Maria Rehakova TOPOĽANA - debut album

My name is Maria Rehakova, and almost 10 years ago, as an 18-year-old girl from Slovakia, I launched my first crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for studying jazz in London.

Now, 10 years later, thanks to the help of kind people like you, I am writing these lines as a trained, professional jazz flutist, singer, and composer. However, I am now facing another milestone - the release of my debut album. And once again, I cannot achieve it without your help.

About Topoľana

I started my jazz-folk fusion sextet, in which I combine Slovak folk music with jazz, in 2017 while I was studying at the Guildhall School of Music in London . It was a really long journey to the album: my first compositions and arrangements, finding the right musicians, rehearsing the songs, tweaking them, playing our first concerts... In 2019, we went on our first international tour, and with it came some small successes, such as performing at the biggest Slovak jazz festival "Bratislava Jazz Days".

Album Recording

Finally, I felt that the music was ready for an album recording, and I booked the recording studio. It was February 2020, and we were scheduled to record in August. You all know where this is going - Covid arrived, and the recording had to be canceled.

It took another two years until we had another recording date booked in February 2022. Once again, we had to postpone it due to the pandemic. However, as the saying goes, "Third time lucky!", in June 2022, we finally managed to make it happen and recorded the main band.

Music & Visual Art

As this was going to be my debut album, I decided that I wanted to involve several people who are really close to me to make it a truly personal statement.

One of them was my dad, Pavol Rehak, who is a painter.

The initial idea that dad would create the album cover eventually evolved into a larger project - a series of six paintings, one for each track on the album. It was a truly enriching collaboration for me, and I am immensely grateful for it. Here you can see a preview of the paintings that were created:

• Red Apple
• Why, oh Why?
• Goodnight, My Love
• Transformation Suite - Childhood, Storm, Farewell
• Wait for Me My Darling, in the Green Valley
• My New Folk Song

Who else is behind the album

Musically, I collaborated with a large number of amazing musicians from different countries on the album. In addition to the main band, the album also features a vocal choir, percussion, and a string quartet.

All artists involved in the project:

The main band:

• Maria Rehakova (SK) - flute, alto flute, vocal
• Gustavo Clayton Marucci (UK) - clarinet, bass clarinet
• Sam Knight (UK) - tenor saxophone, backing vocals
• Eddie Lee (UK) - piano
• Peter Korman (SK) - double bass
• Floyer Sydenham (UK) - drums

Guests:

• Carolina Alabau (ES) - backing vocals
• Kan Yanabe (JP) - percussion
• Simon Šufliarsky - voiceover
• String quartet "Project instrumental": Charis Jenson - 1st violin, Harri Allan - 2nd violin, Tadasuke Iijima - viola, Kirsten Jenson - cel

Music Creation:

• Compositions and arrangements - Maria Rehakova
• String quartet arrangement - Charlie Bates
• Vocal arrangement - Sam Knight
• Produced by Maria Rehakova & Sam Knight
• Recorded at "Monochrom Studio"
• Sound engineer - Ignacy Gruszecki
• Mix - Jim Knight
• Master - Mark Ashfield

Visuals:

• Paintings - Pavol Rehák 
• Photography - Gustavo Pizano 
• Graphic design - Miriam Vyšňovská

Rewards

Recording and releasing an album in a professional manner is truly an expensive matter. Since this is my debut and I am not yet under a record label, I need your help to bring this project to the world in physical form.

My goal is to produce CDs, vinyls, a limited edition of fine art prints, and t-shirts, and also cover the real costs of the entire project.

Vinyl & CD

T-shirt designs

Fine art prints - Limited Edition, Signed