Aga Derlak

Stories From The Eastern West

Aga Derlak remembers her fascination with music as a young child. And once she began learning piano, she would lose hours in flowing through improvised journeys at the keyboard. This passion led her to gaining a place on the year-long Berklee Global Jazz Institute program. And in this interview, she discusses the impact that has had on many levels of her life. The founder of the project, pianist Danilo Perez, who is part of the incredible Wayne Shorter quartet was a particular influence and led Aga to work at Danilo's foundation in his homeland of Panama. You get the sense that her own beliefs about the healing power of music, and the role of musicians and music education in our society really blossomed during this time, through conversations with her tutors and peers at Berklee, and also her pupils, some of whom were part of a social program in Panama City.

Aga has led her own trio and quintet and like the other rebel spirits has been invited to play at numerous jazz festivals. As she explains in her interview, travel takes on a real meaning in her life, and has directed her development as an artist. The piece she talks about, Tempo, is from her forthcoming album Parallel and includes her own vocals and those of her sister Basia Derlak. With lyrics from a poem that Aga wrote, we can hear about her attention to detail, theme and flavor, and her thoughts about the possibilities of time. Tempo. A project that is a good indicator of Aga’s personality is Your Solo, exploring Polish jazz. This was her proactive reaction to the restriction of lockdown during the pandemic. She wanted to highlight the work of Polish jazz musicians such as herself, who could no longer tour or perform. Aga set about playing their compositions and interviewing these musicians. Putting everything online. The positive focus is typical of how she's able to acknowledge the darkness that descends on life but uses her determination to be constructive. Interestingly, she refers to the different sides of her character and how that comes through her music in this interview.