The region of Podhale, or Polish Highland, is known for keeping the local folk culture alive. Especially well known is the goralska muzyka (Highland music). What flamenco is for Spain and bagpipes for Scotland, goralska muzyka is for Poland (incidentally bagpipes - although of somewhat different sort - are also used in the Polish Highland music). One band from Bialy Dunajec, named Trebunie Tutki, even had a record made by a British company Nimbus Records. The area of Podhale is partly inhabited by Gypsies, who also play music, but in a very different style. A recently rising star of this genre is a fiery band called Kale Bala from a village of Czarna Gora, only a few kilometres from Bialy Dunajec.
Every August in Zakopane there is an International Festival of Highland Music; there you can hear the music not only from the Polish Highland, but also visiting bands from as far as Caucasus or Pyrenees.
Also very much alive is the tradition of painting on glass in a very characteristic style. The picture of Madonna shown here is one example of it.
The region of Podhale, or Polish Highland, is known for keeping the local folk culture alive. Especially well known is the goralska muzyka (Highland music). What flamenco is for Spain and bagpipes for Scotland, goralska muzyka is for Poland (incidentally bagpipes - although of somewhat different sort - are also used in the Polish Highland music). One band from Bialy Dunajec, named Trebunie Tutki, even had a record made by a British company Nimbus Records. The area of Podhale is partly inhabited by Gypsies, who also play music, but in a very different style. A recently rising star of this genre is a fiery band called Kale Bala from a village of Czarna Gora, only a few kilometres from Bialy Dunajec.