Maria Pomianowska - The Chopin Arirang Project / Poland

​

Maria Pomianowska is a Doctor of Musical Arts, multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, reconstructor of forgotten instruments, and educator, as well as working as Professor at the Academy of Music in Kraków and Director of the International Cross-Culture Festival.

Since 1984 she has been studying unique techniques of playing musical instruments from Asia and Europe. For 30 years, she has toured around the world, including with artists such as Yo Yo Ma, Boris Grebenshchikov, Ram Narayan, Fazal Qureshi, Gil Goldstein, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ian Gillan, and Anna Maria Jopek. She has presented music at the Imperial Court of Japan on numerous occasions.

​

She has released 21 CDs as leader, many of which received international awards. In 2010 she opened Poland’s first specialisation in Ethno music at the Academy of Music in Kraków. Since 2011 she has worked in Asia and Africa on unique programmes based on Polish folk music, with Arabic, Pakistani, Senegalese, Iranian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian musicians.

The Chopin Arirang Project’s artistic side is based on a combination of Polish and Korean traditions, with the triplet rhythm common to both cultures. In Poland it’s known as the mazurka rhythm and is considered an indicator of Polishness in music. Maria Pomianowska found a very similar rhythmic pattern in the music of Korea – where it’s considered a defining characteristic of Korean tradition. This element turned out to be a musical bridge.

Members:
Maria Pomianowska - art direction, VOCALS, Biłgoraj suka, Płock fiddle
Paweł Betley - flutes
Hubert Giziewski - accordion
Bartłomiej Pałyga - wspak, throat singing, Jew’s harp
Wojciech Lubertowicz - drums, duduk

​

​

The concerts took place in 2015.