“Old Songs – Young Voices” at the Ludwik Zamenhof Center – 2011
The year 2011 was very important in the history of the Society. Young musicians, promoted at the competition auditions in Waniewo, presented their achievements to the residents of Białystok for the first time at the Ludwik Zamenhof Center. On July 30, the following groups performed to huge audience applause: “Mazurskie Kwiaty” – a dulcimer ensemble from Ełk, the duet Dominika Szyszko and Beata Szyszko – Anzulewicz from Rutka-Tartak in the Suwałki region, “Ranok” – the Ukrainian Song and Dance Ensemble from Bielsk Podlaski, and the “Otako” ensemble from Suwałki.
“Old Songs – Young Voices” at the harvest festival in the open-air museum of the Białystok Village Museum in 2012
In 2012, on August 5, for the first time in the history of the Festival, the winners of the previous editions presented themselves at the “Harvest Festival in the open-air museum” festival in the Białystok Village Museum. These were the bands – winners of the Festival from Waniewo from previous years – “Hiłoczka from Czeremcha, “Żemerwa” and “Ranok” from Bielsk Podlaski, “Tercet from Makówki”, “Słowianoczki” from Białystok and “Otako” from Suwałki.
Over 200 copies of the Festival Newspaper “Leć Głosie… 2012” were distributed among the festival audience. Band members and children who came to the concert with their parents received souvenirs – pennants with photos of the bands in folk costumes.
The festival was accompanied by an educational exhibition in the field of folk music entitled “Songs from Our Regions” with a presentation of folk pottery from the Mazovia, Kurpie, Podlasie, Suwałki Region and Mazury regions.
The basis of the “Songs from Our Regions” exhibition was the presentation of the achievements of the outstanding scientist-ethnographer, researcher of the folk culture of Podlasie and Polesie Stanisław Dworakowski. Our famous compatriot was born in 1907 in the village of Dworaki-Pikaty in the Sokoły commune. Since the end of World War II, he has lived in Sokoły. He supported himself by breeding bees. He continued his research work in the field of the folk culture of his home region. The result of this research is the book “Social culture of the rural folk in Mazovia on the Narew River” published by the Białystok Scientific Society in 1964. He died on November 17, 1976. His grave is located at Powązki in Warsaw.
The exhibition “Songs from our regions” presents notes and texts of six songs written down by Jadwiga Janeczkowa, a resident of Waniewo, which Stanisław Dworakowski published in the book “Family customs in the district of Wysoko-Mazowiecki” published in 1935 in Warsaw.
The winners of the Festival from 2007-2012, the bands “Hiłoczka z Czeremchy, “Ranok” and “Żemerwa” from Bielsk Podlaski, “Słowianoczki z Białystoku” were singing actors of a fascinating musical show – a singing game entitled “Harvest Festival in an open-air museum” presenting traditional harvest-related rituals: zażynek, i.e. the ritual beginning of the harvest, tying a quail at the end.
So 2012 was the beginning of a new formula of the Festival. Every year, the best artists awarded in Waniewo present themselves to the residents of Białystok at the “Harvest Festival in the Open-Air Museum” festival in the Białystok Village Museum.
In 2013, the “Harvest Festival in the Open-Air Museum” featured bands, winners of the Waniewo Festival: “Hramada” from Białystok – band leader Genadiusz Szemiet and “Szeszupiaki” from Rutka-Tartak, led by Beata Szyszko-Anzulewicz.
“Old Songs – Young Voices” – Waniewo 2015
The competition auditions of the 9th Folk Music Festival “Old Songs – Young Voices” took place as every year. on the day of the parish indulgence of St. Anne’s Day, July 26. It is worth emphasizing that for the first time in Waniewo, a youth vocal and instrumental group from the GOK in Sokoły performed at a high artistic level.
In the vocal and instrumental group category, the highest awards were given to the “Ranok” quartet and the cymbalists’ band from Ełk. In the traditional singing group category, the first prize was given to the “Dobryna” singing group from Białystok, and the second to the family trio from Makówka.
The soloists of traditional singing, Aleksandra Iwaniuk from Białystok and Dominika Szyszko from Rutka-Tartak, presented an exceptionally high level. The youngest participants of the Festival from Białystok received awards: the duet Martyna Misiejuk and Anastazja Szeremata, the band “Stebło” and the sisters Kalisia and Dominika Petrovskie.
“Old Songs – Young Voices” – Waniewo 2016
This year, the tenth jubilee Folk Music Festival “Old Songs – Young Voices” took place in Waniewo. On Sunday, July 31, after the pilgrimage mass, 10 folk music bands, a total of 97 young musicians, singers and instrumentalists, presented their creative achievements to the numerous pilgrims and tourists.
The Festival Jury awarded the Sokoły Commune Mayor’s Awards: first prize – vocal-instrumental band from the Sokoły Community Cultural Center and second prize – Mietka Buraka Band.
In the traditional singing bands category, the first prize was awarded to the “Hiłoczka” band from Czeremcha, and the second place ex aequo to the bands “Rankowi diwczatka” from Bielsk Podlaski and “Szeszupiaki” from Rutka-Tartak. The first prize in the solo instrumentalist category was awarded to Małgorzata Makowska from Suwałki. The first prize in the a-capella singing category was awarded to “Tercet Rodzinny” from Białystok. Three distinctions were also awarded in the traditional singing category.
The tenth jubilee Folk Music Festival “Old Songs – Young Voices” – Waniewo 2016 was accompanied by a board and photo exhibition entitled “Old Songs – Young Voices” organized in the Marshal’s Office a week before the Festival and also presented in Waniewo on the day of the Festival. Due to the high artistic and substantive level of the posters, publications and photos illustrating the ten years of activity of the Musical Society “Słopiewnie”, the exhibition aroused interest among lovers of traditional folk music.