Four members of the Tekla Klebetnica Folk Group, Zygmunt Czupryn, Marek Koncek, Anna Adamowska, and Marcin Bobak, arrived in Houston Texas on Friday, August 23, 2013. They will be in Texas playing music and enjoying the sights for a little over two weeks as guests of Bryan residents Jim and Kathy Mazurkiewicz.
They will be busy with visits to St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Anderson, Washington on the Brazos, Texas A&M University, the Bush Library, an A&M football game and other Texas sights. At 4:00 pm on Sunday, September 1st, Teckla Klebetnica will perform at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Chappell Hill’s 76th annual homecoming bazaar. St. Stanislaus parish was founded in 1889 by the early Polish immigrant farmers that came to Washington County to take advantage of the fertile land in that area.
On Wednesday, September 4th, the group will perform at the Granbury Texas Arts Festival and on Friday and Saturday, September 6th and 7th they will perform at the Brazos Valley Fair and Expo.
The “Tekla Klebetnica” band began their career in 2006, when Zygmunt and Ania met playing Polish Highlander music together. Over time, they were interested in looking into other folk music including traditional Polish, Slovakian, Hungarian, Romanian and Gypsy melodies performed in their own arrangements. Each of the four musicians was connected to music since childhood from the ages of 5 and 6 years old. Later, Ania and Marcin studied music at the Music Academy in Katowice and Marek studied at the Music Academy in Krakow. Zygmunt is the only one of the group that is self-taught. In addition, Ania and Marcin grew up with traditional Polish folk music, Marek with Slovakian and Gypsy music and Zygmunt was a member of an orchestra and they each draw inspiration from their roots. They have played all over Europe including countries such as Ireland, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italy, Georgia and Uzbekistan. They have played in many festivals including Taca Dancer, Musicastrada, Sharq Taronalari, Art Gen, The World of Accordion and many others. One of their musical highlights was performing with world gypsy musician and European Star, Maestro Roby Lakatos and his ensemble.
Below is a slideshow of photos of some of Tekla Klebetnica’s Texas performances.
James Smock has always held an interest in his Polish ancestors and heritage. He is a native Houstonian with Polish roots in Bremond, Marlin and New Waverly, Texas.