Colours of Poland in Smardzewice: Aga Zaryan and the Big Band Śląski

Artists:

• Aga Zaryan - vocals
• Big Band Śląski conducted by Grzegorz Nagórski

Program:

• pieces from the canon of Polish jazz song; compositions of such artists as Krzysztof Komeda, Jerzy Wasowski, Andrzej Trzaskowski and Duduś Matuszkiewicz

Compere: Magda Miśka-Jackowska

The Zalew Sulejowski Amphitheatre, Klonowa 2, Smardzewice

“Never before did we have a big band as great as the Big Band Śląski in Poland” – these words, which were said live on the Polish Radio by the legendary Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski, one of the pioneers of jazz in Poland, have a lot of impact. Indeed, the band fills an important niche on our regional scene. Through the years, the our jazz music was dominated by solo performers: saxophonists, trumpeters, violinists as well as a plethora of trios and quartets. However, there were no notable professional orchestras. In 2020 Grzegorz Nagórski, the excellent trombone player and composer, decided to change this. He invited a selection of acclaimed instrumentalists, predominantly graduates of the famous “fifth faculty” (The Jazz and Popular Music Faculty of the Music Academy in Katowice) to take part in the project. Their quality is proven by the fact that within the very same year six of them became the laureates of a survey by the “Jazz Forum” that selected the best jazz musicians in Poland. The ensemble has been touring the most important venues in the country for the past 5 years and issued their debut album “Wide Spectrum” in 2022. One of its newest propositions is the “Classics of Polish jazz songs” program which contains the immortal creations of Krzysztof Komeda, Jerzy Wasowski and  “Duduś” Matuszkiewicz. Big Band Śląski performs those songs together with Aga Zaryan – a person who needs no introduction among fans of jazz music and who remains amongst the best exports of the Polish vocal scene.

top photo: Big Band Śląski and Aga Zaryan, phot. Grzegorz Karkoszka

You can commute to the Smardzewice concert as part of the free “Koloryt Łódzkiego” trip. The trips, intended for the inhabitants of the Łódź voivodeship, are scheduled for Saturdays and combine the sightseeing of natural and historical sites with the participation in the concert. More details about the concerts can be found here. You can sign up online a couple of days before the concert

Smardzewice is a place friendly for bands. For the second year in a row, the concert will feature a larger band rooted in jazz tradition – a year ago we heard the Warszawska Orkiestra Sentymentalna, this time we will undoubtedly be astounded by the Big Band Śląski. In this place, which has been attracting visitors for the past fifty years, such sounds naturally remind us of the tradition of dance orchestras, which accompanied parties in the cities, towns and resorts of Poland for most of the twentieth century. Despite the fact that the “Molo” does not have a typical auditorium, this vacation resort (the oldest in Smardzewice) was the location for many parties accompanied by live music during the time of the Polish People’s Republic. Playing music together is not foreign to the inhabitants of this locality – for years, they have been playing in the folk ensemble “Smardzewianie” and the OSP Smardzewice Orchestra.