Logo Polskiego Radia

Laibach to release Warsaw Rising tribute

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 15.07.2014 12:18
Legendary Slovenian band Laibach is to release an EP to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the doomed Warsaw Rising in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Laibach.
Laibach. Photo: wikipedia

The project was commissioned by Poland's National Cultural Centre and will include a reworking of one of the classic songs of the insurgency 'Warszawskie Dzieci' ('Warsaw Children').

The song was written by Andrzej Panufnik (the composer who later emigrated to the UK and was knighted there) shortly before the rising.

Launched in 1980, Laibach was one of the most notorious bands associated with the dissident scene during the last years of communism in Central Europe.

One of their earliest champions in the west was influential UK radio DJ John Peel, who recorded three songs with the band in the 1980s.

The Warsaw Rising broke out on 1 August 1944, led by the Home Army (AK), the underground force loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in London.

The partisans were equipped to fight for about a week unaided, but help from theoretical allies the Russians, who were nearing Warsaw, was not forthcoming, in spite of earlier pledges.

The rising lasted for two months before the AK capitulated. Some 200,000 Poles died – mostly civilians – and a Soviet-backed communist regime was ultimately installed in Poland after the war. (nh)

Source: PAP

Print
Copyright © Polskie Radio S.A About Us Contact Us