Polish Independence Songbook Project

The Polish Independence Songbook is the fourth musical/educational/cultural project carried out for the public good by the Polish Heritage Foundation (Fundacja Dziedzictwa Rzeczypospolitej).

The purpose of this interactive and multimedia portal is to make digital cultural resources accessible and re-usable by publicizing, free of charge, the fullest possible output of Polish patriotic and military songs, and anthems. For each of the pieces made available on the website www.spiewnikniepodleglosci.pl, a musical and educational self-study packet has been prepared, which includes:

– a description of the work and an analysis, interpretation and historical context,
– the text of the piece with musical notes and guitar chords,
– underscores (melody, melody with metronome, melody with accompaniment and accompaniment),
– recordings of works in contemporary arrangements and the original compositions of the Koncert Niepodległości (Polish Independence Concert) group.

Due to the need for specialist historians, translators and professional musicians to prepare materials of the highest quality, and in consideration for technical development plans, the Polish Independence Songbook project was divided into stages.

The plans for the next stages not only include the gradual expansion of the portal database with new songs with self-study materials, but also the expansion of the website in different language versions and new technological functions. The Polish Heritage Foundation (Fundacja Dziedzictwa Rzeczypospolitej), which is the owner of the brand and publisher of the portal, makes every effort to ensure that the Polish Independence Songbook is the most complete, modern song database that continues to grow and successfully uses the technologies of the 21st century.

The Polish Independence Songbook is a non-commercial pro publico bono project, the entire content of which is available online for free. Therefore, its implementation and further development are possible only thanks to the support granted to it by friends of the foundation, including: cultural institutions, non-governmental organizations, businesses and private individuals.

Year 2023

Canções da Independência da Polônia portal was launched

In 2023, thanks to funding from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister as part of the Polonia and Poles Abroad 2023 competition, the Foundation began implementing the project “A special edition of the portal of Polish patriotic songs Śpiewnik Niepodległości for the Polish diaspora in Brazil.” As part of the project, a Portuguese-language version of the portal was prepared. Portuguese is the official language in Brazil. A country inhabited by nearly 2-3 million Poles and people of Polish origin (according to various estimates), constituting as much as approximately 10% of the Polish diaspora in the world.

Similarly to the English-language version, users of the Portuguese version of the Canções da Independência da Polônia | Songbook of Independence can learn the historical and literary context of songs, browse multimedia galleries, use translations of song texts, notes and chords, background music and recordings. For each song there are materials for free download in Portuguese, links to all resources available for a given song, as well as recommendations and commands regarding other songs and content in the website’s database.

Navigating between the language versions of the portal is supported by a navigation and footer dedicated to a given language version, as well as special markings located on the portal’s subpages, which inform users about the availability of a given content in a given language version.

The portal in each of its three language versions is adapted to the needs of disabled people in accordance with the international WCAG standard and operates in the so-called progressive application technology. Progressive Web Application (PWA).

Project “A special version of the portal of Polish patriotic songs Śpiewnik Niepodległości for the Polish community in Brazil.” was co-financed by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister as part of the Polonia and Poles Abroad 2023 competition. Amount of co-financing: PLN 55,000

New musical and educational self-study materials for a Polish-language version of the portal

In 2023, the Foundation also prepared new songs along with educational materials for a Polish-language version of www.spiewnikniepodleglosci.pl. The implementation of this project was possible thanks to the funding received from The LOTTO Foundation.

Year 2022

Polish Independence Songbook portal was launched

In the year 2022, thanks to the funding received from the state budget, as part of the competition announced by the Minister of the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland „Public Diplomacy 2022”, Foundation initialized a project of for an English-language version of the portal called “Polish Independence Songbook | Śpiewnik Niepodległości. Multimedia, historical and educational portal of patriotic songs – English version of the portal” .

Users of the portal www.polishindependencesongbook.com can learn the historical and literary contexts of the songs, browse multimedia galleries, use translations of the song lyrics, their respective notes and chords, backing tracks and recordings, which, through their unique hybrid arrangements, inspire users to study and to make themselves familiar with Polish music.

Next to each song there are free downloads in English, links to all resources available for any given song, and recommendations regarding other songs and content made available in the service’s database.

Switching between both language versions of the portal is supported by a dedicated navigation and footer system, as well as by special markings on the portal’s subpages, which inform users of the availability of a given content in an appropriate language version.

Both language versions of the portal are accessible to people with disabilities in accordance with the international WCAG standard and use Progressive Web Application (PWA) technology. This solution combines the best features of web browsers and native mobile applications. As the users views successive suppages, the content they have viewed is cached on their device. Thanks to this mechanism, previously visited resources become available to the user even without direct Internet access.

As part of the further development of the Polish Independence Songbook, it is planned to conduct translations and interpretations, as well as to prepare historical and musical materials for all songs in the database of the Polish version of the website. The Foundation would also like to prepare the functions of playlist and songbook creator for foreign language users of the portal as well as a full-text search engine, which will support the English language.

New musical and educational self-study materials for a Polish-language version of the portal

In 2022, the Foundation also prepared new songs along with educational materials for a Polish-language version of www.spiewnikniepodleglosci.pl. The implementation of this project was possible thanks to the funding received from The Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression.

Year 2021

1. Progressive Web Application
2. YouTube channel
3. New musical and educational self-study materials

In December 2021, the next stage of portal expansion was completed. www.spiewnikniepodleglosci.pl currently operates with progressive application technology, the so-called Progressive Web Application (PWA) which combines the best features of web browsers and native mobile applications. As the user browses subsequent pages, the content they are viewing is cached on their device. Thanks to this solution, previously visited resources become available to users even without internet access. For the user, PWA does not differ from traditional applications installed on their mobile device, which means that after downloading the Songbook, the user receives a shortcut – an icon and can launch the portal just like any other application. As part of the diversification of promotional activities, the Polish Independence Songbook channel was also launched on YouTube. In 2021, the Foundation also prepared new songs along with educational materials for the portal. The implementation of this project was possible thanks to the funding received from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

Year 2020

1. Playlist mechanism
2. Recommendation functions and social sharing
3. New musical and educational self-study materials

In December 2020, the next stage of portal’s expansion was completed. We prepared content and material recommendation functions for users, available in the Polish Independence Songbook database. As part of modules which allow the sharing of user-generated content, we designed a unique playlist mechanism and sharing functions generated by the Songbook Creator. The playlist mechanism allows the user to generate a list of song recordings from the portal database, which they can listen to or share with other users. The mechanism allows for the sharing of the created songbook with other users. We also prepared social modules that allow content to be shared from the portal using the following channels: Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and e-mail. At this stage, we also added options to share portal content at the individual page level, such as Studies, Texts, Notes and Chords, and Underscores. All of the new elements of the portal have been adapted to the needs of people with disabilities according to the WCAG 2.0 standard. In 2020, the Foundation also prepared new songs along with educational materials for the portal. The implementation of this project was possible thanks to the funding received from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and The Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression.

Year 2019

1. Polish Independence Songbook Creator
2. Searching mechanism
3. New musical and educational self-study materials

In December 2019, we completed the third stage of the development of the Polish Independence Songbook website, which covered both technological expansion as well as the preparation of new musical compositions and educational packages for publication on the site. We have prepared new functionality for our users – the Polish Independence Songbook Creator. This is a tool that allows you to create your own Independence Songbook from the works available in the portal database in PDF format and for e-book readers (MOBI and EPUB formats). Each of the compositions comes with an educational package consisting of, among other things, the text of the piece, notes and guitar chords, as well as a summary of the piece with a historical note and literary analysis. We have implemented a new mechanism for searching the portal database, both alphabetically and in full text. We have also enriched the portal with a “News” section and functions that make it easier to download all educational materials from the library of the Polish Independence Songbook. In 2019, the Foundation also prepared new songs along with educational materials for the portal. The implementation of the third stage was made possible thanks to years-long funding received from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, from the Culture Promotion Fund implemented under the Digital Culture program.

Year 2018

Digital accessibility and application programming interface

As part of the second stage, a version of the site adapted to the needs of disabled people was created, in accordance with the WCAG 2.0 standard at the AA compliance level. In addition to basic functions, such as changing the contrast or font size, the site has been optimized in terms of parsing correctness and compatibility. Thanks to this, the Polish Independence Songbook has become a fully interoperable web portal, that is, one whose interfaces work smoothly and can cooperate, among others, with different systems without access restrictions or implementation possibilities. The second phase also involved the use of API (application programming interface). The website includes the open API documentation of the Polish Independence Songbook, explaining how to access data in the portal through the REST programming interface and describing the system of licensing access and reuse of content. The implementation of this stage, completed on December 27, 2018, was possible thanks to funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, from the Culture Promotion Fund implemented under the Digital Culture 2018 program.

Year 2017

The website www.spiewnikniepodleglosci.pl was launched

The first stage involved the preparation and implementation of a fully responsive website with eighteen patriotic songs that had been prepared, the selection of which was made on the basis of the output of the Koncert Niepodległości and its repertoire to date. The site was launched in mid-December 2017 thanks to funding from the Institute of Music and Dance as part of the Music and Dance – Interventions 2017 program.

Logotype of the Polish Independence Songbook – polish version

Logotype of the Polish Independence Songbook – polish version