20th Slavic Song Contest

Let us remind you that the event is organized by students for students. Due to the jubilee, the organizers have prepared a few surprises. The main organizer of all editions of KPS is students and employees of the Institute of Slavic Studies (IFS). Students of this institute learn languages from scratch – Czech, Croatian and Serbian, Russian, and Ukrainian. Starting next academic year, IFS’s didactic offer will include a Macedonian language course as a second Slavic language, especially since the Centre for Macedonian Studies has been thriving at the Institute for years. Over the past twenty years of organizing the Slavic Song Contest, Macedonian Edi Mulić (a student of the University of Wrocław) sang in Serbian in 2009, and two years earlier the late lamented Milan Duskov (a Serbian lecturer at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the founder of the band Bałkany Śpiewają) sang in Macedonian. In a concert dedicated to Joanna Klin, a graduate and laureate of several editions of the competition who died tragically just before the concert, he dedicated a touching Macedonian song performed a capella entitled ‘Zajdi, zajdi jasno sonce’, moving the audience to tears.

This year’s official part of the competition will begin with Ilija Psaltirov, the Ambassador of the Republic of North Macedonia in Poland, singing in Macedonian and accompanying himself on the piano. Ilija Psaltirov will present one of his favorite songs.

In this year’s competition, the young singers will mainly present the most famous songs, such as the legendary song from the repertoire of Maciej Maleńczuk – ‘Ostatnia nocka’ which is an adaptation of the song ‘Verujem, ne verujem’ by Bajaga. This hit from years ago will be performed by students of the first year of Russian Studies. ‘Dwa serduszka, cztery oczy’- a song performed years ago by Mazowsze, and recently popularized by Joanna Kulig and Sanah, was prepared by a team of Germanists from the IFG under the direction of dr Julianna Redlich. In Ukrainian we will hear e.g. songs from the repertoire of Tercja Picardyjska, including the anthem of the Ukrainians of recent years – ‘Plywe kacza’; the Serbian anthem of freedom ‘Računajte na nas’; cover songs from Anna German’s repertoire; and a beautiful Cossack song from the repertoire of the Aleksandrov Choir.

A great surprise will be the second, jubilee part of the competition, which will be conducted by the first presenters (then first-year Russian students) who, together with their host, dr Wiesława Zybura, were the initiators of the Slavic Song Contest. They made the contest an annual event and a big May event of the University of Wrocław and the city of Wrocław since year one. Outside the competition, during the jurors’ deliberations, we will hear our first performers, graduates who are so close to us, who will perform for us in Polish and in the languages taught at IFS. We will hear a song from the repertoire of Tercja Picardyjska, a beautiful Ukrainian song about the mother, ‘Ajde Jano’ and ‘Mande Mande’ in Serbian, ‘Małe tęsknoty’ from the repertoire of Krystyna Prońko, ‘Все пройдет’ by Mikhail Bojarski, as well as the Czech performer, dr Igor Jelinek, who will sing a song from the repertoire of A. Rozenbaum, ‘Вальс Бостон’, which he will perform several times. The second part of the competition will end with a rock ballad by the Beatles ‘Hej Jude’ in Czech, which will be performed together with friends by the winner of many competitions – Kamila Ogrodnik (Konopczak), a Russianist and Bohemist from IFS.

AWARDS

I Prize of the Dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Wrocław – PLN 2,000
II Prize – Wrocław Club ANIMA – recital in ANIMA
III Prize – of IFS Management – PLN 1000
4. Audience Award

Distinctions

5. Award of the International Office of the University of Wrocław – 1000 PLN
6. Award of the Art and Culture Center in Wrocław – PLN 500
7. Award of the Management of the Institute of German Studies – PLN 500
8. Award of the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Wrocław – PLN 500
9. Prize of an anonymous Slavic song lover_1 – PLN 500
10. Prize of an anonymous Slavic song lover_2 – PLN 500
11. WPAiE Dean’s Award – PLN 500
12. Dinner for two funded by the ARMINE restaurant
13. Dinner for two funded by Kozacka Chatka
14. Invitation to Anna Majkut-Polańska’s Art Voice Center
15. Weekend in Prague for two – Joanna Tourist Office

Translated by Milena Topolska (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.