Terno - Portrait

Terno is a Roma theatre ensemble from Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland. Their shows are a blend of music, dance and theatre, creating a unique audiovisual experience. Terno is known far beyond the borders of Poland throughout all of Eastern Europe and has collaborated on a number of projects and productions with international artists. The name Terno is Romani and means “young”. The founder of the group is the accordionist, composer, poet and Roma Edward Debicki.

Edward Debicki was born in 1935 in Kalusz, in present-day Ukraine. His parents were the Roma musicians Wladyslaw Krzyżanowski and Franciszka Raczkowska. His father gave Edward Debicki his first accordion when he was 10 years old. Without knowing any notes, he learned to play by ear and after a short time, his great musical talent was revealed. The greater part of his childhood and adolescence was spent in his parents’ caravan in the border regions between Poland and the Ukraine. At the age of 20, he attended music schools in Gorzow Wielkopolski and Zielona Gora. In 1955, Edward Debicki formed his first music group called Kcham, which later became the Roma theatre group Terno that he still actively heads to this day. During the course of his career, he wrote a number of volumes of poetry and books and composed more than 200 songs. Edward Debicki also collaborated on several films as a composer and actor.

Edward Debicki is an honorary citizen of the city of Gorzow Wielkopolski. The city awarded him the Gloria Artis prize, an award for extraordinary service to Polish culture. In addition to their musical theatre activities, the members of Terno organise the annual “Romane Dyvesa” festival that has been held since 1989. The festival, initiated by Edward Debicki, takes place over several days in his hometown of Gorzow Wielkopolski and is an event of international appeal.

Terno has toured in almost every country in Europe. The theatre group has also performed in the USA, Canada and Great Britain. In 2012, Terno recorded several songs with Romanian Roma brass band Mahala Rai Banda that were also produced as video clips. The highly expressive videos were created by Polish director Piotr Smolenski. One of the songs, Romani Gili, appeared on the compilation album "Pandemonium Gitano" of Zurich Balkan beat/Gypsy punk DJ Rock Gitano that came out in 2016.

Sound:

Buy the MP3 version of the Terno song here:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01EQM20E6/ref=dm_ws_tlw_trk2