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Aga Zaryan

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Aga Zaryan
Aga Zaryan at the JVC Jazz Festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2006
Aga Zaryan at the JVC Jazz Festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2006
Background information
Birth nameAgnieszka Skrzypek
Born (1976-01-17) 17 January 1976 (age 48)
Warsaw, Poland
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, record producer
Years active2002–present
LabelsBlue Note, Warner, EMI Music Poland

Aga Zaryan (born Agnieszka Skrzypek on 17 January 1976) is a Polish jazz vocalist and the first Polish musician to sign with Blue Note Records.[1]

Her albums have earned gold, platinum, and multi-platinum status.[2][3] In 2008 and 2012 she was honored with the Fryderyk award, the Polish recording industry's most prestigious prize. She was nominated for Woman of the Year in 2008[4] by Gazeta Wyborcza, one of Poland's most widely circulated newspapers. From 2007 to 2018, she was named Jazz Vocalist of the Year in the annual readers' poll at Jazz Forum magazine.

Early life

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Zaryan was born in Warsaw, Poland. At an early age, she traveled throughout Europe with her parents. Her father was a classical pianist, and her mother was an English language educator and author. Her parents shared a love for Stevie Wonder, Weather Report, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, and the Beatles. Zaryan spent part of her childhood and primary school education in Manchester, England. After returning to Poland, she won the Warsaw Tennis Championship when she was fourteen.

After hearing Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis, she decided to become a jazz vocalist.[5] She studied voice at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and attended the Jazz Studies program, graduating with honors. She was awarded scholarships to attend the Stanford Jazz Workshop and Jazz Camp West, both in the United States.

Career

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In 2006, she performed at the JVC Jazz Festival in Warsaw, opening for Branford Marsalis. Since that time, she has appeared in clubs and at festivals in Poland, England, the United States, Germany, Israel, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Turkey, Portugal, Russia, and Iceland.

In early 2007, she was in the United States for a series of concerts with her American line-up, appearing in jazz venues such as Joe's Pub in New York City and Blues Alley in Washington D.C. The concerts were enthusiastically received.[6]

Zaryan recorded Picking Up the Pieces (2006) in Los Angeles with Larry Koonse (guitar), Munyungo Jackson (percussion), Nolan Shaheed (cornet), and Dariusz Oleszkiewicz (double bass). The album was composed of eleven songs that explored the emotional and spiritual experiences of women and was well-received critically and commercially, achieving double-platinum status.

Beauty Is Dying (2007) was the first album she sang in Polish. She recorded it with a seventeen-piece string orchestra. The album contained nine works by Polish poets that depicted the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Zaryan chose the works and sang compositions written and arranged by Michał Tokaj. She performed material from the album at the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and the concert was broadcast live on public Polish TV and Polish Radio. In 2008, she was given the Fryderyk Award, the Polish recording industry's highest honor.

Awards and nominations

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Awards

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  • Best Polish Female Jazz Vocalist, Jazz Forum Readers' Poll, 2008,[7] 2009,[8] 2010,[9] 2011,[10] 2012,[11] and 2013
  • Best Poetic Album, Fryderyk Award for Księga Olśnień, 2011[12]
  • Best Poetic Album, Fryderyk Award for Beauty is Dying, 2008[13]
  • 50 Most Important Ladies of the Capital 2008, Życie Warszawy (Warsaw press)[4]
  • Best New Artist, Mateusz Award, Polskie Radio Program III award for Picking up the Pieces 2007[14]
  • Second Prize, 1998 International Jazz Vocalists' Competition, Zamość, PL

Nominations

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  • Woman of the Year 2008, Gazeta Wyborcza magazine (Wysokie Obcasy)
  • Wdechy, 2007, Co Jest Grane (What's Going On) magazine's Warsaw cultural awards[15]
  • Best Polish Jazz Vocalist, Jazz Forum Readers' Poll, 2004 and 2005
  • Best Jazz Album, My Lullaby, (as Agnieszka Skrzypek), Fryderyk, 2002[16]

Discography

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Studio albums

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Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
POL
2002 My Lullaby
  • Released: 27 November 2002
  • Label: NotTwo
 24[17]
2006 Picking Up the Pieces
  • Released: 25 February 2006
  • Label: Cosmopolis
 1[19]
  • POL: 2× Platinum[20]
2007 Umiera piękno
  • Released: 17 July 2007
  • Label: Cosmopolis
 9[21]
2010 Looking Walking Being 4[22]
  • POL: 2× Platinum[20]
2011 A Book of Luminous Things 8[23]
Księga olśnień
  • Released: 4 October 2011
  • Label: EMI Music Poland/Blue Note
 24[24]
2013 Remembering Nina & Abbey
  • Released: 12 November 2013
  • Label: Centrala/Parlophone
 24[25]
2018 What Xmas Means To Me
High & Low
  • Released: 16 November 2018
  • Label: Centrala/Warner Music Poland
2022 Sara
  • Released: 21. October 2022
  • Label: Centrala/Warner Music Poland

Live albums

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Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
POL
2002 Live at Palladium
  • Released: November 2008
  • Label:
  • Formats: CD/DVD
 24[26]
  • POL: 4× Platinum[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Jazz Forum". Jazz Forum. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  2. ^ "Platynowa Płyta dla albumu Agi Zaryan Picking up the Pieces | portalmedialny.pl". Mediafm.net. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  3. ^ "Platynowe Patronaty" [Platinum Promotions] (in Polish). Gdańsk: infomusic.pl. 14 July 2009. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Polka 2008". Wysokieobcasy.pl. 15 October 1999. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  5. ^ Kiger, Rumeysa (8 August 2008). "For Polish singer Aga Zaryan, passion for jazz was 'love at first sight'". todayszaman.com. İstanbul, Turkey: Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  6. ^ "Aga Zaryan at Joe's Pub". Allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  7. ^ "Jazz Forum". Jazz Forum. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  8. ^ "Jazz Forum". Jazz Forum. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  9. ^ "Aga Zaryan at the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival". Polishculture.org.uk. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  10. ^ JF (2011). "Wiosna Jazzowa Zakopane 2011" [Spring Jazz Krakow 2011]. jazzforum.com.pl (in Polish). Warszawa, Polska: Jazz Forum. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  11. ^ "Jazz Forum". Jazz Forum. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  12. ^ "Nominowani i laureaci :: Nagroda muzyczna - Fryderyk :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Zpav.pl. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  13. ^ "Winners and nominies". zpav.pl (in Polish). Warszawa: Związek Producentów Audio-Video (Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry). 2008. Album Roku PIOSENKA POETYCKA. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  14. ^ "Aga Zaryan zdobyła Nagrodę Mateusza - Mediarun.pl". Wiadomosci.mediarun.pl. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  15. ^ "Nominacje do nagrody Wdechy 2007: Aga Zaryan" (in Polish). Miasta.gazeta.pl. 14 January 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  16. ^ "Winners and nominies". zpav.pl. Warszawa, Polska: Związek Producentów Audio-Video (Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry). 2002. Best Jazz Album. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  17. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 04.06.2007 - 10.06.2007". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  18. ^ "Bestseller charts and awards - Gold certification awards". Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  19. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 10.01.2011 - 16.01.2011". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g "Bestseller charts and awards - Platinum certification awards". Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  21. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 20.08.2007 - 26.08.2007". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  22. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 15.03.2010 - 21.03.2010". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  23. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 04.07.2011 - 10.07.2011". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  24. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 03.10.2011 - 09.10.2011". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  25. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 03.02.2014 - 09.02.2014". OLiS. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  26. ^ "OLiS - sales for the period 29.12.2008 - 04.01.2009". OLiS. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
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