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Incoming
concert or event: 2010-04-08, Poznań - Johnny Rocker
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(pronounce:
Peaskorchick) is a young singer with a mature, low and
unusual voice timbre. Described in France as "la voix
noire et au costume blanc" (Black voice in a white
costume). She is a guitar, bass guitar and percussion
player, as well as a song writer. Magda performs
music of Afro-American and African heritage. She is a
two-time Semifinalist of the International Blues
Challenge in Memphis, USA. Four times readers of
the Polish blues quarterly have chosen her the Female
Vocalist of the Year. In 2009 Magda was invited to play
with Konoba, an international band
performing traditional West African
music. She has released two CDs: "Magda
Live" (nominated to the Fryderyk Award, the most
prestigious award of the Polish Phonographic Industry)
and "Blues Travelling" feat. Michal Urbaniak, a reknown
jazz violinist. Magda has performed with many
well-known musicians, such as Bob Margolin, Bob Brozman,
Slidin' Slim, Greg Zlap, Billy Gibson and Engerling
group. She regularly performs with her band and has
given shows at many festivals almost all over Europe.
She likes to involve the audience in collective singing,
emotional shouting, hand-clapping or snapping their
fingers.
is her tasteful
arrangements of funk, blues, gospel, soul, rock, jazz
classics and her own original compositions as well.
Despite her music being deeply set in the Afro-American
tradition, it is very personal and innovative at the
same time. Joy and humour, great emotions and energy are
mixed with deep messages, melancholy and moving
sincerity. An unusual, very expressive usage of voice
and perfectly matched sounds of guitars, a Hammond
organ, a saxophone, a violin, percussion or other
instruments make this music unique and
captivating.
Bob Brozman after the concert with
Magda at Dobrofest Trnava said: "She's a great future
for the music. She's a great, great musician with very
good groove and sense of music."
"Magda is
an excellent, deep-voiced singer - her voice is
somewhere between Koko Taylor, Charley Patton, Sister
Rosetta Tharpe and Tommy Johnson) - capable of tackling
well-known blues, jazz and gospel numbers alongside more
contemporary songs from the pens of Jacques Brel, Paul
Rodgers ('Muddy Water Blues' is a wonderful performance)
and Tracy Chapman, and her style is distinctive,
individual and unusual. So too are her arrangements,
which certainly avoid the obvious and although they are
acoustic-based, can be extremely
powerful..." Norman Darwen CD "Magda
Live", BluesArt-Journal
"Excellent music, beautiful
voice, musicians in top form, our audience love it
absolutely." Serge WARIN about CD
'Magda Live', Radio Canal Bleu, France
"I can hardly wait to see this
lady live on stage!" Bobtje's Blues
Pages, Holland
"That
young and from Eastern Europe! Excellent! She is better
than some Americans!" Rev. Rabia
from Berkeley, USA, American blues singer
"Blues from Poland? Possibly the
last place you'd expect to hear blues coming from. Magda
Piskorczyk has a great bluesy voice, and you'd never
guess that she was from Eastern Europe - although you
might guess at Mississippi or
Tennessee." Terry Clear, Blues
Bytes
Magda
was born in Southwestern part of Poland. She studied
computer science at Technical University of Wroclaw.
Since the very childhood she kept singing everywhere and
almost all the time. She listened to the music of
different genres but blues, gospel and soul touched her
most.
Her debut in 2001 at the festival in
Bialystok was a great success - she won The First Prize
in the competition. She sang with almost each top Polish
blues band, singer or musician, but most often with
Michał Kielak (harmonica), Aleksandra Siemieniuk (dobro
guitar) and Arkadiusz Osenkowski (tenor sax.). She
received The Blues Top Awards in 2003, 2004 and 2006 as
a "Female Vocalist of the Year" by the readers of the
most important Polish blues magazine "Twoj Blues" (eng.
"Your Blues"). Since 2005 she has regularly performed
with her own band.
In 2008 the first Polish Blues
Stars Alley was opened in Sława near Zielona Góra. One
of the stars belongs to Magda. She
stamped her hand on the promenade too.
Her
first album was released in October 2005, during the
biggest indoor blues festival in the world: Rawa Blues.
Magda recorded it with her friends and special guest:
legendary jazz musician and composer Michal Urbaniak
(violin on "Tutu" album of Miles
Davis). It presents standards and less known
compositions in fresh arrangements, such us: a touching
gospel "I Want Jesus To Walk With Me" and an exciting
version of Tom Waits' "Temptation" in which Magda plays
the electric double bass. In aged-sounding jail "Work
Song" her harsh voice is accompanied only on the sax and
a simple beat of the drum.
The album
titled "Magda Live", released in 2008, was recorded at
Radio Gdansk with very active participation of the
audience which was regularly involved in collective
singing, hand-clapping, stamping their feet or emotional
shouting. The CD contains 13 acoustic songs.
Magda serves her own tasty arrangements and personal
interpretations of standards taken from various genres,
for example: jazz ("All of Me"), blues ("Walking
Blues"), gospel ("Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"), as
well as modern compositions of the authors such as:
Tracy Chapman ("Crossroads") or Paul Rodgers ("Muddy
Water Blues").
A very
unique element of the album is a jazzy version of
Jacques Brel's song with English text titled "Hearts"
which has reached number one on the Radio Cracow ALP
List. The CD contains also multimedia with 15 minutes
video filmed at the presented concert. The CD was
nominated to the Fryderyk Award 2009 (the most
prestigious award of the Polish Phonographic Industry)
for the Blues Album of the Year in
Poland.
In 2004 Magda Piskorczyk was
qualified to take part in the biggest blues contest in
the world: International Blues Challenge 2005 in
Memphis, Tennessee, in which she received very good
comments of the Jury. Magda was also informed that she
was the first artist who came stright from Europe fr the
contest.
Notes
of the 2005 IBC Jurors:"You have a
great "raw" sense of the music you're playing. I'd like
to hear you on a full body guitar. I love your vocal
phrasing" Steve
Clark"Innovative, quirky and
fun" William Beard
In
2006 Magda was again invited to take part in the
International Blues Challenge contest in Memphis. And
also this time she got great reviews of her performance
from the Jury as well as the
audience. Notes of the 2006
IBC Jurors:
"Your Muddy Water Blues was
GREAT. I'll remember it for a long time.
Great!" John Pfeiffer
"Very engaging performance - I like the way
you bring the audience into your act - great sounds -
very earthy, gutsy - this is what I think the blues
should sound like! Good variety of songs - in your set -
very nice - fast, slow, happy, sad - makes for a much
more entertaining show!" Mark
Loft.
Magda
Piskorczyk appreciates achievements of many gospel
singers, but the output of Mahalia Jackson is the most
appealing for her. At the beginning of 2007 she prepared
a special program titled " Tribute to Mahalia Jackson" with new
versions of the songs known from Mahalia’s records.
Wojciech Karolak, the most respected Hammond organ
virtuoso in Poland, took part in this project as a
special guest. Distinctive concerts of gospel
standards have been performed in Poland, Germany,
Hungary and France at Blues Sur Seine
Festival. In 2008 Magda took part in the City
Sings Gospel Festival in Liverpool, England. She gave a
series of concerts in various places, such as the
Metropolitan Cathedral and the Hope Street
Fest. Such shows are known for gripping energy
and dynamics, original arrangements, excellent contact
with the audience, which is alternately involved in
spontaneous amusement and deep
reflection.
Magda
has given shows at many international fests, for
example:
Trossinger Blues Fabrik, Germany
(2009) Prerov Jazz Festival, Prerov, Czech Rep.
(2009) Gastroblues, Paks, Hungary
(2009) Satyrblues, Tarnobrzeg, Poland (2009) City
Sings Gospel, Liverpool, UK (2008) Blues Goes East,
Karlsruhe, Niemcy (2007) Bluestracje - Polish Blues
TOP, Chorzów & Zakopane
(2007) International Blues Challenge,
Memphis, USA (2005, 2006)
Buezzfest, Burgas,
Bulgaria (2006) Blues Sur Seine, France
(2006) Dresden Blues Festival, Germany
(2006) Dobrofest, Trnava, Slovakia (2005) Rawa
Blues Festival, Katowice, Poland (2003, 2005) Berlin
Bluesfestival, Germany (2004) Potsdam Bluesfestival,
Germany (2004) Blues Alive, Sumperk, Czech Republic
(2002)
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