Many generations of Trebunie-Tutki Family folk group were and are still fond of music. The group has been evolving for ages but had not lost anything of its own style. At the beginning it was a regional folk group, now it has become a group that is present during the biggest and most important festivals of “world music” in Europe as well as in Asia and North America.
Trebunie-Tutki is the first Polish group that has been repeatedly present at the World Music Charts Europe created by the European Broadcasting Union. In 2005 the group represented Poland on EXPO in Aichi in Japan.
The group members are very faithful to the tradition of local highlanders, but this fact does not prevent them from being more and more creative. By using traditional instruments and basing on musical shape and character of the highlanders’ music they have created New Highlander Music. They developed and added some new melodies and texts telling about contemporary problems as well as avant-garde arrangement. They like experimenting, therefore they often cooperate with artists such as: Twinkle Brothers - the group from Jamaica, Ordo Sakhna - the group from Kyrgyzstan, Andrew Cronshaw from England, Quintet Urmuli from Georgia ( the newest album “Spirit of the Mountains”)as well as with many famous Polish artists.
Cooperation with Adrian Sherwood from London, African Head Charge, Twinkle Brothers and Włodzimierz Kiniorski resulted in creation of the album “In Sherwood” that was nominated for a Fryderyk Music Award in Poland whilst in Europe was recognized as the third album on the EBU World Music Chart of the decade.
Trebunie-Tutki, the family group, welcomes to their World of the Tatras, to the music journey showing roots of the Podhale region as well as the music’s new way of development. Similarly to old highlander music, which was influenced by the Carpathian sheperds’ tradition, by the Balkans as well as the Polish lowlands culture, Krzysztof Trebunia-Tutka’s compositions are born under the influence of such inspirations.
Original instruments play a very important role here: shepherds’ flutes and pipes, złóbcoki - narrow old-fiddle, koza – a local bagpipe, trombita – the long wooden trumpet, sheep bells, basy – three-stringed Podhale fiddle bass and traditional wyskanie – glissando of woman’s voice, shepherds’ calls and whistling. They not only concern traditional and contemporary way of living, but they are also a tribute to great classics of Polish music – Chopin, literature – Wyspiański and many more. This group shows how New Highlander Music comes into existing in Poland, music which is not in opposition to traditional one, but its natural continuation. Although highlanders’ lives and surroundings are constantly changing, it does not mean that these people do not take pride in their identity.
The band refers to tradition, but also uses modern, electric instruments that make them have a wider audience. The program is musically diverse. The songs also come from cooperation with musicians from Jamaica and Georgia, and at the same time they are very native, Polish and highlander.
