Our next stop on the global Stay True Journey with Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky took us to Warsaw, Poland. We dug deep in the local phonographic archives of the 60s, 70s and 80s to find out the roots of Polish electronic music - the architects of its sound, the landmark records and their influence on present-day, younger generations.

A short film directed by Marcin Filipek who also directed the feature, traces how the existence of the Iron Curtain influenced the sound of Polish electronic pioneers and is this outsider view still apparent to the modern scene which is currently flourishing and getting more and more recognition around the world.

With cinematographer Michał Dąbal, they travelled through and outside Warsaw to find places that either inspired or resemble the tones of the pitched up tape, well-tuned oscillator or a modified Hammond keyboard. The author of the Polish first synthesiser-based album Marek Biliński tries to pin down the impact of electricity on music, the backbone of Experimental Studio of Polish Radio Eugeniusz Rudnik recounts his transition from being an engineer to becoming an artist, the experimenter and genre-bender Władysław Komendarek highlights the importance of mutiny. As the documentary travels back to nowadays, the sounds recorded by them forerunners find their reflection in the words and works of contemporary producers Mikołaj “Noon” Bugajak, Bartosz “The Phantom” Kruczyński, Tomasz Twardowski and a synth-pop duo Rebeka consisting of Iwona Skwarek and Bartosz Szczęsny.

Piotr Bejnar

Artists

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