This story is featured in Episode 51. They met “Vlesie” (W lesie) which in Polish means “in the woods” in 2015 – playing music in a Canadian forest, at the Folk Camp organized by Kosa Kolektiv. They loved each other’s music, and created a unique combination of Eastern and Northern European styles. Their leader is a Polish ethnomusicologist Ewelina Ferenc, an experienced folk musician and a world music singer who has sung in about 20 languages – who came to Canada from Poland in 2015. Ewelina is an active member of the Toronto grassroots community, organizing many different cultural events,…
Author: Malgorzata P. Bonikowska
In this episode you will hear: Interviews: • A legend that needed to exist Dariusz Rosiak, a renowned Polish press and radio journalist and author, has just published his 6th book “Biało-czerwony. Tajemnica Sat Okha” (White and red. The secret of Sat Okh). Sat Okh, Long Feather (c. 1920 – July 3, 2003), was supposedly born to a Polish woman and a native Canadian Shawnee chief, then returned to Poland, where he fought in WW2, worked in the navy and then started his career of informing Poles and other Europeans about the culture and tradition of native Canadians. • Time for…
This story is featured in Episode 47 Many episodes ago we presented to you stories of Canadians who embarked on a task to learn Polish at a night language school which I had visited. One of them was a most enthusiastic fan of Poland Nancy Campbell. She visits Poland regularly and has even purchased an apartment in Krakow. In January she initiated an international collaboration between an elementary school in Poland and an organization out of Edmonton called No Stone Left Alone. On Sept. 1 Nancy attended an event in Krakow, which was the result of this unique partnership between…
This story is featured in Episode 46 INVISIBLE EXHIBITION (NIEWIDZIALNA WYSTAWA) A few years ago, when caring for my elderly mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, I participated in an amazing workshop organized by the Alzheimer’s Society where all of us – caregivers, were given a chance to feel like our loved ones who we cared for. We were almost literally put in their shoes. It was an unforgettable experience. Maybe this is why when I was in Warsaw two years ago and saw a place called the “Invisible Exhibition” in Aleje Jerozolimskie Street, I didn’t think twice and went through…
This story is featured in Episode 45 Peter Jassem is a renowned Toronto-based architect, born in Poland. After coming to Canada, he got interested in geneaology and became involved in the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada. This is how he discovered that his father was Jewish. This discovery changed his life. For over a decade Peter Jassem has been the chair of the Toronto chapter of the Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada, a dynamic organization educating the public on the Polish-Jewish relations – their past and present. He is also the director of the Canadian Committee for Support of POLIN…
Featured in Episode 43. When I was in Poland in 2015 as a member of the official delegation accompanying the then Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, I met and interviewed the then Canada’s ambassador to Poland Alexandra Bugailiskis. 2017 is a special year for Canada which this year celebrates its 150th birthday. A series of conferences and negotiations led to creation of the Dominion of Canada by establishing on July 1, 1867 the Confederation – the union of the British North American colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada. Canada 150, as this anniversary is…
This story is featured in our Episode 42. Richard Washington is British. He is the Director of Communications and Recruitment at the College of Europe’s Warsaw campus in Natolin. Despite less than 7 years in Poland, he speaks excellent Polish and this is what we talk about on POLcast. Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands to a British father and a mother from the Caribbean island of Curacao, he holds a Master of Arts in Modern History from the University of Oxford (1995). After a career as a theatre actor (he graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts…
This is our special episode, made entirely in Poland (except one segment recorded in Vienna). Both Tomek and I happened to be in Poland and our separate visits had a few-day overlap. One of the segments was recorded in Vienna, where I travelled to receive a prestigious award – The Golden Owl, often called the Polish Oscars. Mine was in the category of Media, which did include our POLcast as well. Award gala: While in Vienna, the day before the Golden Owl award gala, all the recipients were invited to a beautiful concert by Camerata Polonia, a Polish chamber…
This story is featured in our Episode 40 While I was interviewing Ela and Piotr about their Red Couch Tour project in the Polish Consulate in Toronto, it turned out that there was a meeting going on in another room. Consul General Grzegorz Morawski had very special guests – minister of communities responsible for housing of Guyana, the hon. Valerie Adams-Patterson with her official delegation, who came to get their Polish visas on the way to Poland. The delegation from Guyana was accompanied by Tom Krupa, a Polish Canadian and his business partner Esmond Gamo Klass, a Canadian of Guyanese…
This story is featured in our Episode 40 They radiate energy and enthusiasm – two friends who created a unique idea which they conceived of three years ago and which has found so much support and interest in Canada that it became a reality. There are three of them – two Polish Canadians Ela Kinowska and Peter Sobierajski and the red couch with the Canada 150 logo on it. The three will travel across our vast country which this year celebrates its 150th birthday. Those who are invited to sit on it, share their stories which reflect the incredible mosaic…