The first official release from KROKE was the 1993 cassette “Klezmer Acoustic Music”. During a promotional concert for the album, the band met
Steven Spielberg, who invited them to perform at the “Survivors Reunion” concert in
Jerusalem,
Israel and during the Polish premier of the film
Schindler’s List. In 1996, the band signed with the German record label
Oriente Musik. The first album of material, released the same year, through this collaboration was
Trio. Upon the invitation of
Peter Gabriel, KROKE made their first appearance at the
WOMAD festival in July 1997. As a result, joint recording sessions at
Real World Studios with other musicians led to material from the band being subsequently used by Peter Gabriel on his album
Long Walk Home- music from the
Rabbit-Proof Fence, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. In the same year, KROKE released their second full-length album –
Eden. The following years saw the band constantly touring, during which time they participated in such music festivals as: Umea Folk Music Festival (Sweden); City of London Festival (UK); Førde Folk Music Festival (Norway); North Sea Jazz Festival (the Netherlands) as well as many others. During this time, the albums
Live at the Pit (1998 – nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award -
Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1999) and
The Sounds of the Vanishing Wold (1999 – winner of the German Record Critics’ Award in 2000) were released. In 2001, KROKE began collaborating with
Nigel Kennedy, the result of which was the album
East Meets East, released in 2003. During the same year, the band released
Ten Pieces to Save the World as a trio. This album went on to rank number two in the
World Music Charts Europe. Along with Nigel Kennedy, the band once again performed at the WOMAD festival in 2004. The same year, KROKE received a nomination in the World Music category from
BBC Radio 3 for the album
Quartet – Live at Home (with Tomasz Grochot on drums, who went on to tour with the band over the next few years) as well as working with
Edyta Geppert, which would later bring about the joint release
Śpiewam życie (2006). At the same time, a project was begun with the
Sinfonia Baltica orchestra, entitled “KROKE – symfonicznie”, conducted and arranged by
Bohdan Jarmołowicz. In 2006, KROKE's song “The Secret of the Life Tree” appeared on the soundtrack to
David Lynch's film
Inland Empire. Another original album entitled
Seventh Trip was released in 2007. 2008 was filled with concerts in Poland and throughout Europe as well as work on an "intimate project” arranged by
Krzysztof Herdzin, which premiered in Spain with the
Sinfonica de Burgos orchestra conducted by Javier Castro. Performances of this project played in Kraków and St. Petersburg in Russia with the accompaniment of
Sinfonietta Cracovia conducted by
Robert Kabara. Released in 2009, the album
Out of Sight was a kind of return to roots for the band. The musicians returned to working as a trio and their concerts took on a more intimate nature. In 2010, they began work on a collection of Greek songs with
Maja Sikorowska as well as performing concerts together with the Norwegian band
Tindra and Spanish violinist
Diego Galaz. Other special events that year included the recording of music for the film
Streetcar Memories, directed by
Łukasz Czuj (the film played at the opening of the
Schindler Factory Museum in Kraków), and participation in the
Kennedy's Polish Weekend at the Southbank Centre in London alongside Nigel Kennedy. In the same year, KROKE performed at the
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany and took part in the concert “Your Angel's Name is Liberty”, directed by
Robert Wilson, on occasion of the 30th anniversary of
Solidarity in Gdańsk. In January 2011, the collaboration album
Śpiewam Życie with Edyta Geppert was certified “gold”. That same month, KROKE along with Maja Sikorowska completed work on the album
Avra, which contains 12 Greek songs. This project also involved guest percussionist
Sławomir Berny. In the same year Kroke & Tindra released album
Live in Førde - the recordings were made in the auditorium at Førdehuset on July 10, 2010 for
NRK's radio P2.
Group members File:Kroke, Jerzy Bawol, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, España, 2015 11.JPG|Jerzy Bawoł File:Gdansk Tindra Kroke koncert 12.jpg|Tomasz Lato File:Kroke, Tomasz Kukurba, en escena, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, España, 2015 10.JPG|Tomasz Kukurba File:Tomasz Kukurba.jpg|Tomasz Kukurba File:Jerzy Bawoł.png|Jerzy Bawoł == Discography ==