Radio – Music – Politics: A Conversation between Maria Baliszewska and Piotr Grochowski

Abstract

Maria Baliszewska is an ethnomusicologist and a journalist. She has worked for the Polish Radio since 1973. She is the author of many programs on folk themes and recordings of Polish musical folklore, as well as studio and festival recordings. She was the founder and manager of the Radiowe Centrum Kultury Ludowej (Radio Folk Culture Center; 1994–2007), the coordinator of the European Radio Union for traditional and folk music (1998–2009), the judge for traditional music festivals and parades (including the National Festival of Folk Bands and Singers in Kazimierz and the International Competition of Folk Bands and Singers in Zakopane). In 1998, she initiated the Folk Festival of Polish Radio Nowa Tradycja. She is author of many albums in the Muzyka Źródeł series published by the Polish Radio, as well as other albums, incl. Pod Tatrami na dolinie (Polskie Radio, Accord, PolyGram 1996), Pologne. Instruments Populaires (Radio France 1996), Welcome Europe 2004. New European Soundscapes (EBU, Polskie Radio 2004). She is a member of the Polish Composers Union and the Scientific Council of the Folk Artists Association. She was honored, among others, with the Golden Microphone (1993), the medal of Zygmunt Gloger (2003), the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Award (2007) and the Oskar Kolberg Award (2014).