Stare Dzwony

Stare Dzwony (English:  “The Old Bells)

During the mid-1980s maritime music revival in America and Western Europe, a new and totally unique sound arrived on the scene from Poland that amazed audiences. It was embodied by the group Stare Dzwony, the leaders of a sea shanty movement in Poland that translated tradition songs of the sea into Polish and sung them with harmonies never before heard by Western audiences. When Stare Dzwony first arrived in Liverpool in 1986, they had only recorded in Poland, and as my group the Press Gang shared the same stage, we soon became fast friends, inviting us to Poland the following year.

When they returned to Liverpool the next time, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to drag them into a tiny, cramped recording studio at the Albert Dock to make the first, live, on-the-spot recording outside of their native land, which included a hauntingly beautiful translation of “Hail Queen of Heaven” crafted at the request of Liverpool Spinner and festival producer Tony Davis for a performance at the Liverpool Cathedral.

In the years since, we have performed together many times, including sadly at the 1995 Warsaw funeral of group member Janosc Sikorski, an irretrievable loss. But here, at the height of their expansion, is the original four, fueled by the excitement of singing at the Liverpool birthplace of so many of the songs that they took and made their own.
—  John Townley

One of the oldest Polish sea shanty bands.