Anna Maria Jopek Quartet
Singer returns to her Polish roots via classical and jazz
Because we like things to be neatly categorised, Poland's Anna Maria Jopek is usually conveniently referred to as a jazz vocalist. True, she has often collaborated with celebrities from that world, such as Pat Metheny and Branford Marsalis, but she herself prefers to call herself a singer-songwriter. At first, Polish folk music came with the spoon from her parents. She later specialised in the classical idiom, during her piano studies at the Frederyk Chopin Academy in Warsaw. To develop further as a singer, during the same period she took private lessons with Daria Iwínska, who also once had Jopek's father as a student. The collaboration with guitarist Pat Metheny instantly made her an international star in the jazz firmament. It was then Metheny who encouraged her to sing only in Polish and, as a result, Jopek decided to delve into her country's traditional music again. She now interweaves it in a completely unique way with everything she has gained in musical baggage over the course of her life.
