Anna Maria Jopek’s music is hard to define. The Polish star vocalist, composer and improviser first came to the attention of audiences worldwide through her collaborations with jazz luminaries such as Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano and Bobby McFerrin. On stage, she sings as a lithe soprano with a unique timbre and classically-trained dexterity. And when she performs, the musician often transports her audiences to Poland, where the folk music tradition has been passed down for generations.
Jopek is loved and cherished in Poland. Several of her albums have gone gold or platinum during her nearly 20-year long career in music.
On Wednesday, Jopek will make her debut performance in Taipei at Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館). She’ll perform with her quartet composed of multi-instrumentalists and long-term musical collaborators from Poland. Prior to the show, Jopek and her band will discuss their music.
Photo courtesy of Marcin Kydrynski
Jopek says she never sticks to any program, and instead improvises her sets according to the audience she is performing in front of.
“That’s because I treat music as an energy carrier. A concert must be a form of communication. When you stand on the stage and listen to your audience honestly, you just know how the music should flow,” she tells the Taipei Times.
CLASSICAL ROOTS
Photo courtesy of Marcin Kydrynski
The classically-trained pianist graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin’s University of Music in Warsaw. But her love for jazz soon saw her trading performances in concert halls for gigs at smoky clubs. Her stint at the Manhattan School of Music brought Jopek straight into New York’s exhilarating jazz scene.
A European musician immersed in American jazz, Jopek is celebrated for her original sounds and personal aesthetic inspired by her Slavic roots. She was brought up with traditional Polish music as both of her parents were accomplished performers at the legendary Polish folk ensemble Mazowsze.
“Polish music has a remarkably strong melodic content. Melodics were often its sole element, with no context, harmony and rhythm, without accompaniment, sung in unison. It served generations of people doing field labor or during wartime, motivating them to work, fight, forgive, survive and have faith in a better fate,” the 44-year-old musician says.
FREE SPIRIT
Jazz, however, taught Jopek to open up and take risks. Improvisation is her true vocation, she says, and she has also worked with artists from vastly different backgrounds. Most of her projects sound like a musical exploration where different cultures meet and converse.
Her 2008 album ID, for example, features an impressive list of respected musicians, including Brazilian bossa nova guitarist Oscar Castro Neves, Tunisian oud player Dhafer Youssef, French percussionist Mino Cinelu and ECM-recording pianist Tord Gustavsen from Norway.
For her Taipei show, Jopek will be joined by Taiwanese jazz artists Hsieh Chi-pin (謝啟彬) on violin and Chang Kai-ya (張凱雅) on piano. It will be the first time that Jopek will take the stage with Taiwanese musicians, and she says she is “very curious” about the collaboration because, for her, music is a kind of communication and mutual understanding that occurs on “the spiritual level.”
■ Tickets for the evening performance cost NT$600 in advance and NT$700 at the door, available through goo.gl/VeIdwK. The lecture will take place in the afternoon from 2pm to 4pm at KHS, Boai Store (功學社音樂中心博愛店), located at 115, Boai Rd, Taipei City (台北市博愛路115號). Admission is NT$400 in advance and NT$450 at the door, available at goo.gl/fGa6xR.
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