Urszula’s love for unruly musical experiments got her kicked out from music school when she was a young girl. A few years later, like many young Poles, she stumbled upon The Voice of America - a radio station meant to bring American culture and censorship-free news to people locked up behind the Iron Curtain. This program is where Urszula heard jazz for the first time. Blown away by the uniqueness of the music, one of the voices she heard marked her particularly - the voice of Ella Fitzgerald. Hearing Ella made her realize the extent of creative freedom jazz could offer, specifically, her understanding that people's voices can serve as musical instruments. From then on, Urszula started developing her distinctive style of wordless vocalisation that can transport listeners to another dimension.

Time stamps

[01:55] The accordion
[02:44] Trouble in school 
[03:21] The Voice of America
[04:44] Ella Fitzgerald
[07:09] American jazz
[08:35] Krzysztof Komeda
[10:44] Love
[11:29] Scandinavian restaurants
[13:33] All that smoke
[15:02] Discovering electronics
[16:30] Duo with Adam Makowicz
[19:16] New York
[22:33] Papaya 
[29:24] The best age

Click here to read the transcript for this episode

Music from the episode

[14:08] Composition: Bengal
Artist: Super Constellation 
Album editions: Super Constellation / Fusion I 

[17:37] Composition: Darkness and Newborn Light
Artist: Urszula Dudziak and Adam Makowicz
Album: Newborn Light 

[22:33] Composition: Papaya 
Artist: Urszula Dudziak
Album: Urszula

[26:18] Composition: Kama Ula
Artist: Michał Urbaniak/Michał Urbaniak’s Fusion
Album: Atma

Further reading

• Urszula Dudziak // on Culture.pl

• A Foreigners Guide to Polish Jazz // on Culture.pl

• Willis Conover: The American Godfather of Polish Jazz // on Culture.pl

• From bop to żal: how jazz became the voice of freedom in Poland // on Guardian.com

Further Watching

• Urszula performing in 1973

• Urszula performing in 1998

• Filipino soldiers dancing the Papaya dance

Credits

This episode of Rebel Spirits was hosted by Paweł Brodowski. The show is brought to you by Culture.pl, the flagship brand of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Written by Wojciech Oleksiak & Monika Proba
Produced by Move Me Media
Hosted by Paweł Brodowski
Edited by Wojciech Oleksiak
Proofread by Adam Żuławski
Translated by Mateusz Schmidt
Design by Dawid Ryski
Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak

Copyrights

The publisher would like to thank all copyright owners for their kind permission to reproduce their material. Should, despite our intensive research, any person entitled to rights have been overlooked, legitimate claims shall be compensated within the usual provisions.