TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Anna Maria Jopek set to take Asia by storm
After a string of successful concerts in Europe, Poland's most prominent jazz singer and composer Anna Maria Jopek is coming to the country to introduce herself to an Indonesian audience as part of her Asian tour, which also includes dates in Singapore and Japan
Change Size
After a string of successful concerts in Europe, Poland's most prominent jazz singer and composer Anna Maria Jopek is coming to the country to introduce herself to an Indonesian audience as part of her Asian tour, which also includes dates in Singapore and Japan.
After a concert in Spain, Jopek will perform in Jakarta, Surabaya and Denpasar, entertaining audiences with music that comes straight from the heart.
Her latest project features true giants from around the world including the enchanting melodies of Brazilian bossa nova virtuoso Oscar Castro Neves, the tinkling of Norwegian ECM recording pianist Tord Gustavsen and the exotic voice of Tunesian Dhafer Youssef all blended together with the brave and adventurous notes of Branford Marsalis' soprano saxophone.
But it is Anna Maria's sophisticated vocals make this dialogue of such different cultures not only possible, but fascinating to observe. The result is unique; personal.
"All these people have been my inspiration over the last decade," Jopek says on her website. "It's an amazing experience to have finally met them, to exchange energies and ideas, to learn from them and - hopefully - to create some original music with them in mind."
"I am Polish. I come from the vast meadows of central Poland, I've been brought up with its musical traditions, but it does not make my ID complete. Especially now, with the world getting so much smaller every single day.
"I truly believe that the new music might emerge from coexistence of so many so different voices, influences, traditions, religions. By far, this is the most important work I've ever done."
ID went platinum in Poland in just two weeks. A triumphant tour featuring Dhafer Youssef, Mino Cinelu and Richard Bona followed, playing to the standing ovations of sold out venues. Selection from these events was turned into a one great live album, released in the fall of 2008.
The project was not, however, her first experience with world-class masters. She's been known for probably the most influential and groundbreaking project in Polish popular music.
"Just thirty seconds of Anna's tune belong to the most beautiful music I've heard in months," Pat Metheny said at a press conference when their album Upojenie went gold on the day of its release back in 2002.
"I couldn't think of anything more inspiring, motivating and ear opening than working with Pat. He's been my first and most important mentor for years, but to actually make music with him was the most thrilling experience in my life," Jopek said of their project, Anna Maria Jopek and Friends with Pat Metheny: Upojenie.
The unique tribute to the master composer, guitarist and Grammy Award Winner became an instant classic, selling of over 80,000 copies in just thirty days.
Jopek is classically trained pianist and graduated from Chopin's Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland. After briefly studying at the Manhattan School of Music's jazz department, she decided not to play Mozart concertos anymore.
"Please do not file my music under jazz," Jopek says.
"Nor under pop, folk. whatever. I embrace a lot of influences. Jazz is by far the most important in its freedom, its harmony and its sense of time, but I was brought up with the old Polish folk songs. So I'm kind of rooted here in all these Slavic landscapes and sounds."
With 14 albums of her own, Jopek has performed and recorded with all the important artists in Poland including numerous concerts and recordings.
Although she frequently performs in open air arenas for thousands of fans, Jopek prefers an intimate setting and performs about 100 concerts each year, from Toronto to Vienna, London to Berlin.
Yet her appearance at Carnegie Hall as a special guest of in a friend's project in 2004 remains one of the most cherished and memorable thrills of her professional life.
"Music itself is the highest award for me. The greatest challenge with so many questions remains to be answered," she says.
Anna Maria Jopek in Concert
Hard Rock Hotel Bali on April 30; Garden Hotel Surabaya, East Java on May 3; and Gran Melia Hotel Jakarta on May 6. Further details available at www.anna-maria-jopek.com
