Pianist, composer and producer associated with the Tricity jazz and improvised music scene. Leader of the band Midi 4, Midera performs in the groups Klawo and Children of Fish, as well as solo.
‘It’s a constant journey, it’s a search for different sounds, different instruments’ – this is how Malina Midera answered the question about the nature of her music on Polish Radio Program II. Obviously, the composer and pianist had the artistic dimension of her work in mind, but these words can also be read in their very literal sense. After all, in order to develop her music, Midera first moved from her native Łódź to the Tricity, and a few years later – after completing her bachelor’s degree at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk – to Denmark, where she took up studies at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory, well-known to fans of young Polish jazz.
However, before Midera followed in the footsteps of Grzegorz Tarwid or Szymon Gąsiorek, she began her education at the age of seven at a primary-level music school in Łódź. At home, only her older sister practised on the instrument. The pianist remembers being very impressed with her guitar playing at the time. Nevertheless, Midera, born in 2000, discovered the world of music for herself through the piano from the very beginning. As she recalls, many talented and hard-working young musicians accompanied her on this journey, including Patrycja Wybrańczyk – later to become the percussionist of, among others, the O.N.E. Quintet – with whom Midera still keeps in touch.
The pianist also remembers the more difficult moments she went through at school. As a twelve or thirteen-year-old, she often experienced moments of doubt about the path she had chosen. ‘School was demanding, conservative and there was no room for experimentation or a different way of playing’, explains Midera. ‘The pressure from the teachers and the environment made me judge my skills, my abilities, and myself very harshly. Especially since I once heard that I shouldn’t play the piano because I am left-handed... It was only in my teenage years that I returned to music with full commitment.’
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Malina Midera, photo: Paweł Zanio
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Artist, not instrumentalist
In the aforementioned radio interview, Midera told Andrzej Zieliński that Gdańsk’s influence on her music is not limited to the role played by the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music: ‘I think the Tricity has shaped me musically, [...] to keep creating and playing and enjoying music.’ This is a recurring theme in conversations with young instrumentalists studying in Gdańsk – even if they eventually leave for foreign universities in search of inspiration and greater freedom, they recall with enthusiasm the artistic ferment prevailing on the Tricity scene. But it’s not just the atmosphere and the mutual inspirations. The strength of this community also lies in grassroots concert and festival initiatives, as well as independent local labels promoting recordings by jazz musicians from the Tricity.
Many of these ensembles, friendships and initiatives were formed within the walls of the Academy of Music, but it would be an injustice to reduce its role to a creative hub, a meeting place. ‘In Gdańsk I learned to love my instrument and to practice on it, I was introduced to jazz music and had the opportunity to test myself in this genre’ – recalls the pianist, whose teachers at the time were Włodzimierz Nahorny and Slawek Jaskułke. Despite the support of such greats of Polish jazz, Midera was still looking for a new perspective on music. She had heard a lot about the openness and creative approach characterising Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory, so after defending her bachelor’s degree at the Gdańsk university, she applied to study there. ‘Besides, as a child I always liked to travel and have no problem adapting in new places’, adds the pianist.
Today, she admits that studying at two schools has made her pay attention to more aspects of being an artist:
The approach in Copenhagen is completely different from that in Gdańsk. I would compare the school more to the Academy of Fine Arts. At the RMC, the environment, the lecturers and the space itself make you realise that the beauty of music is hidden in its richness and diversity. There I learned to look at music from different perspectives: I opened up to other musical genres, by experimenting with form I started to get out of my comfort zone. It was only in Denmark that I started to call myself an artist and not just an instrumentalist.
In an interview with Zieliński, the pianist elaborated on this theme, adding that it was crucial for her to perceive the music profession in a way that limits the risk of burning out within a few years. During her studies in Copenhagen, she learned, among other things, how to derive pleasure, but also profit from her passion.
Pulsating sound
Before she even moved to Copenhagen, at the Gdańsk academy Midera met the musicians with whom she founded the band Klawo. It all started with a one-off initiative to translate Konstanty Kostka’s album Flądra, recorded using a sampler, into the language of acoustic instruments. The idea came from the Tricity label Coastline Northern Cuts – later to become Klawo’s publisher. In addition to Midera, the spontaneously formed group of students included Alicja Sobstyl (leader of avant pop band Artificialice) and Artur Szalsza (associated with prog-metal project Aleph א). This is what Jakub Knera wrote about the band’s debut LP, released in 2022, in Bandcamp Daily:
Their debut LP, released in July, is brilliant, filled with wonderful melodies. It’s occasionally reminiscent of the young British jazz scene, with its pulsating funk sound, but also boasts arrangements that would have been great [in productions made] in the golden age of Polish radio and television.
What sets the funky septet apart is that there are as many as three keyboardists performing in it, which gives the band great compositional possibilities, but also poses some challenges. Midera admits that it was in Klawo that she learned to share musical space, to let go.
The situation is different in Midi 4, the quartet of which she is the leader. Its genesis can be traced back to the Kowalik & Midera Quartet, founded in Denmark, whose debut album Mibokoch featured compositions by leaders Malina Midera and Szymon Kowalik. The latter’s saxophone can also be heard on midi4’s debut album Cats, Dogs and Dwarfs, which was released in 2024 by another Tricity-based outfit, Alpaka Records.
Shape and colour
If each member of Klawo had a significant influence on the final sound of the album, Cats, Dogs and Dwarfs provides an insight into Midera’s own style: ‘As leader, I made decisions about the character and sound of the songs with a great openness to experimentation and sounds that are unusual in jazz music’, explains the artist. In this last aspect, the pianist was assisted by composer and producer Albert Karch. Working together on the album’s mix, they used superimposed effects to create a simulation of out-of-tune saxophone and piano, the sounds of which successively open and close the album.
When asked what the process of writing the songs for her debut album was like, Midera harked back to her time at the Music Academy in Gdańsk:
When composing music, the clearest clue for me is shape and colour. A chord for me is a particular colour – cold or warm. I see the shape on the keyboard and then visualise it in my head. I was introduced to the theory of chords as concrete timbres by my teacher Sławek Jaskułke, who also works in this way at the piano, looking for the best sounds for himself.
In an enthusiastic review published on Dwutygodnik, Bartosz Nowicki admitted that if he had listened to the Cats, Dogs and Dwarfs album blind, he would have thought it was some archival session recorded as part of the Polish Jazz series in the late 1960s:
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Despite the dreamy sound and contemplative moments, this is not a set of lullabies, but a record of great temperament, attesting to the considerable musical erudition of its creators. The warm, muted timbre of the tenor saxophone (Szymon Kowalik) in the first few bars spreads the intimate, vintage aura of the album’s opening track ‘It’s Okey Not To Sleep’. This is enough to bring to mind black and white stills from Polish films of the 1960s.
These comparisons are not unfounded, as Midera admits that one of the inspirations for her was Andrzej Trzaskowski’s album Seant, on which, incidentally, Włodzimierz Nahorny, another of her teachers, played. The list of great creators of Polish jazz is worth expanding with one more name: Wojciech Karolak. This is due to the characteristic sound of the Hammond organ, which Midera willingly reaches for on Cats, Dogs and Dwarfs: ‘I find the sound of this instrument, a precursor to synthesisers, which offers the possibility of adding new harmonic values, magical. Also, the playing technique is completely different from the piano, which is very inspiring.’
Onward journey
In the near future, the artist plans to devote herself to work not only on the Hammond organ – for Midera reveals that she is currently working on a composition for voice and church organ. In this case, she is inspired by the very construction of the instrument, its monumentality and the acoustics of the sacred space. In her new work, the artist intends to make use of the church acoustics, with its several seconds of reverberation. In addition, an album by the international trio Children of Fish, whose music is a fusion of jazz, pop and free improvisation, will be released in autumn 2024. A second album by the Klawo septet is also planned for the near future.
Midera’s artistic plans are not limited to music. The pianist is also keen on photography and film, which she also tries to translate into her compositional language. Midera also hosts the internet radio programme Mambo Dżambo on the community-based Radio Kapitał.
