version of it that we mistakenly made up on Saturday. Our mixed-up version of Beyonce’s song was 1^st performed in Lemoniada in Wroclaw. “I’m a single leg, I’m a single leg, I’m a single leg, I’m a single leg….! Our single leg got really jiggy with it, tripping the light fantastic and had a few of us shaking legs and toes and moving them in circles on the dancefloor. It was only the following day that these bizarre but well performed lyrics were rectified by our friend. We had actually been dancing to Beyonce's “I’m a single lady” and had quite naturally transformed the whole tune into a grotesque but revolutionary single-legged performance. This was in Lemoniada, crowning a week-end of fun-loving music at Salvator, Maniana, Il Gusto and MTV Dance channel hit listening in the mornings with a bunch of friends visiting. Salvator is a bar in the basement of a building comparable to Maniana just off Plac Solny, not to be confused with “Salve” in the same area which has a door so could appear to be the Salve-Tor one’s looking for – Although it has a door (Tor in German), Salve is not Salvador... So when you do get to Salvador's door expect to be swirled into a wild atmosphere of Balkan music and jump to Shantel’s gypsy electronic beat & "Disko Disko Partizani"along with the tireless crowd.

Goran Bregovic’s Kalashnikov will also have you jumping with high-energy, pretending you are blowing in a trumpet part of Goran's 40 -piece band and orchestra – and with pride! Highly recommended! After Salvator (and not Salve) follows Maniana where the London Beat song “I’ve Been Thinking of You” pretty much sums up our mood and moves at that stage on the stage and on the table.

To put it in a nutshell – as the French would say – in a week-end in Poland you can find an unlimited variety of music in many places. You’ll enjoy the music here for its variety and number of festivals and for the people who love to dance! Be it salsa, rock, electro, (Juwenalia 2009 was great!) classical, world music (Salif Keita is playing soon), there are plenty of musical events to have your week and week-ends shaking your “head, shoulders, knees and toes” and leg. To put it in another nutshell, here’s this week-end’s top 10 eclectic mix:

1. Shantel – Disko Partizani + A remixed version
2. Kalashnikov – Goran Bregovic
3. London beat - I've Been Thinking About You

4. Michael Mind - Show Me Love
5. The K.I.G Family: Head, Shoulders, Knees Toes
6. Tinchy strider Ft. N-Dubz : N°1
7. Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers
8. I’m a Single Lady original version of I’m a Single Leg
9. Journey – Don’t Stop Believing
10. Sticky Fingers – Rolling Stones: Here’s Moonlight Mile for the album cover (related to the fashion in Journey's "Don't Stop Believing")
    
11. (+1): Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone

Noon

So I went through the list of Polish musicians on Wiki and here’s the very eclectic & electro-classic-jazz-rock selection I made (I need comments to this post and people's top of the list musicians!):

1. Noon (musician): Really like it !! Songs to listen to Satori; Esiane; Why Be Good; Studio Games
2. Władysław Szpilman: Beautiful classical
3. Jakub Rene Kosik: Yes ! Live@ Water Festival V
4. Czeslaw Spiewa: Highly recommended
5. Myslovitz: Several nominations including the Music Awards 2000 and 1st place as Best Band in the Tylko Rock Magazine: Dla Ciebe
6. Walek Dzedzej: Walek Dzedzej - Dom Wschodzącego Słońca
7. Jacek Lachowicz: Skaczesz
8. DJ Tomekk: Dj Tomekk ft. Kurupt, G-Style, Tatwaffe - Ganxtaville Part 3 (not too sure about the other tunes...)
9. DJ Adamus: Hi Fi Superstar (not too sure about the other tunes...)
10. Jacek Kochan: Nice & jazzy
11. Grzegorz Nowak
12. Bogdan Raczynski: Whooo quite strange









The full list of Wiki (some I didn't get to find a tune) :

A: Andrzej Kozakiewicz, Nelly Ben-Or: Couldn’t find anything, B: Marek Biliński: Ok I suppose, Wojciech Bobowski: Couldn’t find anything, Jan Borysewicz: Interesting; Robert Brylewski (nothing found), Tomasz Budzyński: Nice Anielo, mój aniele; C: Mike Chlasciak: For fans of Metal I suppose; Grzegorz Ciechowski: Interesting; Henryk Czyż: Łódzkie Smyczki - "Canzona di Barocco" - Henryk Czyż; D: DJ Tomekk: I like, Dj Tomekk ft. Kurupt, G-Style, Tatwaffe - Ganxtaville Part 3 ; DJ Adamus: Hi Fi Superstar: I think it could do for a dance; Walter Dana; Jurek Dybal; Walek Dzedzej: ; Walek Dzedzej - Dom Wschodzącego Słońca Really nice music ; Andrzej Dziubek: hmm Not my cup of tea; F: Kazimierz Flatau; Franciszek Ksawery Matejko; Funky Polak: Pamietaj: Not gone but I suppose for fans of rap music especially ; G: Krzysztof Grabowski; J: Jacek Lachowicz: Skaczesz: Like it ! ; Jakub Rene Kosik: Yes ! Live@ Water Festival V ; Lech Janerka: ROWER 2005, I can imagine quite popular but not my cup of tea… ; Paweł Jaroszewicz; Julian Piotrowiak; K: Kayanis: Hmm no not my cup of tea… Reminds me of Aromatherapy music…; Wacław Kiełtyka; Witold Kiełtyka; Zenon Kitowski; Jacek Kochan: Nice & jazzy ; Józef Koffler; Adrian Kowanek; Tomasz Krakowiak; Paweł Kukiz: Hmm the one I listened to wasn’t convincing; Gabriela Kulka; Andrzej Kurylewicz; L: Jacek Łągwa: No; Wanda Landowska ; Gustaw Lewita; Anita Lipnicka: Quite nice; Alexander Lipsky; Sławomir Łosowski: Not really; M: Maciej Maleńczuk: Nice ; Myslovitz: Several nominations including the Music Awards 2000 and 1st place as Best Band in the Tylko Rock Magazine; N: Tadeusz Nalepa: Hmm not my cup of tea; Czesław Niemen: Quite nice ; User:Ek8/Sandbox; Noon (musician): My favorite so far !! Satori + Noon Esiane + Noon Why Be Good+ Noon Studio Games; Novika; Adam Nowak; Grzegorz Nowak: Nice, ; O: Oktawia Kawecka; P: Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz; R: Bogdan Raczynski: Whooo quite strange: ; Mikołaj Rej; Artur Rodziński; S: Krzysztof Skiba; Józef Skrzek; Ireneusz Socha; Czeslaw Spiewa: Yes nice; Kazik Staszewski: Nope didn’t like the song I listened to; Stanisław Staszewski; Władysław Szpilman: Beautiful; T: Roman Totenberg; W: Adam of Wągrowiec; Bronisława Wajs; DJ Wajs: Heave leszno; Franciszek Walicki; Z: Andrzej Zaucha (singer)

Dresden Fred Ferkels

"The time has to come, ' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax -
Of cabbages - and kings -
And why the sea is burning hot -
And whether pigs have wings.'"
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

« I really love the pigs!» she announced enthusiastically while we were sprawled across the grass overlooking the Elbe. “Did you actually notice that their ears have a cherry and apricot flavor?” she said chewing one of the pigs’ ears. The bag of Fred Ferkels was nearly empty, just like the creamy fruit drops we had bought in the Markethalle in Neustadt that afternoon. The Sekt & Becks were also gone, the sun had set, and the conversation, just like the quote above, had jumped from the beautiful architecture in Dresden, life in Wroclaw, Erasmus experiences from Finland to Slovenia, to the taste of pigs and the importance of regularly buying shoes, so we set off for the Biergarten to have a rest.

We hadn’t planned at all for the trip to Dresden – apart from the type of transport, departure time, our friend’s Hans Riegel Bonn shopping spree + place to dance – but expected a nice day which developed unfathomably well according to 0 plan. We had been told during the week that Dresden, just 3 hours away from Wroclaw by train (Dresden is 200km from Wroclaw, 100 from Leipzig, 200 km from Berlin to the north and about 150 km from Prague), was a beautiful place so we were confident the day would turn out as sweet as a Fred Ferkel pig. Our “plan” consisted of waking up at 5.45, getting to the station to catch the early 7am train and returning the following day at the same time after a night of gypsy-electro music at Salop. Unfortunately after a 10 hour walk across the city, just like the pigs, our legs were gone.

In one day, you can really get a good feel of the city. With just over 500 000 inhabitants it is very spacious and not in the least overcrowded. The train station, newly renovated, with nice white walls, glass ceilings and redbrick in the inside, is at the top of Prager Strasse, one of the busiest part of the city with many shops, impressive Buchhandlungen, shoe-shops, … and one of the longest buildings in Europe.

At the end of the street, we arrived at a square where some sort of a fair was going on with many stalls offering generous amounts of Würsten, Ofenkartoffeln mit Kräutern und saurem Rahm, tasty Kürbiskern und Käse-brötchen, Pflaumkuchen and of course, liters of Bier vom Fass.

On the left side of the Elbe, is the historical city center with a great number of historical monuments. Despite the 2^nd world war destructions, Dresden has preserved many historical landmarks thanks to reconstruction such as the Frauenkirche. I was mostly impressed by the beautiful renaissance/baroque-style architecture of the Semperoper, a stunning rectangular monument with a walking path on the top level, crown door on the center left side, with gardens and fountains in the bottom center. The Semper Oper was built between 1838-41 by Gottfried Semper, rebuilt by his son Manfred around 1878 and was completely reconstructed after WW2.

On the other side of the Elbe, Neustadt, the newer part of Dresden, less organized and tidy, has a chilled alternative atmosphere to it with a mix of baroque architecture and modern buildings, plenty green areas, cafés, bars and nightclubs. A good place to hang out and go dancing at night provided legs are are still there.

A few other facts to keep in mind about Dresden and for future visits:

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden

-63% of the city is composed of green areas and forests;

-Kirchner, Otto Dix and Oskar Kokoschka (yes Kokoschka!) were some of the renowned painters to have lived and worked in the city.