Ewelina Grygier
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
2023: National Centre for Culture Poland - Best prize for doctor thesis “Artist, Performer, Beggar. Street Music Phenomenon In 21st Century Poland From The Performance Theory Perspective”.
Graduated in Musicology, Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology; she studyed in the University of Poznań (UAM), the University of Warsaw (UW) and the University of Vienna (UV).
Currently working in The Institute of Musicology - University of Warsaw and collaborates with The Chopin University of Music (specialization: jazz and World Music) and Postgraduate Studies (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
When it comes to sharing her knowledge, Ewelina regularly publishes in “Ruch Muzyczny” – an acclaimed Polish music newspaper. In Folk Magazine “Pismo Folkowe” she runs her own column “EtnoLecture”.
MUSIC
Ewelina has been performing music for over two decades now. Stage is her second home and improvisation is her second name.
Over the years Ewelina participated in stylistically-diverse music projects such as Warsaw Gamelan Group (Central Java music), Halina Mlynkova pop-folk band and many other esteemed groups of the Polish folk scene (e.g.: Ould Land, GreenWood, Four Non Brets, The Tone Nation).
Ewelina is a band member of a music-and-dance project Hear the Dance, an Irish music group Macalla Trio and an ethno-jazz sextet Danar.
In 2019 she released her solo album Szplin.
2023: National Centre for Culture Poland - Best prize for doctor thesis “Artist, Performer, Beggar. Street Music Phenomenon In 21st Century Poland From The Performance Theory Perspective”.
Graduated in Musicology, Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology; she studyed in the University of Poznań (UAM), the University of Warsaw (UW) and the University of Vienna (UV).
Currently working in The Institute of Musicology - University of Warsaw and collaborates with The Chopin University of Music (specialization: jazz and World Music) and Postgraduate Studies (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
When it comes to sharing her knowledge, Ewelina regularly publishes in “Ruch Muzyczny” – an acclaimed Polish music newspaper. In Folk Magazine “Pismo Folkowe” she runs her own column “EtnoLecture”.
MUSIC
Ewelina has been performing music for over two decades now. Stage is her second home and improvisation is her second name.
Over the years Ewelina participated in stylistically-diverse music projects such as Warsaw Gamelan Group (Central Java music), Halina Mlynkova pop-folk band and many other esteemed groups of the Polish folk scene (e.g.: Ould Land, GreenWood, Four Non Brets, The Tone Nation).
Ewelina is a band member of a music-and-dance project Hear the Dance, an Irish music group Macalla Trio and an ethno-jazz sextet Danar.
In 2019 she released her solo album Szplin.
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Papers by Ewelina Grygier
of street music performance.
The article was created as part of the project „Filmography as
a source for research on the perception of the phenomenon of
street music making”, implemented thanks to the „Muzyczny
Ślad” grant from the National Institute of Music and Dance
(NIMiT). The article presents very preliminary results of research in
three Polish archival centers: The National Film Archive - Audio-
visual Institute (FINA), the Film Archive of the Film School in Łódź
and the collections of the Center for Documentation and Program
Collections of TVP S.A. The research was devoted to find different
ways of presenting the phenomenon of street music in audiovisual
sources. The following are the primary research questions:
• What is the performer’s place in film production: is he or she
a primary or secondary character?
• Is music-making a background element? Is it only heard or
perhaps only seen?
• What type of music is associated with the image of a street
performer?
162 ETNOMUZYKOLOGIA POLSKA 5/2023
• What connotations are associated with the image of a street
musician (way of presenting the performer, reception by the
audience)?
• In which types and forms of audiovisual documents does
this kind of music-making occur?
The collected materials are described and characterized, along
with indications for further research work. In addition to references
to archival sources, commercial films are also referenced, such as:
Once, A Street Cat Named Bob, Baby Driver, and the first Polish
Yiddish sound film Yidl Mitn Fidl („Yiddle With His Fiddle”). The
text also mentions sources devoted to music that originated on the
street, namely South African „kwela” („The Magic Garden").
Przedstawione zostały zarówno problemy metodologiczne (jak i co można badać; zasygnalizowano również możliwe techniki i sposoby badań), logistyczno-techniczne (kontakt z informatorami, dostęp do danych, identyfikacja interlokutorów), tożsamościowe (kim jest i jak czuje się badacz w sieci), jak również terminologiczne (omówienie współcześnie używanych terminów, w szczególności anglojęzycznych, określających etnomuzykologiczną praktykę badawczą w internecie). Zasygnalizowano też kwestie etyczno-prawne (rodo).
Powołując się na badania etnomuzykologiczne, przeprowadzone w trakcie pandemii, autorka pokazuje także, w jaki sposób epidemia Covid-19 zmieniła życie etnomuzykologów, jakie badania i w jaki sposób prowadzono oraz czy i w jaki sposób modyfikowano sposób pracy w zmienionych warunkach.
Słowa kluczowe:
e-teren, internetowe pole badań , wirtualne pole badań , Internet, badania w sieci
I discuss the repertoires and disc recordings of street musicians within the context of the growth of the record industry and the processes of globalisation and glocalisation.
This article is based on field research conducted during work on my PhD dissertation on contemporary street performance in Poland in light of performance theory. Apart from quotations from the literature, I draw on empirical material collected during that research, including excerpts
from interviews with street musicians, to forge a more in-depth picture of the presented phenomenon. In order to trace a broader context, I also present historical data, in particular quotations from the twentieth-century press which refer to the repertoire of musicians performing in the public space. For the needs of my analysis, I first define the scope of the
notion of street music, and then discuss and characterise anonymous and authored works, as well as covers of music by other composers. I have paid special attention to the use of contrafacta (including the song Pescador de Hombres, known in Poland as Barka [The boat]) and the possibility of introducing changes to lyrics by other authors. I discuss the pieces of music performed by buskers in Poland, including foreigners who play and sing on our streets, frequently presenting the music of their own countries, as well as well-known works, using what instruments they have to hand (for instance, Latin Americans playing Polish rock hits on the Pan-pipes). I give a detailed profile of discs released by street musicians, which are frequently amateur productions and so fall considerably below professional standards.
---
Translated by Tomasz Zymer
AS AN EXAMPLE OF A MODERN FOLKLORE DOCUMENTATION
IN THE SCENIC CONTEXT
The article is dedicated to archival recordings from the Kalisz Land Regale of Folklore
made in 1996. The recordings represent an example of a modern folklore documentation in the scenic context. The collection of 12 tapes was digitised and edited in 2016 within the framework of the second phase of the project entitled Polish traditional music - a phonographic heritage, carried out by the Phonographic Collection of the Institute of Art of Polish Academy of Sciences. The present text can be considered as the trigger for characterising changes that took place, and still do so, in the area of traditional music due to developing cultural-political conditions. Historical and contemporary Kalisz folklore documentation (including newly coming up music publishers) has been described in the article along with the performing context which a kind of festival-contest Kalisz Land Regale of Folklore is. Apart from this, there has been presented a general characteristic of singing groups and bands, such as „Doruchowianie”, „Potarzyczanki” and Kapela „Snutki” („Snutki” Band), Zespół Pieśni i Tańca „Tursko” („Tursko” Song and Dance Ensemble), Kapela Ludowa „Brzeziny” („Brzeziny” Folk Band). Key persons for the region of Kalisz and the development of specific bands (Leon Lewandowski, Józef Marciniak, Bronisław Bazelak and Antoni Chabierski) have also been mentioned in the article. Registered pieces have been characterised in the further part of the text. Emphasis has been put on the character of the material that pictures the marriage of traditional repertoire with the one of folk style or even popular popular provenience.
Articles by Ewelina Grygier
Keywords: street performer, street musician, performer, busker, informal, urban sphere, street, myth, image
Books by Ewelina Grygier
Poland And The Theory Of Performance (PhD written under the supervision
of dr hab. Ewa Dahlig-Turek, prof. IS PAN) – is based on field studies:
observations, talks and interviews with street musicians. I conducted my re-
search over the period 2011-2018 in the following places in Poland: Gdańsk,
Gdynia, Hel, Jastarnia, Katowice, Międzyzdroje, Poznań, Świnoujście,
Warszawa, Wrocław; in Austria: Vienna; in Germany: Ahlbeck, Bansin,
Heringsdorf. This thesis aims to depict and analyse the phenomenon of
street music in 21st Century Poland.
This work consists of two parts. The first part focuses on historical
and theoretical aspects, while the latter deals with the characteristics and
interpretation of modern street music making.
I start off with presenting the sources, publications (including old and
contemporary journals) and the related terminology they introduce. I attempt
to interpret the term itinerant musician according to the many names that
are assigned to them, consequently coining a definition of my own.
In the following chapter dedicated to the history of street music
performances I depict the sound-using historical actors of public space:
urban musicians (piszczki), free men, organ grinders, rambling storytellers.
This fragment also includes an introduction to occupation-time street music
(including Jewish ghetto contexts) and children performers. I characterise
the contemporary public space performers according to their age structure,
gender and education. This work is based on qualitative and not quantitative
data, which does not allow to make a systematic measurement but allows for
an insightful understanding of the field. Finally, I suggest a typology of street
musicians (musician-artist, musician-performer, musician-beggar) observing
similarities between the performers and the people begging for money in the
public space.
In the chapter 3 I focus on the context of the phenomenon – the aspects
of the public space, including different stage type and structure (e.g.: open,
closed and mobile type), the elements of art contained in that space and the
role of an artist in it. This leads to differentiation between a stage performance
and street music performance, and a validation of the paradigm undertaken
to interpret the street music making.
After the historical and theoretical part, a detailed description and
interpretation of the field research follows. The music-performance structure
is depicted, including the time-frame and legal factors. Furthermore, non-
musical elements of street music performance are analysed, e.g.: performer’s
attire, props, advertising and communication (oral or written) with the
audience.
The final part of this work is a description and analysis of the street
music repertoire. This aspect is presented as the final chapter in order to
underline the importance of non-musical elements of the phenomenon.
It concludes that the street music performances’ definitions should not be
reduced to music-only events, because music and the repertoires are but an
element of a greater strategy of street artists, an element of performance art.
In this chapter I present the artists’ music of choice, paying special attention
to the individual, external conditions impacting the selection.
The analysis of the gathered data, largely “invoked” during field
research using the methodology of grounded theory, and orienting it in
a context of performance theory, leads to an interpretation of street music
as performance art – an interdisciplinary act drawing from a great variety
of methods and techniques. Therefore, a street musician reaches far beyond
the field of music, offering more than the musical aspect alone. Of course, it’s
also a significantly musical phenomenon, with all the involved elements of
sound making and repertoire. A new suggested approach of study, comparing
to the available literature on the field, is detailed analysis of the written and
oral communication between the performer and the audience, which has been
rather marginalised by other researchers and authors.
With all the omnipresence and the rich variety of the matter, both
in historical sources and in contemporary media, it is astonishing that
there has never been an attempt at holistically describing and defining
the phenomenon of street music making before. Therefore, the goal of
this study is not only criticism and semantic differentiation between the
terms such as intinerant musician, street musician or street song, but also
to offer a new definition for this element of culture. Surely, this definition
is not a universal one. The nature of street music is complex to grasp in
1its entirety. It is influenced by many external, often hidden factors such as
a culture of a given society or its musicality. It is possible then that scholars
and researchers from different cultural backgrounds will be willing to modify
or extend the proposed definition. Hopefully, this work will inspire further
exploration into this intriguing field.
of street music performance.
The article was created as part of the project „Filmography as
a source for research on the perception of the phenomenon of
street music making”, implemented thanks to the „Muzyczny
Ślad” grant from the National Institute of Music and Dance
(NIMiT). The article presents very preliminary results of research in
three Polish archival centers: The National Film Archive - Audio-
visual Institute (FINA), the Film Archive of the Film School in Łódź
and the collections of the Center for Documentation and Program
Collections of TVP S.A. The research was devoted to find different
ways of presenting the phenomenon of street music in audiovisual
sources. The following are the primary research questions:
• What is the performer’s place in film production: is he or she
a primary or secondary character?
• Is music-making a background element? Is it only heard or
perhaps only seen?
• What type of music is associated with the image of a street
performer?
162 ETNOMUZYKOLOGIA POLSKA 5/2023
• What connotations are associated with the image of a street
musician (way of presenting the performer, reception by the
audience)?
• In which types and forms of audiovisual documents does
this kind of music-making occur?
The collected materials are described and characterized, along
with indications for further research work. In addition to references
to archival sources, commercial films are also referenced, such as:
Once, A Street Cat Named Bob, Baby Driver, and the first Polish
Yiddish sound film Yidl Mitn Fidl („Yiddle With His Fiddle”). The
text also mentions sources devoted to music that originated on the
street, namely South African „kwela” („The Magic Garden").
Przedstawione zostały zarówno problemy metodologiczne (jak i co można badać; zasygnalizowano również możliwe techniki i sposoby badań), logistyczno-techniczne (kontakt z informatorami, dostęp do danych, identyfikacja interlokutorów), tożsamościowe (kim jest i jak czuje się badacz w sieci), jak również terminologiczne (omówienie współcześnie używanych terminów, w szczególności anglojęzycznych, określających etnomuzykologiczną praktykę badawczą w internecie). Zasygnalizowano też kwestie etyczno-prawne (rodo).
Powołując się na badania etnomuzykologiczne, przeprowadzone w trakcie pandemii, autorka pokazuje także, w jaki sposób epidemia Covid-19 zmieniła życie etnomuzykologów, jakie badania i w jaki sposób prowadzono oraz czy i w jaki sposób modyfikowano sposób pracy w zmienionych warunkach.
Słowa kluczowe:
e-teren, internetowe pole badań , wirtualne pole badań , Internet, badania w sieci
I discuss the repertoires and disc recordings of street musicians within the context of the growth of the record industry and the processes of globalisation and glocalisation.
This article is based on field research conducted during work on my PhD dissertation on contemporary street performance in Poland in light of performance theory. Apart from quotations from the literature, I draw on empirical material collected during that research, including excerpts
from interviews with street musicians, to forge a more in-depth picture of the presented phenomenon. In order to trace a broader context, I also present historical data, in particular quotations from the twentieth-century press which refer to the repertoire of musicians performing in the public space. For the needs of my analysis, I first define the scope of the
notion of street music, and then discuss and characterise anonymous and authored works, as well as covers of music by other composers. I have paid special attention to the use of contrafacta (including the song Pescador de Hombres, known in Poland as Barka [The boat]) and the possibility of introducing changes to lyrics by other authors. I discuss the pieces of music performed by buskers in Poland, including foreigners who play and sing on our streets, frequently presenting the music of their own countries, as well as well-known works, using what instruments they have to hand (for instance, Latin Americans playing Polish rock hits on the Pan-pipes). I give a detailed profile of discs released by street musicians, which are frequently amateur productions and so fall considerably below professional standards.
---
Translated by Tomasz Zymer
AS AN EXAMPLE OF A MODERN FOLKLORE DOCUMENTATION
IN THE SCENIC CONTEXT
The article is dedicated to archival recordings from the Kalisz Land Regale of Folklore
made in 1996. The recordings represent an example of a modern folklore documentation in the scenic context. The collection of 12 tapes was digitised and edited in 2016 within the framework of the second phase of the project entitled Polish traditional music - a phonographic heritage, carried out by the Phonographic Collection of the Institute of Art of Polish Academy of Sciences. The present text can be considered as the trigger for characterising changes that took place, and still do so, in the area of traditional music due to developing cultural-political conditions. Historical and contemporary Kalisz folklore documentation (including newly coming up music publishers) has been described in the article along with the performing context which a kind of festival-contest Kalisz Land Regale of Folklore is. Apart from this, there has been presented a general characteristic of singing groups and bands, such as „Doruchowianie”, „Potarzyczanki” and Kapela „Snutki” („Snutki” Band), Zespół Pieśni i Tańca „Tursko” („Tursko” Song and Dance Ensemble), Kapela Ludowa „Brzeziny” („Brzeziny” Folk Band). Key persons for the region of Kalisz and the development of specific bands (Leon Lewandowski, Józef Marciniak, Bronisław Bazelak and Antoni Chabierski) have also been mentioned in the article. Registered pieces have been characterised in the further part of the text. Emphasis has been put on the character of the material that pictures the marriage of traditional repertoire with the one of folk style or even popular popular provenience.
Keywords: street performer, street musician, performer, busker, informal, urban sphere, street, myth, image
Poland And The Theory Of Performance (PhD written under the supervision
of dr hab. Ewa Dahlig-Turek, prof. IS PAN) – is based on field studies:
observations, talks and interviews with street musicians. I conducted my re-
search over the period 2011-2018 in the following places in Poland: Gdańsk,
Gdynia, Hel, Jastarnia, Katowice, Międzyzdroje, Poznań, Świnoujście,
Warszawa, Wrocław; in Austria: Vienna; in Germany: Ahlbeck, Bansin,
Heringsdorf. This thesis aims to depict and analyse the phenomenon of
street music in 21st Century Poland.
This work consists of two parts. The first part focuses on historical
and theoretical aspects, while the latter deals with the characteristics and
interpretation of modern street music making.
I start off with presenting the sources, publications (including old and
contemporary journals) and the related terminology they introduce. I attempt
to interpret the term itinerant musician according to the many names that
are assigned to them, consequently coining a definition of my own.
In the following chapter dedicated to the history of street music
performances I depict the sound-using historical actors of public space:
urban musicians (piszczki), free men, organ grinders, rambling storytellers.
This fragment also includes an introduction to occupation-time street music
(including Jewish ghetto contexts) and children performers. I characterise
the contemporary public space performers according to their age structure,
gender and education. This work is based on qualitative and not quantitative
data, which does not allow to make a systematic measurement but allows for
an insightful understanding of the field. Finally, I suggest a typology of street
musicians (musician-artist, musician-performer, musician-beggar) observing
similarities between the performers and the people begging for money in the
public space.
In the chapter 3 I focus on the context of the phenomenon – the aspects
of the public space, including different stage type and structure (e.g.: open,
closed and mobile type), the elements of art contained in that space and the
role of an artist in it. This leads to differentiation between a stage performance
and street music performance, and a validation of the paradigm undertaken
to interpret the street music making.
After the historical and theoretical part, a detailed description and
interpretation of the field research follows. The music-performance structure
is depicted, including the time-frame and legal factors. Furthermore, non-
musical elements of street music performance are analysed, e.g.: performer’s
attire, props, advertising and communication (oral or written) with the
audience.
The final part of this work is a description and analysis of the street
music repertoire. This aspect is presented as the final chapter in order to
underline the importance of non-musical elements of the phenomenon.
It concludes that the street music performances’ definitions should not be
reduced to music-only events, because music and the repertoires are but an
element of a greater strategy of street artists, an element of performance art.
In this chapter I present the artists’ music of choice, paying special attention
to the individual, external conditions impacting the selection.
The analysis of the gathered data, largely “invoked” during field
research using the methodology of grounded theory, and orienting it in
a context of performance theory, leads to an interpretation of street music
as performance art – an interdisciplinary act drawing from a great variety
of methods and techniques. Therefore, a street musician reaches far beyond
the field of music, offering more than the musical aspect alone. Of course, it’s
also a significantly musical phenomenon, with all the involved elements of
sound making and repertoire. A new suggested approach of study, comparing
to the available literature on the field, is detailed analysis of the written and
oral communication between the performer and the audience, which has been
rather marginalised by other researchers and authors.
With all the omnipresence and the rich variety of the matter, both
in historical sources and in contemporary media, it is astonishing that
there has never been an attempt at holistically describing and defining
the phenomenon of street music making before. Therefore, the goal of
this study is not only criticism and semantic differentiation between the
terms such as intinerant musician, street musician or street song, but also
to offer a new definition for this element of culture. Surely, this definition
is not a universal one. The nature of street music is complex to grasp in
1its entirety. It is influenced by many external, often hidden factors such as
a culture of a given society or its musicality. It is possible then that scholars
and researchers from different cultural backgrounds will be willing to modify
or extend the proposed definition. Hopefully, this work will inspire further
exploration into this intriguing field.