Kateryna Ziabliuk – more than just a pianist
Review by Rafał Zbrzeski
Kateryna Ziabliuk is a Kyiv-based artist whose path of exploration has so far led her through Katowice, Milan and Krakow, among other places. Usually, the young Ukrainian is described as "the hope of Ukrainian jazz pianism", a phrase which is as much to the eye as it is meaningless and, above all, not very accurate.
Listening to Ziabliuk's solo albums (the 2021 release 'Piano. Live at the Enjoy Jazz Festival" and the one a year earlier "Borders Make You Grow"), it is possible to succumb to the charm of her charismatic approach to the piano and the spirit that accompanies her sound production from the instrument. Also impressive is Ziabliuk's music's combination of lyrical, singing longing with a pugnaciousness lurking in the background. As if there is a constantly pulsating nervous system beneath the surface, making itself known somewhere on the borderline of consciousness. The two discs are linked by both the solo recital formula and the partly repeated repertoire, but it is in the concert recording that emotions definitely come alive more strongly, which gives the music a much stronger expression.
Even in her solo recordings, one can hear that the Ukrainian artist is not interested in clinging to the jazz idiom. Her music transcends genre frameworks and she draws freely from a wealth of different styles and genres.
This becomes even more evident in Ziabliuk's other recordings. This is particularly the case with the two versions of “Songs of the Forest”. A suite based on a poem by Łesia Ukrainka. Ziabliuk originally wrote and arranged this piece for a jazz trio, but in 2022 she reinterpreted the composition quite freely and performed it at the Katowice JazzArt Festival in a duet with Natalia Kordiak. Here, jazz-derived means of expression are mixed with traditional Ukrainian melodies, acoustic sounds with electronics and shamanistic percussions. In turn, the two female voices weave a fantastic tale from the borderland of java and dream. This special performance also marked the beginning of a new artistic entity, as Ziabliuk and Kordiak decided to continue their duo collaboration under the name TANŌK.
The concert recording from Warsaw's SPATiF is also worth checking out - in a trio with double bassist Kamila Drabek and percussionist Patrycja Wybrańczyk. This is yet another example of modern, cross-genre thinking about musical matter, which is also present in another concert recording by the Ukrainian pianist - this time at the head of the international quintet Hilarious Disasters. In the sounds heard on "Aporia, Drafts & Hilarious Disasters (Live in Kraków)", threads drawn from Ukrainian musical folklore, sampling, and references to the work of Krzysztof Komeda are woven together on the basis of jazz improvisation. Fascinating rhythmic patterns harmonise here with a lively brass section, while lightness is provided by a daring use of the flute's possibilities. The buckle that binds the whole is the leader's piano, which in one programme contains nostalgia for a bygone world, longing for the unreal, but also the joy of life and a danceable, ecstatic frenzy.
In summary - Ziabliuk does not renounce his Ukrainian roots in his artistic activity, directly drawing on them by the handful. At the same time, he does not allow himself to be tied down to just one point in the musical geography of the world. Without complexes, she brings her heritage to the European creative music scene, consciously refraining from closing herself within strictly defined boundaries. Certainly, the young Ukrainian performs very well in her role as a pianist, but again - she does not limit herself to this alone. After all, she is also a composer, arranger, vocalist, uses electronics and even reaches for the accordion - seeking and provoking to transcend what is comfortable and established.