More alternative music: Śmiałek

Śmiałek is an alternative rock band established in Cracow, Poland, in 2005 by the actor and vocalist Karol Śmiałek and director, lyricist and composer Paweł Szarek. Śmiałek is difficult to label as a genre, preferring the category they coined themselves – Rock Berlin Kabarett Theatre. They are also sometimes called an "industrial kabarett" or "electro rock kabarett". The group derives its style from the tradition of the dark 1930’s Berlin cabaret scene, with elements of concerts, theatre, electro-acoustic experiments, but above all – the contemporary club revue, based to a large extent on the 20th-century Dadaist tradition. Every single concert by Śmiałek is unpredictable – it’s a hybrid show combining music and drama, adjusted to the venue to be staged in, no matter a small club, large concert hall or open-air stage. The Śmiałek ensemble consists of five elements: the voice, the double bass, the electric guitar, the drums and the piano, plus the programming. Each concert is accompanied by the so-called phantoms – a group of improvising performers who introduce an element of chaos and invade the concert space. Their behaviour is roughly scripted and is only limited by human imagination. The music played by Śmiałek is characterised by elements typical of the pre-war European cabaret tradition (German, Polish, French and Austrian) interspersed with rock/metal and industrial sounds, as well as jazz, electro and actor’s song.

Official website of the group: smialek.net. Music can be listened to on MySpace group.