Hanna Banaszak – her story. Jazz soul of Polish stage

Tender, yet distinctive. Classic, yet open to new beats. Hanna Banaszak have been astonishing us with her sensitivity and unique style. Her path to the top is a story of passion, consistency and artistic touch, which all let her become one of the most respected personalities of Polish music stage.

Hanna Banaszak – her story

Hanna Banaszak was born on April 24th of 1957, in Poznań, where she spend her childhood. Singer comes from musical family and in ger family home she had first contact with music. Her parents Zofia and Zygmunt Banaszakowie were deeply connected with music – her father was a conductor, and her mother was a singer in the choir. Growing up in artistic environment undoubtedly influenced her future carrier – since her youth she had contact with good music and she absorbed it, what you can feel listening to her songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuNmgSVMuRE
Hanna Banaszak –  Pogoda ducha

Banaszak not only grew up in musical family but also, she has been feeling the love for the music herself. In her youth she was attending music school and then – still as a teen – she created her first music band, which she called “Hanna and Piotr”. Artist had been only fifteen years old at the time, so maybe she did not perform on the big musical stages, but even back then, she experienced playing in front of the audience. Even her amateur performances were amazing enough to get duet Hanna and Piotr few winnings on local youth festivals. Joint activity of these two musicians had lasted for about three years after which their ways parted, and Hanna Banaszak started her solo carrier.rierę solową.

Hanna Banaszak – her music

Professional debut of Hanna Banaszak took place in 1976 during the concert “Młode Talenty” (“Young Talents”) on The National Festival of Polish Song in Opole (Krajowy Festiwal Piosenki Polskiej w Opolu). This performance opened doors to the music world for nineteen years old singer. After the debut in Opole Banaszak had been performing for a few months in Centrum Variétés, where she dwelled on the topic of jazz music. Young singer was learning surprisingly quickly – in 1977 she got and third place award on jazz vocalists’ contest on Lublin Jazz Singers’ Meeting (Lubelskie Spotkanie Wokalistów Jazzowych).

Quickly achieved jazz experience granted that in 1977 Banaszak took a cooperation with the band Sami Swoi. She performed with then in Poland and Europe on many music festivals, presenting high level jazz. Their music was so good that on jazz festival in Mönchengladbach Hanna and her band got awarded with the first place.

In 1979 Banaszak performed again of The National Festival of Polish Song in Opole (Krajowy Festiwal Piosenki Polskiej w Opolu), where she sang the hit by Ludmiła Jakubczak “Szeptem”. In the same year she was awarded with third place in contest of phonographic studios in Sopot for performing a song “Z biegiem lat”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5iq-cVKuvs
Hanna Banaszak – W moim magicznym domu

After few years of a cooperation with the Sami Swoi band and getting stage experience, Banaszak started her solo carrier. The 80’s are period of the greatest popularity and artistic maturity. Back then she worked out her recognizable style combining jazz, sung poetry and elements of stage song and Latino music. It was fir her time of intense work, important premieres and huge sympathy from the audience.

In 1980 Banaszak published her first debut solo music album called “Summertime”. Album consisted of ten songs which were interpretations of jazz and swing standards in English.

Six years later Banaszak published her second solo album called “Hanna Banaszak”. It is one of the most important albums in her carrier – it achieved not only commercial success but also was highly rated in terms of artistic value. You can find song like “Pogoda ducha” and “Samba przed rozstaniem” on the album. It strengthened Hanna Banaszak position on the jazz stage and generally – in Polish pop music.

In 90’s Hanna Banaszak continued her artistic activity, focusing mainly on interpretations of Polish music’s classics and Christmas repertoire. In this period of time, she came up with three albums: “Wołanie Eurydyki” (1991), “Wigilia z Hanną Banaszak” (1998) and “W moim magicznym domu – Złota Kolekcja” (1998). Those projects had shown great artistic maturity of an artist. In this time Banaszak had concerts in Poland as well as abroad, presenting her diverse repertoire including jazz, sung poetry and classic pieces.

New century Hanna Banaszak started with bringing another album out and concertizing, presenting it to lovers if her music. It was special album, because there were sixteen songs which were modern versions of hits from interwar period.
After eight years Banaszak put out another album – “BanaszakKofta”, which turned out to be quite a success, achieving the status of golden record.
Since 2010 Hanna Banaszak have been continuing her music carrier combining jazz, sung poetry and classics in her unique style. Artist is still concertizing, often performing on prestige stages. Singer constantly manages to attract many listeners who appreciate her huge talent, experience and exquisite music skills. Her story shows that consistency and loyalty to artistic values may lead not only to success, but also to recognition among people searching for real artistry.

The artist’s most important albums

• Summertime – 1980
• Hanna Banaszak – 1986
• Wołanie Eurydyki – 1991
• Wigilia z Hanną Banaszak – 1998
• W moim magicznym domu – Złota Kolekcja – 1998
• Echa melodii zapomnianej – 2000
• BanaszaKofta – 2008
• Stoję na tobie Ziemio – 2020

Article: Paweł Skarzyński
Translation: Maria Stelmach
Photos: Facebook 

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