Top of the Top Sopot Festival 2024. Oskar Cyms with the Amber Nightingale

Top of the Top Sopot Festival – the official “successor” of the Sopot International Song Festival – once again fills the Forest Opera with the sounds of musical classics and premiere pieces. Tuesday evening – the second day of the festival – passed under the slogan “The Wonderful 90s”. As you can guess, the main theme was hits from the 90s. Stars of the Polish scene presented them – both Polish and foreign – in new versions. There were “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz, “Torn” by Natalia Imbruglia, “Ale jestem” by Anna Maria Jopek or “Kocham Wolność” by Chłopcy z Placu Broni.

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That's not all. For seven artists, the stake of Tuesday's performances was the Amber Nightingale. After all, the tradition of the Sopot festival obliges: its permanent element was a song contest, a largely international competition, which in the years of the Polish People's Republic was to be a counterweight to Eurovision.

This year, the following artists had a chance to win the legendary statuette: Arek Kłusowski, Teo Tomczuk, Zalia, Carol Markovsky's band, Paula Biskup, Oskar Cyms and Marta Bijan. Each of them appeared on stage at different moments of the “Cudowne lata 90” concert. The winning song was chosen in a text message vote and via the website.

The result of the vote was announced by President & Managing Director of Warner Bros. Discovery in Poland and CEO of TVN Kasia Kieli. – The winner of this year's competition is Oskar Cyms – announced Kieli.

The Amber Nightingale statuette was presented by the Mayor of Sopot, Magdalena Czarzyńska-Jachim.

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In previous editions of the Top of the Top Sopot Festival, the Amber Nightingale went to: Dawid Kwiatkowski for the song “Bez Ciebie” (2021), Michał Szpak for “24na7” (2022) and the Kwiat Jabłoni group “Od nowa” (2023).

Tuesday evening was opened by Krzysztof Zalewski with the song “Are You Gonna Go My Way” from Lenny Kravitz's repertoire. Then the musician played one of his latest singles “Roboty”.

After him, Natalia Szroeder appeared on stage with Anna Maria Jopek's hit “Ale jestem”, which represented Poland at Eurovision in 1997. Szroeder also sang her number “Sama na planetie” and her own version of Natalia Imbruglia's biggest hit “Torn”, with which the Australian debuted in 1997 and gained international recognition.

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The famous protest song by the group Chłopcy z Placu Broni “I Love Freedom”, performed by Organek, resounded loudly in the Forest Opera.

It is hard to imagine musical returns to the 90s without the participation of those who debuted and delighted at the Sopot festival, among others. Among them was Kasia Kowalska, who in 1995 was recognized with the Amber Nightingale, and began her Tuesday performance with the hit “Jak Rzecz”.

The audience's enthusiasm was aroused by Agnieszka Chylińska, who – like Kowalska – is celebrating 30 years of stage work this year. Chylińska recalled her solo hits “Winna” and “Teraz już wiesz”, among others.

Nosowska – who began her musical career 35 years ago – in a duet with Król recalled one of the most famous rock songs of all time: “Smell Like Teen Spirit”.

Then they performed their joint single “Można” live for the first time. Nosowska also confessed that the song is a preview of the album they recorded together. The album will be released on September 20, and the second single from the album will be released on Thursday. The legendary vocalist from Szczecin also sang “Barely Yesterday” from last year's album “Degrengolada”.

The next star of Tuesday evening was Natalia Kukulska. Although the singer has gone down in the history of Polish music as one of the greatest stars of children's songs, she made her debut as an adult artist with “Piosenka Światłoczułą” from the 1996 album “Światło”. It was with this hit in a refreshed arrangement that Kukulska appeared in Sopot. On Tuesday, she sang her latest single “Dobrostan” live for the first time, which announces her new phonographic project.

Top of the Top Sopot Festival 2024 will last until August 22. It is organized by Festival Group, Bałtycka Agencja Artystyczna BART, the City of Sopot and TVN Warner Bros. Discovery (owner of TVN24, among others).