Zbigniew Chojnacki

Zbigniew Chojnacki

Accordion/live electronics player, improviser who can compose. 

"With his accordion and heaps of live electronics, Zbigniew Chojnacki is out for musical risks without a safety net. His improvisations pulsate back and forth between songs, ambient, noise, electronics, jazz, drone and ... blasphemy? In any case, each encounter between artist, audience, space and instrument is completely unlike any previous and all subsequent ones. At times relaxed, at times in a flurry but always on the way to new melodic connections. ''

He has performed at such important festivals as WOS Festival Santiago De Compostela, A L'Arme Festival in Berlin, Sharpe Festival in Bratislava, LEM Festival in Barcelona, Ring Ring Festival Belgrade, PIF Festival Castelfidardo,  Oct Loft Jazz Festival in Shenzhen, WORM Rotterdam, Skanu Mezs Riga, La Nature Festival Vielsalm (BE), Oslo Jazz Festival (NO, Tallinn Music Week (EE).

In the 2022/2023 season, Shape platform artist.

Press highlights

,,Later that night, Zbigniew Chojnacki led us into his weird and wonderful world of avant-garde accordion, augmenting his instrument of choice with live electronics and a jumble of effects pedals that created a cacophonous clash of antique folk and contemporary drone.’’ Crack Magazine 2022 https://crackmagazine.net/article/live-reviews/wos-festival-2022-sacred-spaces-and-mindful- music-at-galicias-best-kept-secret/

,,Chojnacki’s deconstructed and reimagined what this traditional (and often archaic) instrument is through effects pedals, gadgets and nobs, producing a cacophony of strangeness from his deep meditative creative trance. The drones squelches and reverberations that emanated from the stage were difficult but enthralling, sounding like both the end of the world and a way to rebuild it.’’ by James Thornhill (Under the Radar Magazine)

https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/ sharpe_festival_2021_bratislava_slovakia_3_4_september_2021

,,I suppose when playing an accordion, you can’t help but see it as an extension of the body. But Chojnacki doesn’t just depend on its wheezes and gasps to fill a sound or create a musical alter ego. Rather, the accordion is there to add a counterpoint – often blunt, or expressionistic in approach – to the carefully constructed procession of electronic blurbs, beats and ticks. It’s like seeing someone slowly build up a tower of drinks straws only to knock it down when bored. At times the noises Chojnacki conjures up straddles Cluster’s early, pre Zuckerzeit electronic gasbag vibe. A fascinating show.’’ by Richard James Foster (Louder than War Magazine) https://louderthanwar.com/sharpe-festival-2021-live-review/

Interview for Shape + https://shapeplatform.eu/2023/no-rules-no-expectations-an-interview-with-zbigniew- chojnacki/