ATMAN - Polish psychedelic folk band for Prog Folk
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Suggest New Bands and Artists
Forum Description: Suggest, create polls, and classify new bands you would like included on Prog Archives
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=99171
Printed Date: July 20 2025 at 05:24
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Topic: ATMAN - Polish psychedelic folk band for Prog Folk
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Subject: ATMAN - Polish psychedelic folk band for Prog Folk
Date Posted: August 01 2014 at 19:12
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I have one album called Tradition and am listening to one called Personal Forest. They are labeled freak folk but they have long drawn out freakouts and a huge diverse palette of eclecticness that i think qualifies them as progressive and definately more so than some artists listed here as prog folk. Kind of new agy at times but much more http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/atman" rel="nofollow - https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/atman Personal Forest (whole album) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3l5adloMks&list=PLGUaZS4bZL9kGSRNzYvaGksazYXEUlcCj&index=3" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3l5adloMks&list=PLGUaZS4bZL9kGSRNzYvaGksazYXEUlcCj&index=3 Tradition tracks (just click on the ones with the green covers) http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=atman+tradition" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=atman+tradition My review at RYM for Tradition The definition of their band name ATMAN says a lot about their sound, which is a Hindi word that means the individual soul or essence that is eternal, unchanging and indistinguishable from the essence of the universe. This ATMAN is from Poland. There are two other bands with the same name from Brazil and Spain. This highly experimental band was formed all the way back in 1981 by multi-instrumentalists Marek Styczynski, Marek Leszczynski and Piotr Kolecki. They set out to create an ethno-folk collective with a rotating cast of vocalists and musicians to help out. On this final release we get the hauntingly beautiful Anna Nacher who can at times remind you of Lisa Gerrard or even Dimanda Galas. This collective has successfully mastered the timeless beauty of what they themselves called “forest music.” With a huge array of acoustic instruments including exotic editions from far-flung places like Tibet they create a sound like no other I have heard. The songs range from hypnotic drone tracks with Tibetan chants to more upbeat progressive folk rock grooves with slight traces of jazz creeping in from time to time. They even manage to convert a Jimi Hendrix song to fit their primeval musical vision. Despite the surprisingly diverse range of sounds that they eke out on their mostly acoustic sets, the psychedelic feel of the album is a unified timeless Earth-based spiritual one that celebrates the eternal energies of the forests and the creatures that depend on them. Despite the attempts of many a band to create such music, few succeed in the overwhelming plea of the forest music to be heard and makes you succumb to its spell simply by the sheer innovation and strangeness that evokes the excitement of a highly creative gathering fuelled by the ecstatic frenzy of Earth energies synergizing into a sonic orgy. |
Replies:
Posted By: yam yam
Date Posted: August 01 2014 at 23:13
Got to be worth a shot!  Proggnosis have them: http://www.proggnosis.com/ARTIST_Detail.aspx?AID=2982" rel="nofollow - http://www.proggnosis.com/ARTIST_Detail.aspx?AID=2982 , but no info at all, and only one album (Personal Forest). RYM list nine albums in total: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/atman" rel="nofollow - http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/atman , and have this as the band's biography:The band was established in 1975 by Marek Styczyński and Jacek Zadora. During a few years it was a semiprofessional students' quartet (Marek Styczyński, Jacek Zadora, Piotr Kolecki and Marek Leszczyński) with collaborators. In 1981 Zadora left the band, and since 1982 it was reestablished as a professional trio (Styczyński, Kolecki, Leszczyński). In the 90s new members and collaborators joined the band. Among their collaborators appeared (more permanent collaborators in italics): Zofia Pstrucha, Bożena Hordziej, Alma Yoray, Tomasz Guliński, Sławomir Gołaszewski, Janusz Reichel and others. Last.fm's version is as follows: http://www.last.fm/music/Atman" rel="nofollow - http://www.last.fm/music/Atman : Polish experimental ethno-folk collective Atman was formed in 1981 by multi-instrumentalists Marek Styczynski, Marek Leszczynski and Piotr Kolecki, who remained the core of the group throughout its lengthy existence; other regular collaborators included vocalist Anna Nacher and Tomek Gulinski, as well as bassist Thomasz Radziuk. Forging an aesthetic they dubbed “forest music” — a sound created with acoustic instruments and Tibetan instruments — the members of Atman divided their time between performing and offering workshops in instrument building and forestry, finally releasing the cassette …jak rozrzucone po ziemi kamienie… on their own FLY (Freak Living Yourself) label in 1991. Cassettes including Soundreams and Gadajaca Laka followed before Atman made its American debut with the Drunken Fish EP Save the Earth; other efforts for the label include 1997’s Personal Forest and 1999’s Tradition. Interesting find indeed.
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Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: August 02 2014 at 07:26
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Great find! Seems like a shoo-in to me, let's see what Ken has to say. ------------- "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus |
Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 15:23
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http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=9002" rel="nofollow - Atman have been added to Prog Folk. ------------- "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus |