Urszula Dudziak and Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski are the protagonists of the first two episodes of the podcast series “Rebel Spirits. The Story of Polish Jazz” presenting the history of Polish jazz in English.
Subsequent episodes of the series will feature stories by Michał Urbaniak, Adam Makowicz and Zbigniew Namysłowski. The series is narrated by Paweł Brodowski, editor-in-chief of “Jazz Forum” magazine. The project was initiated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
“Willis Conover in Zielona Góra, that was something, kind of revolutionary. Nothing else interested us at that time, only jazz,” notes Urszula Dudziak in an interview with Paweł Brodowski. The conversation was featured in the first episode of the series entitled “The Queen. Urszula Dudziak”.
“Rebel Spirits” is an English-language podcast that presents the most interesting, groundbreaking, not obvious and intriguing phenomena of Polish jazz also against the background of the socio-political situation in the country.
Woven from memories of the most important figures of the jazz scene, the story begins in the era of Stalinist repression and ends today – explain the authors of the project from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
From these stories emerges a portrait of an extraordinary group of artists, free thinkers and dreamers, and at the same time a picture of times of difficult decisions, compromises and longing for a better world.
“+Rebel Spirits+ is a story not only about music and musicians but also about rebellious, underground, alternative culture. With the audio podcast providing the opportunity to not only showcase the music but also to present the emotion behind the story, the message will reach audiences around the world,” – says Barbara Krzeska, deputy director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Each of the five episodes of the first series will present long fragments of music, interwoven with personal stories of the musicians, sometimes talking about themselves, their way, their struggles with the regime and their fascination with jazz, and sometimes about their colleagues, including those already dead, such as Tomasz Stańko, Andrzej Kurylewicz, Andrzej Trzaskowski.
Systematic chronicle and chronology were replaced by anecdotes and memories, as if heard on the morning after jam session, reflecting the spirit of those times and telling a lot of truth about jazz and the environment.
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is planning to continue the “Rebel Spirits” podcast. The subsequent series will focus on historical and legendary figures and phenomena, as well as those who are currently creating this legend, i.e., representatives of the young Polish jazz scene.
Wojciech Oleksiak and Monika Proba are responsible for the production, screenplay and direction.
On July 1, 2021, a podcast featuring Michał Urbaniak will be released; July 8, 2021 – a podcast dedicated to Adam Makowicz; July 15, 2021 – Zbigniew Namysłowski.
The podcast will be available to listen to on all major podcast platforms (including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Overcast, among others) and at https://culture.pl/en/rebelspirits
The project was made possible thanks to the Adam Mickiewicz Institute with Polskie Nagrania (Polish Records)/ Warner Music Poland, Sony Music Publishing Poland Sp. z o. o. and the Urbaniak. com Foundation.