Knowing Anna Maria Jopek

Knowing Anna Maria Jopek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7560BwZg9U

Anna Maria Jopek is one of my favourite polish musicians.

She is not only a great pianist but also a singer with her soul put straight into every word that she performs. With her husband, they create a strange couple where their passion for music seems to be bigger than mutual attraction. But one thing is right – Anna Maria Jopek (in Poland sometimes referred to as AMJ) and Marcin Kydrynski create beautiful songs – she composes the melodies, he writes the lyrics. They both are very good, and that makes AMJ so successful.

She graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the piano department. She was taking singing lessons from a Polish legend – prof. Daria Iwinska, who also taught Anna’s dad. Her debut as a pianist was when she was 12 – she performed in National Philharmonic in Warsaw. As a singer, for the first time, she presented herself in Belarus when she received a dedicated award from one of the jury’s members.

She is one of the best-known jazz performers from Poland. She gives concerts around the world cooperating with different artists, mixing timbres and world sounds and creating beautiful harmonies. She prefers smaller bands leaving big space for improvisation.

For those who do not enjoy listening to this kind of music, she is known as a performer of national, patriotic songs. She digs into Polish music heritage and creates her interpretations. She incorporates Polish folk music and blends it with music coming from other countries (one of the most interesting ones is “Haiku” that she created with Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone). She also performed on the Eurovision Song Contest.

Privately, she is a close friend to Sting who she has performed with a few times. She happened to be at Sting’s house during the terrorist attack on World Trade Center where he was supposed to give a private concert.

During a show in Poland, after getting support from AMJ, Sting said: “How can I keep your attention after this amazing performance?”

“Do, what you can.”

A firefly has 300 000 mirrors in its eye, believe it.

How unimportant is our evil compared to this miracle?

You are here for just a moment; you appear just for once

Do what you can but not too much

To be remembered wrongly

Allow yourself for the gift of amusement

And you’ll find the sense, trust me

Do what you can for your being to be as precious as a drop of blood.

Light from a distant nebula runs to here a hundred million years

Does it pass on its way thousands of worlds better than this world?

Do what you can…

It’s still not too late for a discovery

That will change you

You and the ladybird – it’s one life

Just take care of your part

Do what you can…

If you liked Dominik’s article, learn more with his posts:

– Mieczysław Karłowicz – Polish composer

– British Pop Music

– Folk Music

 

Knowing Anna Maria Jopek

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