The cultural offer in Wroclaw is extended and diverse. Travelers and locals can enjoy concerts, theater, films, stand up comedy, poetry and dancing spectacles for every taste and not only in Polish, because, even when the artists are Poles, the American influence in arts is undeniable.
Fot. Aleksandra Abdurashytova
Last Friday night I assisted to a veritable example of this. The Jazz and Pop band of Joanna Kwaśnik and R&B Queen Night concert in Vertigo Jazz Club. In a pub that imitates the esthetics of New York jazz bars, Joanna appeared with all hair made braids –just like Afro American singers – enough self-confidence to sing oriented to the guitar man, but not to her public and a chorus of two singers that contrasted with her kind of “bad girl” style, either because of their sophisticated dresses or very limited movements.
Joanna Kwaśnik was known for the first time in 2014, after her participation in “The Voice of Poland”, the famous Polish reality talent show that gave to know local singers to public, offering them the opportunity of becoming stars. Since then, she has performed more than once in Wroclaw’s pubs like Vertigo with own songs and covers both in English and Polish.
The influence (almost tribute) from Afro-American singers like Chaka Kahn (disco star from 70’s and 80’s), Nina Simone, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, or even sometimes the well influenced by black blues Janis Joplin is absolutely visible in clothes and gestures, but it stands out her performance on “Fallin” from Alicia Keys, very emotional, passionate and more energetic than any other song put on repertory, even if we could say something similar about “Ain’t nobody” from Chaka Kahn and The Rufus (not performed with the same intensity, we can see it is not so well studied).
However the influence from Afro-American singers, the audience may be missing one the most important instruments, which work on these artists: the voice. This one should be necessarily strong and potent to fill all empty space in such an elegant and contrastive colored scene like that from Vertigo.
This modest writer recommends Joanna to work on the depth of her voice. And wishes her luck, because like people in my country say “to sing like a black girl” is hard as hell.
