Kroke is a Polish

instrumental ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

of world music. The band's name refers to the

Yiddish language Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

name for

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

(, ). The band was founded in 1992 by three friends and graduates of the

Academy of Music in Kraków The Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w Krakowie) is a conservatory located in central Kraków, Poland. It is the '' alma mater'' of the renowned Polish contemporary composer Krz ...

. Initially, they were associated with

klezmer music Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

with strong Balkan influences. Currently, their work draws inspiration from a variety of ethnic music and sounds of the

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

(especially on the album Seventh Trip), combining these with jazz to create their own distinctive style. In addition to their own projects, Kroke have recorded albums with artists such as

Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and background Kenn ...

, Edyta Geppert, and

Urna In Buddhist art and culture, the Urna (more correctly ūrṇā or ūrṇākośa (Pāli uṇṇa), and known as in Chinese) is a spiral or circular dot placed on the forehead of Buddhist images as an auspicious mark. It symbolizes a third eye, w ...

. One of their songs, "The Secret of the Life Tree", features on the soundtrack of

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

's 2006 film ''

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...

''.

History

The first official release from KROKE was the 1993 cassette “Klezmer Acoustic Music”. During a promotional concert for the album, the band met

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, who invited them to perform at the “Survivors Reunion” concert in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and during the Polish premier of the film '' Schindler’s List''. In 1996, the band signed with the German record label Oriente Musik. The first album of material, released the same year, through this collaboration was ''Trio''. Upon the invitation of

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

, KROKE made their first appearance at the WOMAD festival in July 1997. As a result, joint recording sessions at

Real World Studios Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World Records record label, Real Wor ...

with other musicians led to material from the band being subsequently used by Peter Gabriel on his album ''

Long Walk Home "Long Walk Home" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. It first appeared on his Sessions Band Tour of that year, in folk guise in the European leg of the tour in London for one performance only. Reworked with different and short ...

''- music from the '' Rabbit-Proof Fence'', the soundtrack to the film of the same name. In the same year, KROKE released their second full-length album – ''Eden''. The following years saw the band constantly touring, during which time they participated in such music festivals as: Umea Folk Music Festival (Sweden); City of London Festival (UK); Førde Folk Music Festival (Norway); North Sea Jazz Festival (the Netherlands) as well as many others. During this time, the albums ''Live at the Pit'' (1998 – nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award - Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1999) and ''The Sounds of the Vanishing Wold'' (1999 – winner of the German Record Critics’ Award in 2000) were released. In 2001, KROKE began collaborating with

, the result of which was the album ''

East Meets East ''East Meets East'' is a Collaboration, collaborative studio album released through EMI Classics in 2003 by violinist Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke band (Jerzy Bawoł on accordion, Tomasz Kukurba on viola and Tomasz Lato on double bass), surrounded ...

'', released in 2003. During the same year, the band released ''Ten Pieces to Save the World'' as a trio. This album went on to rank number two in the

World Music Charts Europe In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. Along with Nigel Kennedy, the band once again performed at the WOMAD festival in 2004. The same year, KROKE received a nomination in the World Music category from

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

for the album ''Quartet – Live at Home'' (with Tomasz Grochot on drums, who went on to tour with the band over the next few years) as well as working with Edyta Geppert, which would later bring about the joint release ''Śpiewam życie'' (2006). At the same time, a project was begun with the Sinfonia Baltica orchestra, entitled “KROKE – symfonicznie”, conducted and arranged by Bohdan Jarmołowicz. In 2006, KROKE's song “The Secret of the Life Tree” appeared on the soundtrack to

's film ''

''. Another original album entitled ''Seventh Trip'' was released in 2007. 2008 was filled with concerts in Poland and throughout Europe as well as work on an "intimate project” arranged by

Krzysztof Herdzin Krzysztof () is a Polish given name, equivalent to English ''Christopher''. The name became popular in the 15th century. Its diminutive forms include Krzyś, Krzysiek, and Krzysio; augmentative – Krzychu Individuals named Krzysztof may choose to ...

, which premiered in Spain with the Sinfonica de Burgos orchestra conducted by Javier Castro. Performances of this project played in Kraków and St. Petersburg in Russia with the accompaniment of

Sinfonietta Cracovia Sinfonietta may refer to: * Sinfonietta (orchestra), a musical group that is larger than a chamber ensemble but smaller than a full-size orchestra * Sinfonietta (symphony), a symphony that is smaller in scale or lighter in approach than a standard ...

conducted by Robert Kabara. Released in 2009, the album ''Out of Sight'' was a kind of return to roots for the band. The musicians returned to working as a trio and their concerts took on a more intimate nature. In 2010, they began work on a collection of Greek songs with

Maja Sikorowska Maja can refer to: Places * Maja, Croatia, a village * Maja, Banten, a subdistrict in Lebak Regency, Banten, Indonesia ** Maja railway station * Maja, West Java, a subdistrict in Majalengka Regency, West Java, Indonesia * Maja River, a tributar ...

as well as performing concerts together with the Norwegian band Tindra and Spanish violinist

Diego Galaz Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...

. Other special events that year included the recording of music for the film ''Streetcar Memories'', directed by Łukasz Czuj (the film played at the opening of the Schindler Factory Museum in Kraków), and participation in the Kennedy's Polish Weekend at the Southbank Centre in London alongside Nigel Kennedy. In the same year, KROKE performed at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany and took part in the concert “Your Angel's Name is Liberty”, directed by Robert Wilson, on occasion of the 30th anniversary of

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

in Gdańsk. In January 2011, the collaboration album ''Śpiewam Życie'' with Edyta Geppert was certified “gold”. That same month, KROKE along with Maja Sikorowska completed work on the album ''Avra'', which contains 12 Greek songs. This project also involved guest percussionist Sławomir Berny. In the same year Kroke & Tindra released album ''Live in Førde'' - the recordings were made in the auditorium at Førdehuset on July 10, 2010 for

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

's radio P2.

Group members

File:Kroke, Jerzy Bawol, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, España, 2015 11.JPG, Jerzy Bawoł File:Gdansk Tindra Kroke koncert 12.jpg, Tomasz Lato File:Kroke, Tomasz Kukurba, en escena, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, España, 2015 10.JPG, Tomasz Kukurba File:Tomasz Kukurba.jpg, Tomasz Kukurba File:Jerzy Bawoł.png, Jerzy Bawoł

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Collaborative albums

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Klezmer groups Musical groups established in 1992 Polish musical groups