Przystanek Woodstock
Encyclopedia
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
festival in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, inspired by and named for the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
, that has taken place since 1995. Since the 11th festival, its organizers have called Przystanek Woodstock "the biggest open-air festival in Europe".
The festival's motto is "Love, Friendship, and Music." It is organized by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity
Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity
The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity is one of the biggest, non-governmental, non-profit, charity organizations in Poland...
foundation, as a way of thanking its volunteers. Generally a weekend-long event, its two stages are in continuous use from early afternoon to dawn, featuring performances by around 30 bands every year. Many Polish bands have made several appearances, including IRA
IRA (Polish heavy metal band)
IRA - Polish rock band formed in 1987 in Radom by Jakub Płucisz , Wojciech Owczarek , Artur Gadowski , Dariusz Grudzień and Grzegorz Wawrzeńczuk...
, Myslovitz
Myslovitz
Myslovitz is a Polish rock band, whose music incorporates elements of college rock, shoegazing, and, arguably, Britpop. Since 2003, EMI Group has been attempting to establish them internationally, with considerable support from MTV Europe...
, Dżem
DZEM
DZEM is an AM station owned and operated by Christian Era Broadcasting Service which is the religious broadcast arm of the Iglesia Ni Cristo in the Philippines. The station's studio is located at Maligaya Building 2, 887 EDSA, Quezon City, and its transmitter is located at Obando, Bulacan. it is...
, Hunter
Hunter (band)
Hunter is a Polish heavy metal band . The band founded in 1985 in Szczytno by Paweł Grzegorczyk and Grzegorz Sławiński. The name of the group comes from the title of the song "Die Hard The Hunter" by Def Leppard....
, Acid Drinkers
Acid Drinkers
Acid Drinkers are Polish thrash metal band formed in September 1986 in Poznań. Acid Drinkers were formed on September 21, 1986 consisting of Tomasz "Titus" Pukacki and Robert "Litza" Friedrich . The band's style from back then to present is thrash metal, with influences of heavy metal...
, Koniec Świata
Koniec Świata
Koniec Świata is a polish musical band which plays a mixture of punk, rock and ska music. The band has been founded in 2000 in Katowice by Jacek Stęszewski who is the only member in the band from its beginning...
and 2TM2,3. Foreign bands are also invited every year, The Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
, Papa Roach
Papa Roach
Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California. Their first major-label release was the triple-platinum album Infest . The group's success continued with their gold album Lovehatetragedy , their platinum album Getting Away with Murder , The Paramour Sessions , and Metamorphosis...
, The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
, Guano Apes
Guano Apes
Guano Apes are an alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Göttingen, Germany. The group members are Sandra Nasić , Henning Rümenapp , Stefan Ude and Dennis Poschwatta ....
, Kontrust
Kontrust
Kontrust is a crossover band from Austria, with lead singer Agata being Polish, which formed in 2001 out of a band called Suicide Mission. The band is famous for wearing lederhosen and their lyrics are predominantly in English, though German and Slavic languages have also been incorporated into...
, Clawfinger
Clawfinger
Clawfinger is a rap metal band from Sweden and was one of the earliest bands to adopt this sound. Clawfinger is known for aggressive but melodic music and tackling political and anti-racist themes in their songs.-Band history:...
, Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...
, Gentleman
Gentleman (musician)
Tilmann Otto , better known by his stage name Gentleman, is a German Reggae musician.- Personal life :...
, Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
to name but a few appearances. A battle of the bands
Battle of the Bands
Battle of Bands is a contest in which two or more bands compete for the title of "best band". The winner is determined by a panel of judges, the general response of the audience, or a combination. The winning band usually receives a prize in addition to bragging rights. Traditionally, battles of...
takes place prior to the festival, and the winners are given a chance to perform. The main musical theme is generally rock, but genres represented run almost a full gamut from folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
through experimental to metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
. Recent years has also seen reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
and even classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
represented. The name Przystanek Woodstock - "Woodstock Station" refers to peace and friendship symbolized by the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
and a TV series Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...
, aired as Przystanek Alaska (Alaska Station), immensely popular in Poland at that time.
Along with the concerts on two stages there are many other events organized during the festival. The Academy Of The Finest Arts is a place where young people meet with well-known politicians like Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
, a former Polish president, artists, journalists, musicians, actors and religious leaders including Kesang Takla - the Dalai Lama's Northern European representative. In 2009, for the 40th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival from 1969, Michael Lang the organizer of the American event has been invited. The Hare Krishna
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
movement also commonly shows up to organize an Indian food cafeteria, yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
classes, meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
exercises or meetings with their guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
s.
History
The first Przystanek Woodstock festival took place on 15–16 July 1995, in the town of CzymanowoCzymanowo
Czymanowo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gniewino, within Wejherowo County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately east of Gniewino, north-west of Wejherowo, and north-west of the regional capital Gdańsk....
near Gnewin), located near the Żarnowieckie Lake . The performers included Carrantouhill, Skankan, Żuki, Myslovitz
Myslovitz
Myslovitz is a Polish rock band, whose music incorporates elements of college rock, shoegazing, and, arguably, Britpop. Since 2003, EMI Group has been attempting to establish them internationally, with considerable support from MTV Europe...
, Ira, and Urszula. During the festival no alcohol was sold, which was similar to the Jarocin festivals
Jarocin Festival
Jarocin Festival was one of the biggest and most important rock music festivals in the 1980s Europe, by far the biggest festival of alternative music in the Warsaw Pact countries....
.
The second festival was held in Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
-Dąbie, Szczecin in 1996. This time the first Woodstock's "prohibition law" was partially lifted, and beer was sold.
The third festival took place the next year, on 16–17 August in the town of Żary
Zary
Żary is a town in western Poland with about 39,900 inhabitants , situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship...
, which became the setting of the Przystanek Woodstock festivals till 2003. Initially the festival was planned to be held in July, but because of the 1997 flood, which affected much of Poland, the festival was postponed until August.
The 1998 Przystanek Woodstock featured the performances of nearly 50 bands. The band list included Closterkeller
Closterkeller
Closterkeller is a Polish Gothic rock band from Warsaw. It was formed in 1988 by Przemysław Guryń, Jacek Skirucha, and the vocalist Anja Orthodox. Despite many changes in the band's line-up it has created a characteristic sound. Orthodox is the only member of the original line-up, performing...
, Akurat
Akurat
Akurat is a Polish band formed in November 1994 in Bielsko-Biała district. 'Akurat' is Polish for 'exactly' or 'yeah right'. Music of the band can be credited as a fusion between punk rock, reggae, ska and pop.-Current members:*Piotr Wróbel - guitar, vocalist...
, Oddział Zamknięty, Kobranocka, and Acid Drinkers
Acid Drinkers
Acid Drinkers are Polish thrash metal band formed in September 1986 in Poznań. Acid Drinkers were formed on September 21, 1986 consisting of Tomasz "Titus" Pukacki and Robert "Litza" Friedrich . The band's style from back then to present is thrash metal, with influences of heavy metal...
. Almost 150,000 people attended the festival.
The 1999 Woodstock was held on 6–8 August. This time the attendance record was broken, because the audience reached almost 200,000 people.
The 2000 festival was planned to be held in Lębork
Lebork
Lębork is a town on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland with some 37,000 inhabitants.Lębork is also the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, formerly in Słupsk Voivodeship ....
, but due to permission uncertainties, and protest of local committees (Komitet obrony Moralności - The Committee for the Defense of Morality) it had to be cancelled.
Nevertheless over 1000 people showed up, and organized an unauthorized "rock'n'roll picnic", without any professional music bands. This happening was later referred to as the "Dziki Przystanek" ("The Wild Station").
In 2001 Żary was again the setting for the festival.
The 2002 Woodstock was significant, because it was filmed, and the footage was used to produce "Przystanek Woodstock. Najgłośniejszy Film Polski" ("The Woodstock Station. The Loudest Film In Poland"), a concert film, which was screened in movie theatres across the country the following year, and also took part in a number of international film festivals.
The 2003 Woodstock was the last one held in the town of Żary. Because of controversy surrounding some incidents during the festival, that Jerzy Owsiak
Jerzy Owsiak
Jerzy Owsiak is a Polish journalist and social campaigner.He is a founder and President of the Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy , one of the biggest non-governmental, non-profit, charity organizations in Poland.He is the main initiator and activist for the group's Grand...
was part of, it was decided that Żary would no longer be a setting for the concerts.
Since 2004, the festival has taken place in the town of Kostrzyn nad Odrą
Kostrzyn nad Odra
Kostrzyn nad Odrą is a town in western Poland, at the confluence of the Oder and Warta rivers, on the border with Germany. Located in the Lubusz Voivodeship, in Gorzów County, it had 19,952 inhabitants as of 2007.- History :...
.
In 2009 Woodstock gathered about 450.000 people, in 2011 the attendance was above 700.000.