Highlander folk inspirations, works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, jazz trio, DJ and orchestra: we celebrate the centenary of Poland’s independence to the accompaniment of sounds intertwining tradition and modernity. What’s the common denominator? Poland!
The starting point was Igancy Jan Paderewski’s cycle of piano miniatures Tatra Album, inspired by folk songs and dances from the Highlands. Paweł Kaczmarczyk, composer and jazz pianist twice nominated for the Fryderyk award and winner of prizes awarded by “Gazeta Wyborcza” daily and Polish Radio Channel Three, uses them as inspiration for his album Kaczmarczyk vs. Paderewski. “Tatra”. We will hear material from the album performed live for the first time on 11 November at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre.
“Paderewski is the spiritual father of the project. This isn’t simply a new interpretation. I anchor his music in my own reality, in the music which surrounds me; in everything that happens in the streets or clubs,” says Kaczmarczyk about his project which translates the late-19th compositions into his unique musical language intertwining classical, jazz and folk.
He is accompanied by a motley crew of musicians: Kaczmarczyk himself plays piano, with Michał Barański on double bass, Tomasz Torres on percussion, Mr Krime on turntables, and the Beethoven Academy Orchestra. “Tatra is my sixth album, but it is the first recorded on such a scale. We bring this scale to the stage at ICE Kraków to make the biggest possible impression on the audience. I’m sure that the concert will make listeners take a fresh look at Highlander songs and at Paderewski’s music,” adds Kaczmarczyk.
It’s no coincidence that music by the acclaimed composer and pianist plays the starring role in the concert held on Independence Day. Paderewski was one of the key figures of Poland’s political scene of the early 20th century, also as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the newly independent country; he travelled the world in his capacities as statesman and musician, always endorsing Poland and her culture. (Barbara Skowrońska)
