Organizer: Polish Radio Co.
Co-organizer: BSCC, City Hall in Gdańsk, Gdańsk International Fair Co.
Inauguration - The Concert of the Hosts Sounds of the North - Olo Walicki KaszÓbÓ
The main idea of the concert is to use and transform music traditions of the Pomeranian region. The renowned jazzman from Gdańsk, Olo Walicki undertook to compose music inspired by Kashubian motifs, combining traditional folk music elements and modern jazz. He invited to cooperation top young Polish jazz musicians – Marysia Namysłowska and Damroka Kwidzińska (vocal), Cezary Konrad (percussion) and Piotr Pawlak (guitar).
In his compositions Olo Walicki emphasizes the use of Kashubian language as the most characteristic and the strongest feature of this region. He pays special attention to the correctness of the pronunciation so that the singing becomes a unique combination of the modern jazz song and the correct Kashubian.
The Concert of the Hosts is a particular link between past and future editions of the Festival of Music Inspired by Folklore Sounds of the North that has been organized by the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre for many years.
The Project ‘The Concert of the Hosts Sounds of the North – Olo Walicki KaszÓbÓ’ is realized within the scholarship of the Pomorskie Voivodship Marshall Jan Kozłowski
Olo Walicki – (1974) double bass player, composer, arranger, producer. He has been active on the Polish music scene for 15 years. He has participated in most of the jazz festivals in Poland and many abroad. He received an individual award at the Jazz Juniors 1992 festival in Krakow. Since then he has cooperated with the majority of Polish jazz stars. In the years 1996-2004 he also played in the quartet of Zbigniew Namysłowski. His stylistic versatility let him co create such groups as: łoskot, Szwagierkolaska and Oczi Cziorne. He has taken part in recording of about 40 stylistically different albums as well as recordings of film and theatre music, among others for Zbigniew Preisner and Leszek Możdżer. The name of Olo Walicki appears high on the ‘Jazz Top’ list made up by the readers of the magazine ‘Jazz Forum’ in the categories: the best double bass player, the best bass guitarist and since 2001 also in categories musician of the year and the best composer.
Cezary Konrad – percussionist, composer, arranger. He made his debut in the group Central Heating Trio which won the Jazz Juniors’90 festival in Krakow. Since then he has enjoyed a run of success, which to great extent resulted from long cooperation with Zbigniew Namysłowski, Kuba Stankiewicz and other best Polish jazz musicians as well as international stars such as Randy Brecker, Susan Weinert and Didier Lockwood. For the several consecutive years he has been the laureate of Jazz Top prize in the category of percussionists awarded by the readers of the Jazz Forum magazine. He has over 40 albums in his discography including an author’s album– ‘One mirror...many reflections’.
Piotr Pawlak – guitarist, composer, producer. Related to the yass scene. He has cooperated with groups Bielizna, Kury, łoskot, Arhythmic Memory and Yeshe as well as with Robert Knuth, Kaffe Mathews, John Zorn, Gen-Dos, Marcin Krzyżanowski, Andrzej Smolik, Antoni Gralak, Mateusz Pospieszalski. He is the co-author of music to łukasz Barczyk’s film ‘Przemiany’. He took part in the recording of over a dozen of albums. He was producer/co-producer of the following albums: ‘Statek kosmiczny’ ?cianka, ‘Amariuch’ łoskot, ‘Samsara’ Czan, ‘P.o.l.o.v.i.r.u.s’ Kury, ‘Napijmy się oleju’ Kur and ‘100 lat undergroundu’ Kury.
Damroka Kwidzińska – born in 1982 in Kartuzy. Student of Music Academy in Gdańsk. In 2003 she published an album with her group ‘Kompanijo Wadzeboków’ playing rock songs with Kashubian lyrics and her own compositions. The same year the group was nominated to Pomeranian Artistic Award in the category the Debut of the Year. It has played several dozens of concerts as support before the Polish music stars. Damroka is an expert in Kashubian language and this region’s culture what is reflected in her work. She promotes the Kashubian culture with passion; since January 2005 she has also been the presenter of Radio Kaszebe.
Maria Namysłowska (1984) – the daughter of Zbigniew Namysłowski, vocalist, composer and arranger, student of Music Academy in Katowice. She shares her time between studying, concerts and recording. She cooperates with KBD Trio. She composes and plays her own piano pieces. She took part in the ‘Artistic Song Festival’ in Rybnik, ‘Wiosna ?więtokrzyska’ and others.
