GARY GWADERA feat. COPY CORPO (Darek Pietraszewski)

“FAR, FAR IN CHICAGO. FOOTBERK SUITE” / Premiere

“These are just Chicago-style oberkas!” was my first thought when I heard the compilation “Bangs & Works”—an album that introduced the “footwork” style to a global audience. What caught my attention was the syncopated 3-beat rhythm, driven by the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine. Triple rhythms have long been central to my musical explorations, and the collision of this ancient, typically Polish form with the underground freedom of Chicago’s Black electronic sound felt like an aesthetic jackpot. As an anthropologist and dreamer, I also imagined that the presence of a 3-beat rhythm in Chicago, home to the largest Polish community in the U.S., was not a coincidence, but a result of the meeting between our native musical traditions and the Black American musical sensibility. While this hypothesis remains purely a personal fantasy, not backed by any scientific evidence, I believe that, regardless of its true origins, there are undeniable similarities between footwork and the Polish oberek. Both are dance music, created to challenge dancers rhythmically and musically, sparking friendly competition—whether in rural Poland’s village band battles or Chicago’s underground footwork battles. Both genres emphasize a sense of community, energy, and excitement, all built around dance, with a signature 3-beat pulse.

The footberk suite “Far, Far in Chicago” is intended to be an imagined musical journey through time and space, where the Polish oberek and Chicago footwork find a shared language in dynamic triple rhythms. I aim to show that the syncopated rhythm of the mazurka can sound just as contemporary and daring as the beats made for Chicago’s dancers. The composition serves as a tribute to the community and the spirit of dance in both cultures, attempting to capture the emotions that fuel both footwork dancers and rural village parties—where music and dance become tools for self-expression.

To merge these two seemingly distant worlds, I’ve created a rhythmic machine, combining rural jazz with Lem-esque pads loaded with samples from the TR-808, TR-909, and other electronic sounds.

The premiere will be accompanied by live analog visuals using glitch aesthetics and psychedelia, created by VJ Copy Corpo.

Concept collaboration: Hanna Szczęśniak (Polish Radio Folk Centre).

GARY GWADERA is the solo project of Piotr Gwadera, a drumming master from Łódź, originally from Kielce. He is known for adding unique, surprising character to any music. His background includes rock, punk, experimental, jazz, and free improvisation projects. For years, he’s also been a leading drummer in Poland’s traditional rural music scene, particularly known for his mastery of triple rhythms on jazz drums. Gwadera is a lover of vintage drums, cymbals, VHS tapes, and all things magnetic tape. His main bands include Radical Polish Ansambl, Odpoczno, and L.Stadt. He has collaborated with artists such as Bernhard Lang, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Steven Bernstein, Marcin Masecki, and Antoni Gralak. In 2024, Gwadera was awarded second prize for “magnetic personality, musical imagination, and unique blend of avant-garde and folk roots” and received the Golden Goose Award for the best instrumentalist at the Polish Radio Folk Music Competition “New Tradition” for his virtuosic treatment of mazurka rhythms on unconventional (percussion) instruments.

COPY CORPO (Darek Pietraszewski): VJ, Tape Jockey, concert organizer, promoter of independent music, and cassette culture. He co-runs the audiovisual cassette label Pointless Geometry and the Łódź-based club-café Ignorantka. He is also a co-founder of Poland’s first community radio station, Radio Kapitał, where he hosts a program called Świeżynka, showcasing the latest in Polish music. His cassette sets often blur boundaries between plunderphonics, radio plays, and mixtapes, but he also performs traditional mixes featuring contemporary cassette releases.

As a VJ, Copy Corpo creates visualizations based on feedback loops from analog video mixers and material sourced from VHS tapes. In his improvisational sets, he draws on the aesthetics of analog glitch and psychedelia, focusing on colorful structures.

He has performed with FOQL at festivals such as Braille Satellite, Dym, Sanatorium Dźwięku, Nadmiar, Mózg Festival, Fonomo Music & Film Festival, Rhizom, Atom, and Hamselyt. Additionally, he has designed posters and covers for cassette releases.