[Special]: Gramofonowa. x NovaFuture Blog – Poland Special | Part 4: “Why So Silent?”

 

 

Hi Blazej, describe your concept please and tell us how the idea came up to your mind!

I have played a few times to silent movies before I begun my project, so I was somehow influenced by it. However, I have to say, the concept of those events was different than my own. I felt the focal point was always the movie, while the music, composed and performed by sometimes renowned and extremely appreciated artists, played a role of its companion.

I twisted the idea around. The heart of my project is the music and the artists performing it. I think that silent movies goes very well with electronic and techno music. At first the project was only about Live PA performances. After a while I started to invite Dj’s as well. The selection of the movies always comes after I invite the artist, it is never the other way around. The music is the most important ingredient in this recipe. I feel movies are creating a better environment for focusing on sounds. They are also a starting point, an inspiration for creating music. And as it turned out there are so many great titles to discover!

This is how the idea was born and how I want it to remain for the future as well. At the very beginning the events were very small and I mostly invited my closest friends to them. After a while the project started to grow and this days I can host some of my favorite artists.

 

“The Seashell And The Clergyman” scored by Głós

 

Please give us some facts about you and your musical influence!

This is always a very difficult question with a lot of possible answers. I was always close to deep forms, especially dub and ambient music, but also I am in love in the club vibe and a much stronger music for body and mind. My taste and influences are evolving over time but they are always close to the core that I described.

 

How do you select movie & artist? What are the criteria to combine both with each other?

Well, when talking about the music layer, I always invite artists that are an inspiration to me. With the movies it is always a bit more difficult. I consider myself more as an occasional explorer than a fanatic. For an event I try to pick several movies with a similar ambiance and character. Sometimes a movie can be 5 minutes long, so I have to find a few of them each time. The inspiration for their choice is the music of the invited artists.

I usually open the evening with my own short Liveact. Afterwards my guest take over the stage. I usually pick the experimental and avant-garde pictures, because I do not want to show the obvious titles here. Since I have been doing it for more than four years now, it became clear to me that in the beginning of XX. century there were a lot of filmmakers that wanted to push the art forward. This is very important for me when searching for the movies.

 

(Blazej Malinowski, THNTS & Głós)

 

When did you start? Is it always at the same venue?

I started Why So Silent? four years ago. From the very beginning it had the same venue – a place called Znajomi Znajomych (Friends of our Friends) in Warsaw. Its manager – Dorota Tomaszewska – always had an unconditional faith in it. Her persistence is actually the reason that the project has been on for such a long time and succeeded in the way it did. She left me total freedom of choice of both artists and movies.

At the end of this season I received some proposals to come with Why So Silent? events to another polish cities or for example to perform in Stockholm. Recently I also presented the concept in Denver with a short Live performance during my first USA tour. So I have to say that the project is growing. However Warsaw is the place where I want to do it as long as possible. As long as people would like to hear & see it.

 

“Un Chien Andalou” scored by Blazej Malinowski

 

You now live in Berlin but your events still take place in Poland. What are your future plans? Perhaps doing it in Berlin too? Which artists and movies are coming next?

I am always asking myself the same question – which artists and which movies are coming up next, in the next 3-5 events? If some venues would be interested in co-hosting the event in Berlin, I am up for it for sure. However since my main focus is in working in the studio and playing Live, I am waiting for someone who would be really interested in working with me.

I am already planning the opening of the next season in Poland. This time it will probably be held in a club and it will turn into a regular club party running until the early hours of the morning. The evening will begin as a regular show and afterwards I plan to invite a VJ that will work with the pictures presented for the past four years. But for now I cannot say much more about the lineup but I think people will enjoy the concept of the night.