Aga Zaryan - Ksiega Olsnien (2011)

The year 2011 was dedicated to the work of Czesław Miłosz. There were many “acrement” events. Numerous essays, analyses and extensive biography of the poet were created. His works inspired the composers of “serious” (e.g. Agata Zubel, Paweł Mykietyn) and those from the jazz circle: Marek Bałata, Staszka Soyka, Aga Zaryan – today the highest rated jazz singer.
The Book of Cherry contains musical studies of Miłosz poems, Anna Świrszczyńska and American poets (Denise Levertov and Jane Hirshfield) in the translation of our Nobel Prize winner. The creator of the soundtrack is Michał Tokaj, a renowned jazz pianist, composer and team leader of Aga Zaryan.
The whole proposal, however interesting, is out of an unequivocal assessment. On the one hand, we have a beautiful, sensual voice singer, jazzy arrangements (with strings) and an irion airaic aura; on the other – the impression of a slight rift between music and the word. It looks a bit as if the artists could not decide whether they are more accurate to them to make texts (with irregular structure and accents) or creating attractive music. They chose a compromise, making the album a little uneven. In addition to the fragments of agitating, there are places where the music “bulds” to poems, losing its natural fluidity. The most convincing is the song “It’s One” with Grzegorz Turnau – a real hit.
Author: Bogdan Chmura
Jazz meets poetry: Aga Zaryan sings in Polish songs to lyrics by poet Czeslaw Milosz (1980 Nobel Prize in Literature) and his favorite poets: Jane Hirshfield, Denise Levertov and Anna Swirszczynska. Recorded at Castle Oaks Studio in Los Angeles, parts of Polish Radio Orchestra recorded in Warsaw.
Any reference to this album as yet another vocal Jazz release would be completely off the track; it is an artistic statement, which encompasses different Art disciplines in this case music and poetry amalgamating them into an aesthetic whole, which becomes more than the sum of its parts.