Sat Oct 24. 7:30 pm. All ages welcome. $15 advance, $20 door.

Bantha Tea Bar, 5002 Penn Avenue, Garfield/Friendship.

Tickets on sale at Humanitix (small service charge.

Guitar archeologist from Poland

presents 'Qirim' - lecture & performance of Crimean Tatar Music

RAPHAEL ROGINSKI

https://raphaelroginski.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/raphael_roginski/

with special guests

ERIK CIRELLI & DAVID LEICHT

QIRIM

“Qırım” is the new musical project by Raphael Rogiński – a journey into sound, memory, and spirituality. It is a meditative treatise on the culture of the Crimean Tatars and, more broadly, on the entire lost world of Crimea.

This concert tour is the premiere presentation of the album “Qırım”. The record was captured on analogue tape by anthropologist István Sántha, who has spent decades documenting and recording traditional music across Central Asia using this distinctive method. The recording process itself forms an important part of the album’s connection to memory, preservation, and cultural transmission.

Rogiński, a guitarist and ethnomusicologist, combines his years of research into Eastern music with a deeply personal, autobiographical thread. “Qırım” is both a musical voyage and a travel diary – a record of an inner journey in pursuit of sound, toward a world that has long served as a kind of compass for the artist. His frequent travels to Ukraine have been an endless source of inspiration – both artistic and human.

In his interpretation, the music of Crimea is not a reconstruction of folklore, but a living organism – the breath of a culture that has survived despite exile and attempts at erasure. The mysticism of Crimean Tatar tradition, the echoes of ancient Sufism, the sound of mourning songs, and the meditative pulse of the steppe intertwine with improvisation, creating a spiritual and emotional landscape. By reaching for songs rediscovered in archives, Rogiński brings them to life here and now through his arrangements.

“Qırım” is a story about longing and hope – a meditative narrative that allows us to approach the experience of Crimean Tatar culture.

BIO

Raphael Roginski – guitarist, composer, performer, improviser,

cultural animator, and researcher of musical folklore. Trained in both jazz and classical traditions, he later expanded his studies in musicology and ethnomusicology. By merging diverse traditions, he seeks musical and performative systems independent of dominant popular culture.

He performs music from Turkish, Bedouin, African, Kurdish, Greek, Georgian, Persian, Armenian, and many other traditions – often collaborating directly with musicians rooted in those cultures. His fascination with the folklore of Kurpie led to collaboration with Genowefa Lenarcik, a renowned folk singer and daughter of Stanisław Brzozowy. Together with the last Polish Roma musicians, he founded the band Drom.

His interest in early music resulted in the project Bach Bleach

(Bach’s works on prepared guitars) and the album Plays Henry Purcell, which reinterprets Purcell through the lens of 1980s cold-wave aesthetics. His deep research into guitar techniques, classic blues musicians, and the sound of '50s–60s instruments is reflected in projects such as Wovoka and Shy Albatross.

He also works within the global new jazz scene. His music frequently accompanies artistic projects – documentary and animated films (e.g. works by Man Ray, Viking Elling, Lidia Skvorcova, Borderland Fairy Tales Collection), performances (Małga Kubiak, Jerzy Kalina), traditional and multimedia theatre (Lothe Lachmann Videoteatr “Poza”, Paweł Miśkiewicz, Piotr Cieplak, Michał Walczak, Maja Korczakowska), and literature (Tadeusz Różewicz, Mieczysław Myśliwski, Mieczysław

Abramowicz, Andrzej Stasiuk).

He performs mainly with his own projects – solo or as a band leader. Regular formations include Shofar, Hizbut Jamm, Żywizna, Elik (duo with Svitlana Nianio), and solo concerts.

He has collaborated or performed with artists such as Jim White, Angel Bat Dawid, David Grubbs, Tim Sparks, Joe McPhee, Michael Zerang, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Le Quan Ninh, Frank London, Noël Akchoté, Frédéric Blondy, Joe Giardullo, Keith Rowe, Axel Dörner, Thomas Lehn, Andrew Sharpley, John Edwards, John Tilbury, Birgit Ulher, Tim Daisy, Dave Rempis, Mark Sanders, Clayton Thomas, Hania Rani and more…

He has taken part in workshops, competitions, and festivals in Polanand worldwide, including Le Guess Who, Unsound, Rewire, BRDCST, Lincoln Center, Barbican Center, Bozar.

In June 2015, the label Bôłt Records released Raphael Roginski plays John Coltrane and Langston Hughes: African Mystic Music, which received critical acclaim and international recognition. The Wire magazine placed it 16th in its year-end ranking – making Rogiński the first Polish artist ever included.

In October 2024, Unsound reissued the album, remastered and expanded with additional tracks.

He was nominated for the Polityka Passport Award in 2015 (for this album) and again in 2016 (for his work with Żywizna and Shy Albatross). Between 2018 and 2020, he collaborated with Slovenian group Širom. His fascination with 1970s Senegalese culture inspired Hizbut Jamm (album released 2024). His duo Elik, with Ukrainian legend Svitlana Nianio, explores Ukrainian mythology. During the pandemic, he created Charitable Nigunim – mystical Jewish songs arranged for guitar. In a duo with Natalia Przybysz, he reinterpreted music from the 1960s–70s.

His solo album Talán (Instant Classic, September 2023) received wide critical praise, both in Poland and abroad. Its follow-up, Žaltys (July 2024), continues his exploration of Eastern European roots. He collaborates with musicians from Georgia, Serbia, Armenia, Ukraine, and other countries, preparing a series of recordings dedicated to the region’s heritage in a modern context.

In May 2025, his project Ružičniak Tajni (featuring Svetlana Spajič, Marina Džukljev, and Tijana Golubović) premiered, reinterpreting ancient Serbian and neighboring musical traditions in new arrangements. In March 2026,his duo with Iztok Koren (Širom) premiered album „Nocturnal Consolations”.

Contact the host of Raphael Roginski (Poland) presents 'Qirim' [Crimean Tatar Music], with Erik Cirelli/David Leicht