Love, nostalgia, romance and... a cold bastard!

Without a doubt, it was one of the best concerts in the Przemyśl castle. The performance of the first song "Twadzieścia lat blisko mnie", introducing the audience to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Przemyśl Culture and Science Center "Zamek", heralded an excellent level and good fun.

The fans of the Przemyśl Big Band, who filled the hall to the brim, transformed from listeners into co-performers of the concert. They sang, "danced, sitting", laughed and applauded the artists. There were also tears of emotion, quiet and louder sighs. Because how can you not succumb to emotions when you hear "Fly Me To The Moon" /take me to the moon/ and dream of a journey into space with the legendary Frank Sinatra, or "Moon River" /lunar river/ having breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn? "Eye of the Tiger" /eye of the tiger/; how much I want to paraphrase: the eye of the conductor of the Przemyśl Big Band Antoni Guran! Under the attitude of calm, composure and almost fatherly care, there was a skillful and demanding "tiger" who ruled over the wonderful marriage of musicians - teachers and students. In the film "Rocky III", for which this piece was written at Sylvester Stallone's request, the sharp growls of a tiger can be clearly heard. Wind instruments "roared" in the castle hall, seeming to say: "only man and his will to survive" /from the lyrics/. A peculiar cocktail of the Big Band repertoire made the audience subjected to all possible artistic "treatments", while testing their musical preferences. The flagship, religious American song "Amazing Grace" by John Newton - which has been and is performed by many vocalists - sounded moving and nostalgic in the a capella performance by Paulina Muzyczka. The solo entry of the trumpet performed by Jacek Łaskarzewski perfectly reflected the character of the piece.

The audience did not spare any applause.

Paulina Muzyczka – vocalist, violinist, composer and teacher. She is currently the conductor of the Przemyśl Gospel Choir, with which she performs, among others, her own compositions. She runs Gospel Music Workshops for both adults and children throughout Poland. She has collaborated with artists such as: Gabi Gąsior, Ewa Uryga, Marek Bałata and Mieczysław Szcześniak as well as the bands "Holy Noiz", "A&D". She has given concerts with Ive Mendes. She took part in recordings of the DVD of the band "Trzecia Godzina Dnia", entitled "Liczy się każdy dzień". She was a vocalist and violinist in the band Jarmuła Band, which gave concerts in Poland and abroad, promoting Jewish music and culture. She also released an album with this band. She honed her teaching experience by conducting vocal classes in the Yamaha School system. She is currently focusing on releasing a solo album that will combine all the rhythms she has had contact with over the years. Performs gospel, jazz, r'n'b, klezmer, Balkan and ethnic music.

Paulina is a graduate of the Secondary State School of Music in Przemyśl, which is why playing music together with her friends, with her godfather – the excellent saxophonist Stanisław Kłos, under the baton of the former director and teacher Antoni Guran, gives her a lot of joy and satisfaction, as she says.

All the songs performed by the singer were very popular and were enthusiastically applauded by the audience. "Hello Dolly" - the famous song by Louis Armstrong - was used in a funny way by Paulina to greet her mother, by inserting: "hello Lucy". This is also how the artist greeted the director of PCKiN Zamek Renata Nowakowska, singing: "hello Reniu, how are you, Reniu". The next words of the song, which say: "And you keep the style, little one, the one from years ago, little one", perfectly composed with the slide show of Renata Nowakowska's photographs from the past and various concerts presented on the screen.

The audience was enchanted by the singing of Kuba Prachowski and Paulina Muzyczka.

Journey to the 1930s

When Kuba Prachowski burst into the audience – like Eugeniusz Bodo – with the song "I'm such a cold bastard", the audience was transported back to the 1930s and eagerly sang fragments of the song into the microphone Kuba held out.

Kuba Prachowski – an artist awarded the prestigious Grand Prix of the international Carpathia festival and known from the program "Mam Talent". He performed at the Opole Festival, Sopot Top Trendy and other major stages, and his music was also featured in the series "39 ​​i pół". The artist is the winner of the second place in the Polish pre-selection for Eurovision in 2018. In a way that is unique to him, he charmed the audience not only with his singing, but also with his stage movement.

Mieczysław – an old Slavic name, speaks, among other things, of the ability to lead others. Everything is correct! This is exactly how – in a completely brilliant way – Mieczysław Nyczek led the concert. In his narration, he reached for the history of important events, surprised with questions to which he expected answers; he prepared a competition with prizes for the audience. The atmosphere of friendship, joy – in a word – a family meeting, is his work.

There was a lot of great music that night! In addition to the songs mentioned, the audience was also treated to such great performances as: "O7 Zgłoś Się", "A Day In The Life Of A Fool", "I Feel Good", "Over The Rainbow", "Love", "Peter Gunn".

Of course, there were encores, which – performed by the Paulina and Kuba duo – made their interesting, perfectly harmonized voices tear the audience apart and it was hard for the artists to leave the stage. For those who like interesting facts, I will add that both Paulina and Kuba not only “talk” to each other on stage, but also for many years were neighbors in one of the Przemyśl housing estates.

Most of the musicians of the Przemyśl Big Band are thoughtful.

How nice it is to live in a beautiful city, with beautiful, talented people – to be proud of and praise your own!

Lucyna Rudawska