On behalf of the Polish Association Aberdeen, we invite everyone from all over Scotland and beyond to a unique series of cultural events that will take place as part of the Polish-Scottish Mini Festival 2025.
This is the eighth edition of the Polish-Scottish Mini Festival, which attracts more and more audiences every year.
The Polish-Scottish Mini Festival, organised by the Polish Association Aberdeen, proves that it is possible to build a community based on combining diverse cultural environments. Many Poles have made Aberdeen their home, and we are proud of our contribution to this granite city and our identity. We want to create a festival that celebrates Aberdeen as our city of choice, so that our friends, neighbours and colleagues can better understand a different culture. Additionally, we invite people from other parts of the country to visit us and take part in our events.
The Polish-Scottish Mini Festival is not only fun, but also a message of unity, openness and respect towards other cultures. We influence the cultural life of the Polish community, creating and strengthening a positive image. It’s a great opportunity to build bridges between different communities and to celebrate our diversity. The organisers are extremely proud of this annual event, which has become a permanent fixture in Aberdeen’s cultural calendar.
The festival will take place from January to March 2025, so it’s time to reserve these dates on your calendar!
In 2025, many different events are planned: the exhibition „City of Living, City of Dead” at Aberdeen Central Library, „Polish-Scottish Ceilidh”, concerts of „Strachy Na Lachy” – our headliner, a folk concert of „Kapela PoPieronie”, a sea shanty concert „Własny Port and Harbour Voices”, a singing workshop from the Beskid Mountains led by Brygida Sordyl and a novelty – „Weekend of Polish Cinema with IFF Tofifest”, the weekend of Polish cinema in Aberdeen with a special guest, the film director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.
’City of Living, City of Dead’ exhibition at Aberdeen Central Library, 13 January to 15 February 2025; Exhibition Talk 27 January 2025 at 18.00
We cordially invite you to visit the exhibition entitled „City of the living / city of the dead”. It is a photographic project by Robert Wilczyński. By combining archival photographs of people and places from the Warsaw Ghetto (from the collection of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum) with images of today’s Warsaw – in the technique of double exposure in a camera, the artist evokes and makes visible a dramatic period in the history of the city.
In the face of the extermination of almost the entire Warsaw Jewish community during World War II and the destruction of its material and cultural heritage, images of the ghetto and the people locked there appear in the photographs as fleeting traces of presence. They permeate the contemporary urban fabric like memories, anchored within the non-existent city and demand the memory of their history.
Exhibition Talk 27 January 2025 at 18.00 with Chava Nissimov, the social activist, writer, Holocaust survivor.
Chava Nissimov was born on 9 June 1939 in Warsaw to the Jewish Altshirer family. She was given the name Ewa. She changed her name after the war after emigrating to Israel, and took over her husband’s surname. Her parents – Stanisław and Anna – lived with her in the city center, at 34 Świętojerska Street.
In 1940, the whole family was locked up in the Warsaw ghetto. There, in conditions of insufficient hygiene, Ewa’s father fell ill with typhus and died of the disease soon after. She herself was also ill. When the ghetto ran out of medicines, her mother received free help from a Polish doctor. In 1942, her entire family, except for her mother, was deported from the ghetto to extermination camps. They remained alone in the ghetto. They managed to get out to the „Aryan” side and successfully hide. Ewa’s aunt organized the girl’s transport to a family of Poles, Bronisława and Wawrzyniec Walczak, living in a workers’ housing estate on the outskirts of Siedlce. Her mother obtained false documents and volunteered to work in Germany herself. The girl was hiding with the Walczak family for two years. In 1945, her aunt found her and took her to her home.
She was a writer, both poetry and prose, and created works referring to her personal experiences during the war and the period after its end. She is a well-known, award-winning writer in Israel, she was socially active, passing on knowledge about the Holocaust and examples of Polish help to Jews during the German occupation. In her memoirs, she often returned to the war times, especially to Siedlce, which evoked vivid feelings in her. She made efforts to have the Walczak family posthumously awarded the Righteous Among the Nations Medal.
On Saturday, January 18, 2025, ”Własny Port & Harbour Voices” will perform at the Blue Lamp club.
The band was formed in 2003 in Bydgoszcz. It is made up of musicians with many years of stage experience. His repertoire includes many original compositions, and the artists give the performed pieces a unique character, always trying to leave a part of themselves in them. The sound of Własny Port is based on acoustic instruments, supported by four male voices. The often improvised sounds coming from the stage make the concerts vivid and unique. The band consists of: Rafał Ordak (guitar, vocals), Piotr Gąsiewski (guitar, vocals), Michał Stropa (accordion, vocals) and Marcin Kijak (bass guitar, vocals).
The Harbor Voices Choir is a community choir that meets weekly on Wednesday nights at the Fittie Community Hall. Run by musician community Sarah Boyle, it is mainly made up of residents of the port communities of Fittie and Torry in Aberdeen, but is open to all.
Link to tickets:
On Saturday, February 1, at 18:00 at the Pittodrie Stadium, the following will take place
„Polish-Scottish Ceilidh”.
This is the second and most integrative element of the festival. We will celebrate the birthday of the Scottish poet Robert Burns by dancing both Polish and Scottish dances.
Traditional Scottish dishes (haggis, neeps, tatties) will also be served classic Polish dishes. The ceilidh band „Danse MaCabre” will play for dancing.
Link to tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/polish-scottish-ceilidh-tickets-1032529873647
On February 7, 2025, the band „Strachy Na Lachy” will perform at Lemon Tree at 8:00 p.m.
The third event will be a concert of the band „Strachy Na Lachy”. It is a formation that was founded in 2001 on the initiative of Grabarz and Kozak, the founders of Pidżama Porno.
The first line-up of the band was completed by bassist Lo and guitarist Mariusz Nalepa. In 2003, the band signed a record deal with the independent label SP Records, and the band was joined by Kuzyn on drums and Zane on keyboards. In December of the same year, the debut album „Strachy Na Lachy” was released.
The band combines elements of rock, punk rock, folk and alternative music in their work, and also performs sung poetry. The band’s line-up has also changed over the years. Strachy na Lachy concerts are very popular throughout the country, and the band’s loyal fans are waiting for the next musical events with their participation.
Their performances are a great opportunity to hear songs live and have a great time.
Link to tickets:
https://www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/polish-scottish-mini-festival-2025-strachy-na-lachy/
On February 15 and 16, 2025, the University of Aberdeen will host a highlander singing workshop entitled „Songs of the Beskid Highlanders”, led by Brygida Sordyl.
Brygida Sordyl is an ethnomusicologist, violist and singer, who is a supporter and promoter of the traditional performance of the songs of the Żywiec highlanders. She is a lecturer of folk violin and traditional singing at the Faculty of Traditional Music. She is also a singing instructor and band leader in the „Magurzanie” Regional Ensemble from Łodygowice, as well as the director of the „Lipowianie” Regional Ensemble from Lipowa.
In addition, she is a member and co-founder of the folk group „Kapela PoPieronie”.
The number of places is limited, so we encourage you to sign up.
On Friday, February 21, 2025, a concert of the string quartet „Kapela PoPieronie” will take place at the Blue Lamp club.
„Kapela PoPieronie” from Żywiec is a band consisting of four talented and experienced musicians. Their repertoire includes both traditional highlander songs and original compositions, inspired by the music of the Polish, Slovak and Hungarian cultures. The quartet’s performance skills will certainly appeal to both lovers of classical music and fans of jazz and improvised music. The „Kapela PoPieronie” collective is not only educated musicians, but also enthusiasts who devotedly promote highlander culture.
It is a real celebration of ethnic music, and the band is successful at prestigious festivals devoted to folk music.
Link to tickets:
‘Weekend of Polish Cinema with „Tofifest” will take place from February 28 to March 2, 2025.
Tofifest is a recognised and ambitious film festival with an alternative character. Thanks to the involvement of our partner, the film part of the programme will become an integral part of the festival. The guest of this year’s event will be Agnieszka Smoczyńska, who made her debut in 2015 with the film „The Lure” – a genre-crossing, horror and music mashup, which won awards all over the world, m.in. at the Sundance Film Festival. The song „The Lure” was included in the prestigious Criterion Collection and was released in cinemas in the USA by Janus Films. Her second feature film, „Fugue”, premiered in Cannes as part of the prestigious Critics’ Week section. In 2022, Smoczyńska made her debut in English-language cinema with the film „The Silent Twins”, starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance. The film was recognised in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. The director participated in the European Cinema: Ten Women Filmmakers to Watch program and is the winner of the Global Filmmaking Award, awarded by the Sundance Institute.
In 2022, she was among the five directors whose work was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. He is currently working on a new feature project HOT SPOT and on the production of Verdi’s opera „Simon Boccanegra” at the National Opera in Warsaw, which is scheduled for premiere on February 14, 2025.
More information on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/polscotfest;
and https://www.facebook.com/PolishAssociationAberdeen, and the festival website www.polscotfest.co.uk
.
