Tęgie Chłopy (POL)Tęgie Chłopy are a next-generation wedding, ball and dance band. Their brass-charged, traditional Polish village dance music from the Kielce region in the Góry Świętokrzyskie (‘Holy Cross Mountains’) is a marvel. Their name, Tęgie Chłopy usually means ‘tough guys’ but here chłop puns on a local triple-meter dance, a kind of mazurka. The clarinettist, trumpet player and saxophonist Stanisław Witkowski (1933–2022) guested on his disciples’ masterpiece, their debut Dansing (2015), voted Best Folk Album of the last 25 years by listeners of the Polish Radio Centre for Folk Culture in 2019. Waltzes, polkas, flings, chłopy, tango and a five-star recommendation from the Lektor of these pages.

Photo Agata Maziarz