„This week’s first pick is not local, but streaming worldwide from New York City and Gdańsk, Poland.
The Jewish Theological Seminary’s Dr. David Kraemer will speak to poet Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, a rock musician who speaks out against Holocaust denial, genocide and the rise of right-wing nationalism in Poland. Kwiatkowski’s lyrics rage against populism and hatred, leading the indie rock band Trupa Trupa’s deep, off-kilter melodies and soaring instrumentation.
While Trupa Trupa reaches to the sky, Kwiatkowski’s minimalist poems explore the micro-view upon Central and South-Eastern Europe’s conflicted, bloody pasts and the present paradox within contemporary genocides in countries such as Rwanda.
“I’m intrigued by the combination of ethics and aesthetics in one person, one life, one story,” Kwiatkowski said in The Times of Israel.
Kwiatkowski’s minimalist poems are terrible testimonies uttered on behalf of the murdered and the dead.
Kwiatkowski will sit down with Dr. Kraemer to speak about art arising against hate at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, streaming from jtsa.edu/poetry-and-music-grzegorz-kwiatkowski. And if people can’t make the chat, Trupa Trupa’s well worth a listen.”
Matthew Denis, www.eu.registerguard.com
