Cracow as one of the most important points on the map of Polish history seems to be a perfect place to start a journey into the past. Wandering on the Cracow’s alleys in the evening it is hard not to feel the breath of the ancestors on your neck. This unusual atmosphere was fed by the concert of Percival which took place on 20th February in music club Moscal and it was a part of Slavny Tur 2014 promoting the album "Slava – pieśni Słowian południowych" and announcing another part of the triptych devoted to the music of East Slavic people.
Mescal Club is situated on two floors of old tenement house in Cracow’s Kazimierz. The interior is apparently not very big and rather austere. There are some abstract paintings on the walls and red light on the stage. An hour before the concert there had been a few people sitting around the tables, the instruments on the stage and musicians starting sound check. They were in a good mood joking and laughing and it was obvious that playing makes them happy. The sound of drums in this almost empty room was a little bit worrying, but already during the sound checking it was hard to resist the music and not to move. Gradually the fans were gathering, some people in historical costumes appeared. And finally the concert began with the aim to evoke the spirits of Slavic people. The first track was "Tam pod borem". The musicians performed the songs from "Slava-pieśni Słowian Południowych" and new tracks which are to be released on the second part of triptych "Slava" which is currently in the stage of mixing. The ritual songs of Serbian and Bulgarian origin were played as well as Russian songs and band’s own compositions. The set list included "Gusta mi magla", "Lazare", "Matrioszka" or "Dziewczyna Swarożyca" with the special dedication to restorers. The concert was an amazing journey through meanders of Slavic sounds and also a great lesson of history and culture. The fans were enjoying and dancing and the band had a great contact with the audience telling jokes and interesting stories about the performed songs. The great ovation encouraged the band to play an encore and the song entitled "Satanismus" which evoked real euphoria. After the show there was a time for photos, autographs and small talks. Exclusively for Alternation Mikołaj Rybacki talked to us about the tour and cooperation with Masha from Arkona.

How has the tour been going so far? Any surprises?

M.R: As usually there were technical surprises, meaning half of the stuff which was supposed to work actually did not work, but we have already got used to it. This is how the things are.

And what do you do when something suddenly stops working?

M.R: You have to be elastic, come up with something, you know, it’s hard to say, it’s individual. During the first concert on tour we borrowed a projector from a great company who supported us and it didn’t work. During the first concert.

How did you like it here in Cracow?

M.R: very well. Let me tell you, because I’d like to make a clear division between this technical problems and the emotional load of the concert. They never influence it. And this is amazing, because on the one hand we had to learn how to be resistant to this kind of stuff, but on the other there’s an audience and they always show us not o bother. Simply it’s not the case. It is music which is most important not the additional stuff. This is amazing because there’s a great credit for us, I mean everything may stop working and still I think the concert will be great.

Have you got any plans for Percival Schuttenbach concerts?

M.R: Yes, we are planning. We’re supposed to have some talks about it. This is going to be a tour celebrating 15th anniversary but is currently suspended and it’s hard to tell when it starts. We really want but there are problems with dates and with everything.

Can you tell us something about your cooperation with Masha from Arkona?

M.R: It is something extremely magical because, you know, Arkona is famous and well-known band, performing in US, Mexico, Japan and we had a pleasure to play as their support in Szczecin in 2012 and it turned out that they liked our music, during sound check,  I noticed that Masha came and listened. And then we had a great plan to buy some alcohol and go to them to congratulate them on the concert and Masha ruined our plan because as soon as we entered the room she congratulated us. I turned out that they really enjoyed our concert and this is how our friendship began and all the strange things that followed. Things which are really amazing in this whole show business we are experiencing all the time and its negative sides too. I’ll put it this way and I want it to go around the world, one day Masha comes to our rehearsal, she doesn’t show what she thinks, is it good or not, she just listens, then we go to congratulate them, then she says it was great, we talk, there is an understanding between us, two days later we’ve got a call from Arkona’s publisher who says he wants to release Percival’s album. And this is how it happened. They only said that there is a nice band from Poland, he listened, and here in Poland where we have been playing for 15 years and we have been sending our albums to everybody and those people from show business surely hate us because of that, so here, even though there were some nice reviews, Anja Orthodox said something nice about us, and two more people also, and that’s it. Nobody ever said that we are good enough to release our album. Right now we have two albums released in Russia. And then another thing followed. We were recording an album and had an idea to invite some guests. And my wife who is on a short fuse decided to write to Masha, she did and what a surprise it was when Masha replied and agreed. She sang and she did it marvellously so that even I liked it and that’s something ;)

Thank You