Orkisz sung Maciej Zembaty's translations of Cohen's songs, plus his own version of In My Secret Life; he was on guitar and there was a man on keyboards/piano accompanying him. The performances were of course in trace of Zembaty's versions, driven by excellent guitar playing and some nice touches and arrangements on piano. Also, his style is rooted in European song tradition of Vysotsky, Okudzhava, Brel, and it's nice to hear Cohen making contact with it without any problems. I always liked Zembaty's covers as it's different approach than the Western covers of Cohen songs, stripped down to "chanson" style and closer to Brel or Vysotsky than Dylan or pop. My highlights were One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong and Famous Blue Raincoat, and also the atmosphere of The Window in their guitar/piano arrangement (That song - "Okno" - has only Cohen's music and mood, lyrics are Orkisz'). Of course, the audience's favourite was Hallelujah, which was delivered in few musical styles, starting with the usual Jeff Buckley style, but then turning into a gospel, blues etc. on each new stanza.
Mr. Orkisz - who, btw, won the first prize at Krakow's annual Leonard Cohen Festival in 1983! - is announced for the 2010 Event in Krakow, so all attendees will have the opportunity to see/hear him (and also - I hope - Maciej Zembaty and a number of other Polish artists rooted in that European tradition). His website is http://www.orkisz.pl
(from left: Pawel Orkisz, Tom Sakic, Sebastian Korta)
