Let's plan May together: The party, the lad and the lost shoe

Who doesn't know the story of Cinderella? Which young girl didn't want to lose her shoe as a clue for a prince to find her? (well... me. I wanted to take a sword and go kill a dragon instead. I was a weird child. However, with no dragons around, a party with a prince would also be nice, I suppose...) Wouldn't  you want to come back into your childhood dreams for an hour or two?

The Metropolitan Opera form New York presents "Cinderella". A story of a poor girl who dreams of visiting the nearby castle and see a great ball with her own eyes. Her stepmother and two envious sisters do it every week or so, but Cinderella is always left home. One evening, when she is left alone again, her fairy goodmother appears. Cinderella is given an awesome dress and carriage (created of her old, stained dress and a pumpkin with magic) and can finally attend a ball. There is only one condition - Cinderella but be back home before midnight, for then the spell will run out and everything will turn back to its previous form...

How the story ends we all perfectly know. It is not about being thrilled about the ending, it is about being a child again for a few moments. We can become children once more on May 11th at Kino Kijów in Krakow. It will be fun, I promise.

Let's plan May together: A bit of Scandinavian melancholy

When somebody says "Scandinavia" what comes to our minds? I'd say it's snow, raindeers and tall blond guys with big pale eyes filled with melancholy. Well, I can see no snow out there, the same with raindeers. I cannot promise tall blond guys either but a bit of Scandinavian melancholy - as you please.

Airbag consists of a five (definitely tall) guys (but only one blond...) from Norway. Their music is located somewhere between art rock and progressive rock. In truth it is hard to label them. To describe their music properly, one must know the wide range of bands which inspired them. Listening to Airbag we sometimes hear Pink Floyd, sometimes Radiohead, sometimes the guys glimpse at late Porcupine Tree compositions, sometimes they flirt with their fellow countrymen from A-ha. You don't need to be Alfred Einstein to know that "progressive rock" label doesn't fit here really much. So let's do it another way. Let's look at the four legendary bands I wrote about and... let's come to Airbag concert!

The show will take place at Klub Studio in Krakow on May 25th. More about the band you can find here: airbagsound.com.

Let's plan May together: What do you have inside?

When I remember my childhood, it's filled with questions. I wanted to know everything. Why there are no dinosaurs anymore, how and when the sun is going to die, what happens with food once I gulp it? I had an illustrated book about the human body, it was my favourite one...

Now the world has changed and children are limited to the illustrations no more. So are we. We can go and see the inside of the real human body. We have such a possibility thanks to The Human Body Exhibition. Our bodies are a perfect machines built with so many different pieces it seems impossible that they all work together in harmony. It's a wonderful symphony of live. But it is also very fragile. We should watch it and learn to treat our bodies how they deserve it - with great care and love. The exhibition will surely be helpful here.

The Human Body Exhibition can be visited in Klub Fabryka in Krakow the whole May. I honestly recommend it.

Let's plan April together: A meeting with Rusalka

Rusalka is a creature from Slavic mythology. It's a water spirit, a female ghost inhabiting lakes (usually the ones where she died). She takes form of a beautiful young woman, naked or clothed in simple white dress. She is known to dance around the lake at night and tempt handsome men to come close and then... she drowns them (or dances them to death, according to other sources).

The famous opera by Antonín Dvořák tells a story of love between Rusalka and the Prince. The Prince saw her when wandering through a forest at night and instantly they fell in love with each other. Unfortunately, Rusalka could not leave her pond. She had to ask Ježibaba - a forest witch - for help. And help she received but a witch's gifts always have a price. Ježibaba turned Rusalka into a human but took away her voice. The Prince took her into his castle and they would live long and happy if not for a Foreign Princess. She came to the castle, beautiful, mysterious and... having her voice. That's when the troubles started.

You can see how the story ends on April 21st. Kino Kijów in Krakow will be transmitting the show live from The Metropolitan Opera in New York. See you there!

Let's plan April together: A little sacred spark in our eveyday lives

Christmas and Easter are two events when most of us seek to add a bit of sacredness to their everyday lives. These are times for meditation and focusing rather on the inside than the outside. The city of Krakow will gladly help you in this task. Lords and Ladies, I present to you the Misteria Paschalia festival.

Misteria Paschalia is one of Europe's biggest festivals of early music - focusing mostly on Renaissance and Baroque music. Every project presented during the festival is prepared specially for it. This year the concerts will start on April 15th and end on April 21st. We will have a chance to listen to such masterpieces as "Kantaten und Konzerten" by Johann Sebastian Bach or "La Ressurezione" by George Frideric Handel. The Festival Management chooses the musicians very carefully. For many of them this will be their debut at the Misteria Paschalia, but all of them are extraordinary and quite talented young people.

The programme and ticket information you can find here: misteriapaschalia.com.

Let's plan April together: A trip to outer space

There is something really charming about independent music. Isn't it beautiful that nobody limits a band's imagination and creativity? Isn't it beautiful that we receive the purest form of music, exactly as a band intended it to be? Isn't it beautiful that there exist such bands as God Is An Astronaut?

5 men form Ireland who release their albums by their own label Rocket Records. In truth, this says everything. This will be great evening filled with great music. What kind of music, you may ask. Well... it's complicated. As is all independent music. It's partly post-rock, partly electronica, partly dark ambient and partly everything else. Mostly it's what musicians enjoy playing. And if you enjoy your music, the audience will surely enjoy it as well.

The concert will take place at Klub Fabryka in Krakow on April 18th. You can read more about the band here: superadmusic.com.

Let's plan April together: Music of the Celtic souls

As you probably don't know yet (but soon you're gonna know it well enough), I have a great fascination for Celtic culture. And by culture I mean everything: history, mythology, everyday life, languages... and music as well. I wouldn't be myself if I didn't recommend you visiting Auditorium Maximum in Krakow for Gaelforce Dance concert...

Gaelforce Dance is a group of Australian dancers and Irish musicians. Together they perform a show similar to famous "Lord of the Dance" by Riverside. The plot is simple - a story of two young lovers, each of them trapped in a marriage without love. It is a tale of love, passion, hope and desperation - a universal tale easily understood regardless of nation, sex, even age. All of that is served in a mix of both Celtic and modern music. Trust me, you cannot miss that.

The show will take place on April 13th at 6:00 pm. You can read more about the band at gfdpromotions.com.