City's bugle call
The word „bugle-call” (pl: hejnał) comes from the Hungarian language and means “dawn”, “aurora”, “morning”. Hejnał is a short music composition, a simple melody composed of natural sounds played on an instrument, e.g. a trumpet.
A signal indicating a reveille, a time of a day or an hour. Bugle calls became popular in early Middle Ages and were used for military purposes. Calls were used to wake up soldiers in camps, warn against approaching enemies, or as a pious song. Later, buglers used to be hired by local governments for purposes associated primarily with keeping order and for security reasons. What’s interesting is that, apart from Cracow, it was in the very Silesia, where the custom of sound calls was preserved. On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Bielsko, culture people organized a call contest. Works by 10 artists competed in the contest, and the jury chose the melody composed by Piotr Stachura. The call reflects the tones of local nature, reveals all the charms of the Beskid Mountains. Textile machinery rhythm and forest rustle combine and create an optimistic song, the song of triumph. For the first time, hejnał sounded from the city hall tower on May 1st, 1964, performed by a young musician, a student of the National School of Music in Bielsko-Biała, Józef Polak from Wilkowice. Every day, every three hours, you can hear the trumpet call of Bielsko-Biała sounded from the tower of the city hall.
