On Saturday, 19 May, a concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of the local Niespodzianka ensemble will be held in the hall of the Village Cultural Centre in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki (Warta Bolesławiecka municipality). It begins at 2:00 p.m. The event programme is provided below:

  • 2:00 p.m. – Mass for the ensemble at the parish church of St Jadwiga in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki
  • 3:00 p.m. – official ceremony in the WDK hall
  • from 3:30 p.m. – artistic performances; in addition to the guests of honour, the following will perform on stage:
    Podgrodzianki from Raciborowice
    Żeliszowianki from Żeliszów
    Niezapominajki from Osła
    the Ocice Singing Ensemble.

There will also be a shared feast.

THE HISTORY OF THE NIESPODZIANKA ENSEMBLE

And this is how it happened…

Weronika Wilczyńska was the chairwoman of the Rural Housewives’ Association in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki. On 5 May 1998, she was invited to take part in the 6th Competition for Baking Bread and Celebration Cakes in Krotoszyce. She informed the members, and they got to work; they baked cakes and bread and set off for the competition with their baked goods.

Upon entering the hall, they were greatly surprised: there were so many ensembles with their baked goods. The women wondered, “What are we doing here?” After a moment’s thought, Mrs Wilczyńska gave the signal: let’s begin. The housewives arranged the cakes and harvest festival bread, then waited for the jury’s assessments.

After going out onto the sports field, where the competition results were announced, the KGW members stood beneath the stage because there were no seats left; they waited a long time, as there were as many as 100 competition participants. Unexpectedly, our KGW took first place. The joy was immense; the women returned home excited and singing. A week later [...] Mrs Wilczyńska said: “We’re forming an ensemble; whoever is interested should stay after the meeting.” And that is how it began.

The first rehearsal took place on 13 May 1998 at the Cultural Centre in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki, and the ensemble’s leader, Mrs Wilczyńska, quickly found an accordionist – Franciszek Dolecki from a housing estate in Tomaszów, who came to the first rehearsal with his wife, Maria. At first it was somewhat amusing, because Mrs Wilczyńska would tell Mr Dolecki, “Please, play,” while Mr Dolecki would say, “Sing, and I’ll play.” After three or four rehearsals, on 30 May 1998, the First Review of Folk Ensembles was held at the Cultural Centre in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki, and that was their stage debut. “We were nervous, but everything went as it should. Our commune head, Mr Mirosław Haniszewski, christened us NIESPODZIANKA, because our performance was marked as a surprise on the posters promoting the event,” the members recall.

The ensemble’s first members were Weronika Wilczyńska (the ensemble’s founder, elected leader), as well as musical director Franciszek Dolecki, Maria Dolecka, Katarzyna Listwan, Antonina Marnicka, Helena Łucyszyn, Maria Skiba, Maria Kata, Elżbieta Borucka, Lidia Lesiuk, Maria Białek, Anna Listwan, Grażyna Bojanowska and Krystyna Szymańska.

The first performances took place in the Warta municipality, including municipal harvest festivals, for which the women also made wreaths, often winning first place. During rehearsals, they learned Polish and Croatian songs, songs from the former Yugoslavia and Ukrainian songs. They also sang patriotic and religious songs, pastorales and Christmas carols.