Halloween feels at home in Poland

The end of October and the beginning of November is the period when people contemplate death. They deal with this subject in many different ways. In some cultures, for example in Poland, it comes down to a religious celebration of the holidays called All Saints’ Day which falls on the 1st of November and All Souls’ Day on the 2^nd of November. It’s the time when Poles visit cemeteries and light candles on the tombs of their deceased loved ones praying for them. In churches the meditation on what is temporal and eternal takes place. It is rather sad and melancholic time.

On the other side, probably the most known worldwide tradition dedicated to the souls of dead is the 31th of October called Halloween. The western practice to dress up as ghosts, vampires, zombies, witches and so on is more and more perceptible also in Poland. It is more playful approach to the topic.

This year I spent that time in my hometown Bielsko-Biała. The last day of October I cleaned the tombs on cemeteries and I prepared them for the next day celebrations. On my way home I saw a group of children dressed up as different creatures who were walking from house to house shouting ‘trick or treat!’ in Polish. I was shocked. In the evening I made an appointment with my friend. On the streets there were more groups of young ghosts and zombies. After sunset Bielsko is usually rather empty but that evening it was full of life, or even better saying full of death! There were a lot of dressed up teenagers who were frightening the passersby. I felt like in a horror movie. I dislike such a entertainments and I don’t support the western tradition of Halloween but I have to say that the atmosphere of that evening was unique. All thanks to the weather which perfectly fit the circumstance. There was such a thick fog that me and my friend couldn’t find each other on the street. It made the city look mysterious and scary. The fog created also some natural Halloween decorations. For example the small mote of water settled on the spider webs on the bridge, which made an amazing effect! The picture doesn’t express it very good and the quality is bad too but you can imagine more or less what it was like ;)

New musical experience

As you know I am fanatic of music. During the holidays I always have more time to explore new bands, albums and tracks. This year it was a good possibility to immerse in the newest Siddharta’s album. It was released 12th of June and it is called Infra. Before Infra two new songs came out which announced the album. They are called Ledena and Dios. Ledena is a slow ballad. The title means ‘icy’ and the lyrics is more or less about reserved and unapproachable woman who is unable to accept someone’s love.

Dios (in English ‘god’) is more vigorous song with clear rock sounds. The lyrics is also more powerful with references to the four elements. I really like these two songs.

The whole album Infra includes 10 tracks:

1. Dios

2. Do Konca

3. Onna

4. Ledena

5. Da Sedere

6. Phat Yuppie

7. Diamanti

8. Love Love

9. Piknik

10. Gianna

When I was listening to Infra for the first time (excluding Ledena and Dios) I was a little embarrassed because every single song seemed to be very different from all the other Siddharta’s pieces of music. My feelings were rather negative. I thought ‘Probably something went bad, it isn’t the old Siddharta’s style any more!’. I didn’t feel like listen to it again. But after a few days I decided to return to Infra. Surprisingly, my opinion on it has completely changed. I found all of the tracks excellent and I couldn’t stop listening to them! I like the whole album but there is one song which recalls to me very positive emotions. In my opinion it is very energetic and pleasing to the ear song. There is something else which makes it so exceptional – the title of this song sounds like the name of one of my favourite Italian singers (Gianna Nannini). It caught my ear even if I don’t know yet what the lyrics is about. This is the last track of the album. It is called Gianna.

Do you have any experience like this? Have you ever had negative opinion about an album or a song which then changed completely?