Warsaw - Vocal Workshops on African Songs and Gospels

About the event

We warmly invite you to VOCAL WORKSHOPS with Lydie Kotlinski. These are workshops on polyphony (multi-voice) a cappella, meaning without harmonic instruments, only voices. Open to everyone interested! 🎵 Workshop program: - Traditional African songs, songs from West Africa (Congo, Benin, Senegal, Mali) and South Africa (Zulu and Xhosa languages). 🎤 ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS: 1. Technical singing lesson / vocal exercises (working on breathing, using muscles, focusing on proper posture, and connecting the entire "body structure"). Physical stretching. The whole body sings. 2. Exploring different "voices," different sounds that lie within us. 3. Rhythmic exercises, activating the feet, clapping rhythms with hands - the whole body plays. 4. Polyphonic and harmonic games. 5. Vocal improvisation, correlation of rhythm / harmony / melody. 📅 ORGANIZATIONAL DETAILS: WHEN? Saturday, September 13, 2025 Time: 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM Price: 120 PLN 📍 WHERE? Centrum Kultur Świata, ul. Skaryszewska 15/124 (2nd staircase, 1st floor) in East Warsaw. ✉️ Sign up via private message or email [email protected] The course is led by a professional vocalist with classical (conservatory) and jazz (Parisian school) vocal training. 18 years of professional vocal polyphony a cappella in a trio and quartet. For 25 years, she has been conducting singing courses. Developing the voice as an instrument in itself, like a vibrating string that rings and resonates throughout the body. *Feel free, let your voice flow without barriers. Just allow the air to flow. *Enjoy the simple pleasure of singing, trusting a kind group. *Let us vibrate. *Feel the internal vibrations where the whole body resonates. *Find a connection with our life energy through the voice that reveals our inner self. And let joy come. *The joy of being together. The joy of being. *The feeling of being part of harmony, the harmony of voices and hearts. *By allowing ourselves to sing, we release mental and physical tensions. *Discover (or rediscover) the sense that singing is, above all, a natural, simple activity. *Singing connects us with ourselves, with others, and with what surrounds us. Through musical polyphonic games, you will better hear, become aware of, and better control your voice. Lydie studied classical vocals at conservatories in France and jazz studies at CIM in Paris. She was a vocalist in bands such as Lunatik Jazz Orchestra (first prize for young talents at Jazz Avignon in 1993), Iyema Gospel Quartet, and Millénium Gospel Voices. She worked in the theatrical cabaret Les Petroleuses and participated in recordings for the Memorial of the Marseillaise. For many years, she conducted singing and jazz initiation workshops in Paris and gospel workshops in middle and primary schools in Marseille. Since 2003, she has co-created the group Les Tisseuses d’etoiles, a female vocal trio performing gospel, Afro-American, and African songs, with which she regularly tours in collaboration with the Union Nationale de Jeunesses Musicales de France. In Poland, since October 2012, she has been leading the Łontanara choir, which won the Audience Award at the Mikołajki Folk Festival in December 2014. In April 2015, she started the Koyemba workshop project with Mariola Mazurek, which is a musical journey through West and South Africa. The classes are intended for all singing enthusiasts, regardless of age and musical experience. The program includes: learning songs; vocal, breathing, and rhythmic exercises; polyphonic singing; elements of improvisation and song interpretation.