Kawulok Zuzanna
from Istebna, born in 1938 – d. 2018
She was born on April 24, 1938 in Cieszyn, but she lives in Istebna. She is the daughter of Jan Kawulok – an outstanding instrumentalist and endowed with narrative talent Franciszka Kawulok. She grew up in an authentic highlander's cottage, raised in respect for native tradition. She inherited the chatter talent from her parents. Her father taught her to play the violin and other highlander instruments. She also made some simple instruments with him. At his instigation in 1955, she became involved with the Regional Song and Dance Group in Koniaków. First, she danced and sang, then played the violin band and antique pastoral instruments. In 1981, she became the artistic director. She has been holding this position for ten years. Together with Koniaków, she presented authentic folklore of the Silesian Beskids not only in Poland, but also in Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, the USSR, Bulgaria, France, Turkey and Greece. Without a doubt, she is the co-creator of many successes of the band. Zuzanna Kawulok was also a musical instructor in the Children's Regional Team Jan Kawuloka in Koniaków. In the years 1976–1985, she taught to play the pipe in the Out-of-School Work Center at Primary School No. 1 in Koniaków.
She participated many times – first with her father and later on – in competitions and presentations of instrumentalists or storytellers, including in Poznań, Katowice, Bukowina Tatrzańska, Zakopane, in Strakonice (Czech Republic). She participated in local and national events, not only folklore. She recorded on the radio and television.
For many years she taught local children Esperanto, which she became interested in 1958 and since then she was a propagator of the Esperanto movement. From 1974, she performed at Esperantist events in Poland and abroad. Tales in this language were delivered to Czechoslovakia, East Germany, West Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Sweden and Hungary. The presentation of folk culture of the Silesian Beskids before the two-thousandth auditorium at the World Esperanto Congress in Stockholm in 1980 is considered to be the greatest success.
After the death of her father, she became a guide in the Regional Chamber at Kawulok. Interestingly, she talked about the rich culture of the Beskid highlanders – rites, customs, dress and music, presenting the typical design of a highlander's hut and the sound of highlander's squeals, reeds, horns and trembits.
Additionally, she is the author of interesting, poems in regional slang, many of which were printed in the local press. She wrote about native nature, the land, is where they nejpiekni spiywajom... ptosięta wiosnóm, nejcistszi źródełka spod kamiyni bijóm...
Zuzanna Kawulok belongs to the Beskid Branch of the Folk Artists' Asoassiation; for the first two terms (1981–1986) she was its president. He is an honorary member of CIOFF and Macierz Ziemi Cieszyńska.
Her achievements in the field of creative continuation and popularization of folk culture are significant. Numerous words of appreciation, including Bronze Cross of Merit (1966), Badge of Merit of Culture and prizes: individual Prime Minister for dissemination and promotion of folk culture and art (1984), Minister of Culture and Art, voivodship, Cieszyn District Commune – Srebrna Cieszynianka (1999) ). In 1994 she was honored by the Oskar Kolberg Award.