DAGA GREGOROWICZ: I’M A GEOGRAPHIC MUSICIAN

DAGA GREGOROWICZ: I’M A GEOGRAPHIC MUSICIAN

N: How did you, a Pole, form a band with Dana, a Ukrainian?

D: I met Dana during a Jazz training camp in Krakow. She spoke with me in Polish – albeit with an Ukrainian accent. And we found that we enjoyed playing music together. I lived in Poznan, Poland and Dana lived in Lviv, Ukraine, 800 km away. However, it was not easy for us to build a band, not only because Ukrainians need visas to visit Poland but also I was still a Geography student and had to spend most of my time analyzing the trajectory of small satellites. At that time, a jazz musician whom I was really fond of encouraged me to attend more music training camps and finally Dana and I decided to form a band of our own.

N: Were you supposed to have a good job related to your major?

D: Actually I was offered a job with an incredibly high pay on graduation. But I love singing more. I think it must have been fate. Geography, however, broadened my view, and increased my love of nature and the Earth which was a great help for performing folk music. Both geographers and musicians need keen senses to be aware of the beauty on the planet under our feet. Sometimes I feel that I'm a geographic musician. While traveling to other cities I will not only learn about the local life and musical performances there, I will take time to walk out of town. I fully support environmental protection, because city life is not enough for human beings. Without a beautiful environment, humans are not like humans any more. We need to have our life refreshed by music and nature.

N: What do you want to tell people through folk music?

D: Folk music records the history of a nation, but it should not simply repeat it. Folk music is more universal than national in a sense. You can fi nd similar themes in folk music no matter if you're in Ukraine, Syria, India or China. It's interesting that though our ancestors didn't have mobiles phones or other modern communication methods, their understanding of life was closer to heart and easier to strike a chord on the others. I want to reveal such perception of them to the modern world. I want to remind people of our age that we are not the smartest, and not to forget about the wisdom of our forefathers.

N: What do you think about Chinese folk music?

D: Chinese folk music is very hard for westerners to understand. I think it's a completely different expression compared with the western counterpart. But when I visited the countryside in China, I found they actually had things in common. For example, villagers also put their strong feelings for their lovers into their songs. When I studied Ballad of Kang Ding I found its harmony had a unique charm of itself. China is such a vast land with so many ethnic groups and regions that their folk music varies. This is something I didn't know beforehand.

N: How did you begin collaborating with Chinese musicians?

D: We began our collaboration with Ballad of Kang Ding. Every time we performed this song, the Chinese audience reacted strongly. We hope more Chinese could regain their interest in the folk music of their own country. I recently met with the organizer of World Music Shanghai, and through the event I hope to find more Chinese musicians who create world music with national elements. I believe many Chinese youngsters are concerned about the preservation of traditional culture, like Poland and many other countries around the world. This will draw more folk musicians from the world to China.

妲歌：我是地理音樂家

N：你是波蘭人，而你的搭檔是烏克蘭人。兩個國家的人，如何走到一起的呢？

D：我跟妲娜在克拉科夫一個爵士樂演唱訓練營里相遇，她用烏克蘭口音的波蘭語跟我聊天，而我跟她的音樂合奏非常愉快。我住在波蘭的波茨南，她住在烏克蘭的利沃夫，相距只有800公里，不過烏克蘭人到波蘭需要簽證，因此我們走在一起其實并不容易。那個時候我還沒有完成自己的音樂訓練，還是一個地理學學生，每天還要花很多時間去分析小衛星軌跡，但是一個我很喜歡的爵士樂音樂家鼓勵我參加更多的音樂訓練營。最終我們決定一起組建樂隊。

N：你的專業原本應該讓你找到一份很好的工作吧？

D：其實我畢業的時候就拿到了難以想象的高薪工作。但是我更加喜歡唱歌。其實我覺得這是冥冥中注定的東西。不過地理學確實讓我的眼界開闊不少，也能夠讓人更加熱愛自然。這對于演唱民歌來說是非常有幫助的。地理學家和音樂家都需要非常敏感的觸覺，都要察覺我們腳下地球的美。有時候我會覺得自己就是“地理音樂家”，在旅行的時候不但要考察城市的生活和音樂演出，還要到城市周邊的郊外去走走。我一直認為環境保護是值得提倡的，因為只有城市的生活不算完整的生活；沒有大自然和美好的自然環境，人類就不再成為人類了。人們的生活要在自然和音樂的美中得到舒緩。

N：你們希望通過民歌告訴人們什么？

D：民歌記錄了民族的民間歷史，但不應該機械地重復歷史。民歌除了民族性之外，更加有普世性，無論在波蘭還是在烏克蘭、敘利亞、印度還是中國，你都可以在民間音樂中找到非常相似的題材。這就是我們想展示的——即使我們的祖先沒有手機和其他現代通信設備，他們對生活的感知卻十分貼近真實，并能引起共鳴，我們希望把這種感知和認識都重新展現給世人。我們想提醒當代人，不要總是覺得自己非常聰明，卻忘記了祖先的智慧。

N：你對中國民歌有什么感覺？

D：中國民歌剛聽起來非常困難，一些外國人無法理解中國民歌的藝術語言，可以說它跟西方音樂是兩套截然不同的表達系統。但是當我在中國農村城郊走訪和踩點，我還是覺得有很多共同點的。比如說，生活在山村中的人們也有著豐富的感情生活，并且把它唱出來。當我們仔細研究《康定情歌》的時候，我們發現這首歌的和聲有一種獨特的美。當然，中國地大物博有那么多個民族和區域，不同地區和民族的民間音樂也有所不同，這個我們以前還是不知道的。

N：你是什么時候開始跟中國音樂家合作的呢？

D：我們首次展開合作就是這首《康定情歌》。我發現每次我們演唱這首歌的時候，中國觀眾的反應都很強烈，我們希望更多的中國觀眾對自己國家的民歌產生共鳴。我最近遇到了上海世界音樂季的主辦方，希望能夠在中國認識更多通過民族元素來創作世界音樂的人們。我相信跟波蘭和世界上很多國家一樣，很多中國年輕人也非常關心自己傳統文化的保存，這將吸引更多國外的民間音樂家來中國交流和演出。