Youth

She came from a poor home . She was the fifth and the youngest child of Marcin Ostrowski (born in 1897 in Buczacz) and Emilia Ostrowska nee Siarkiewicz (born 1908 in Stanisławów, died 1971), his second wife. Until 1939, Ostrowski was the commander of the State Police in Buczacz. After the USSR's aggression against Poland, he was arrested by the NKVD, managed to escape from prison and escaped to the General Government. At the same time, his first wife and daughters were deported to the USSR (his wife died in exile). Kora's parents met after the Second World War in Krakow, where they both worked as clerks. When she was 4 years old and her mother became ill with tuberculosis due to the difficult financial situation of her parents, Kora was sent to an orphanage run by the sisters in Jordanów. She spent 5 years there until finishing the second grade of primary school. She returned to her family home just after her father's death. During this time, she was a victim of sexual harassment by a Catholic priest . Later, she had to move to Jabłonowa Pomorski, where for the next year she lived at her aunt's and went to elementary school in class IV. She continued her education in her elementary school and secondary school in her hometown of Krakow, until she passed her matriculation examination. As a teenager, she was strongly associated with the Krakow artistic and hippie milieu. She was friends with Piotr Skrzynecki, Jerzy Beres, Wiesław Dymny, Krystyna Zachwatowicz and Piotr Marek. It was in hippie times that she adopted her pseudonym Kora. Shortly after graduation, she met Marek Jackowski, musician of Vox Gentis and Anawa, whom she married in December 1971. For almost two years she worked as a psychotherapist at the Department of Child Psychiatry in Krakow. Occasionally, she performed at the concerts of a new band of her husband, Osjan, who accompanied her on a pipe with whom she toured Poland, among others together with Don Cherry.

Career

With the Maanam team

As a vocalist, she made her debut with another group of Jackowski, created in 1975 together with Milo Kurtis, a MaM duo who played alternative music inspired by the Middle East. The bark started with vocal singing, for the first time she performed with them in February 1976 at the Poznań Medyka Aspirynka Club, run by the Polish Students' Association. The band performed, among others with Maciej Zembaty, and this collaboration resulted in Kora recording vocals with music by Michał Lorenc to episodes of Krew (1979) and Czystość (1979) from the television series Friends (1979-1981). The MaM group, already in the new extended line-up and under the new extended name of Maanam, started playing rock in the late 1970s, and Kora became its main vocalist. From 1980, she was one of the most important and popular representatives of this genre in the history of Polish pop music. Maanam released 11 studio albums: Maanam (1981), O! (1982), Nocny patrol (1983), Mental Cut (1984), Siechnia (1989), Derwisz and angel (1991), Róża (1994), Bed (1996), Klucz (1998), Hotel Nirwana (2001) and Special characters (2004). The band launched several dozen hits, including Divine Buenos, Lust of money, Oh! do not make so much noise, Krakowski spleen, Rat's breath, I love you, my love, It's only tango or Lucciola in the 80s, Extremely cold May, Zapatrzenie or After that you're in the world in the 90s. Kora wrote most of the lyrics to Maanamu songs. December 31, 2008, after 32 years of existence, the Maanam team suspended their activities.

Solo career

After the first breakup of Maanam

At the beginning of Maanamu's career, Kora also debuted on the stage. On July 7, 1982, at the Italian theater festival Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, the premiere of the play by Mątwa Witkacy, presented by the Stary Theater in Krakow, took place. Kora appeared there next to, among others Jerzy Stuhr, Jerzy Bińczycki and Ewa Kolasińska. The performance was also staged in Milan. After Maanam's first suspension of activity in 1986, Kora recorded the album Bela Pupa, including the songs of Piotr Marek, the late leader of the Düpa group, together with the Krakow band Püdelsi. The album was released in 1988. In 1987, Jackowska appeared at the 8th Review of Actor's Song in Wrocław. At the gala concert devoted to the works of Agnieszka Osiecka, she performed the songs Okularnicy i Kochankowie from Kamienna street. At that time, the idea for the first solo album of the singer was born, with songs by Jerzy Wasowski and Jeremy Przybora from Kabaret Starszych Panów. However, the work begun at that time was postponed until 1990. In 1989, a limited edition of the poetry of Kora Krakowski spleen was published.

After the Maanamu reactivation

In 1990 she continued to work on an album of songs from the Cabaret of Elders. Her brothers Marcin and Mateusz Pospieszalski accompanied her in this project. In connection with the then decision to reactivate Maanam, these works lasted for three years. I took you on my journey in 1993 - in March on a cassette tape, and in November on a CD. In the meantime, in 1992, she published the autobiography Double Line of Life, resuming every few years. Its supplemented new editions appeared first in 1998 and later under the new title Kora, Kora. And the planets are going crazy in 2011. In 2000, she recorded the theme for the series TVP Sukces, titled Magic Word - Success. In July 2001, the compilation of the most interesting solo recordings of Kora Złota collection hit the market: Magical word - success. In 2002, she started work on a new project - Kora Ola Ola !, in which musicians playing classical, jazz, flamenco and Latin music took part, originating from Poland, Hungary, Cuba, Mexico and Peru. In February 2003, their album Kora Ola Ola! Was released, featuring a wide variety of songs from pre-war tangos, songs by Mieczysław Fogg, Jerzy Petersburski, Wanda Warska, Maria Koterbska and Czesław Niemen to selected pieces by Maanam. He was promoted to cover him with a thousand roses. The album went to the first place in the Polish list of OLiS bestsellers. In January 2003, there was also a single recorded by Kora with an alternative electronic band, Bex Lala. She recorded two songs with him, Land of Pain and Dear. In September 2008, a dance CD of Metamorfoza branded by Kora with debuting DJ duet 5th Element hit the market. The idea was to include dance remixes of Maanam hits, but in the end, mostly new musical and vocal parts were recorded for them. In addition, Kora recorded three premiere songs for her.

After the second breakup of Maanam

After the suspension of Maanam's activity in 2008, the artist began performing under the name Kora. Initially, she performed with the majority of musicians of the last line-up of this band. Next to the premiere solo recordings, Maanam's hits were presented at her concerts. In July 2010, Kora was one of the rock stars of the Jarocin Festival. In June 2010, the premiere of her new solo song Zabawa in hide and seek, arousing controversy due to the subject of pedophilia among priests. The text to her was based on the personal experiences of the singer from the period when she was 10 or 11 years old. The song was made for her first music video in six years. He won the main prize of the Camerimage film festival, the Golden Frog. He was also nominated for the Grand Prix at the Yach Film festival, awarding the best music videos. In November Kora presented a new single, recorded with the participation of Stanisław Soyka, I will never close the door in front of you. In 2011-2016, Kora was a juridic of the Must Be the Music program. Only music broadcast on TV Polsat. In March 2011, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Kanka's debut in Maanama, the EMI company released remastered re-editions of all Polish studio album and solo Kora albums, and in October also foreign and several group compilations. In the meantime, in June Kora celebrated 35 years of artistic activity with a jubilee recital during the TOPtrend festival. On this occasion, she received the Amber Nightingale award. On August 31 of the same year, on the 31st anniversary of the August Agreement, the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, awarded Kora with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta as a deserving creator of culture. In October 2011 the premiere of the single Ping pong, the first promising new album Kory, took place. The text of this work was inspired by Józef Kurylak's poem The beating of my heart and aroused controversy because of the subject of God's struggle with Satan. In November, the premiere of the whole Ping pong album took place, which was the first solo album in Kora's career with a completely premiere repertoire. The composer of most of the material was guitarist Mateusz Waśkiewicz, working with the artist since 2008. The band Kory, whose final composition was formed in 2010, was complemented by guitarist Krzysztof Skarżyński, veterans of the new wave of the 80s, bassist Marcin Ciempiel and drummer Artur Hajdasz. The album also promoted the recipe for happiness and the silence zone. The board has gained the golden status. In November 2012, a two-CD reedition was released, titled Ping pong Małe wolności, enriched with an additional CD with eleven remixes of songs from the basic version of the album, prepared by DJs from all over Europe. As part of the album's promotion, Kora performed during the dance finale of the Got to Dance program. Only dancing, performing a song One word all changes remixed by Tomer Forester. In 2011, along with the new album, a new, extended edition of Kora's autobiography under the new title Kora, Kora was also released. And the planets are going crazy. In September 2012, the premiere of an unpublished song with the text Kory to the music of Marek Jackowski, Ask me about it, beloved, finally recorded by Ania Wyszkoni and promoting her album Życie jest dobrze. The artist was nominated for the Telekamery awards 2012, 2013 and 2015 in the Juror category and the Wiktory 2012 and 2013 awards in the TV personality category. On 11 April 2014, Kora was awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewskiego with the Silver Medal of Merit for Culture - Gloria Artis, awarded to people who stand out particularly in the field of artistic creation, cultural activity or the protection of culture and national heritage. In 2016, the artist became the protagonist of the documentary film directed by Bartosz Konopka. The road to the championship, in which, alongside Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Gajos, Agnieszka Holland and Rafał Olbiński, she talked about how her path to success looked. His premiere took place at the National Theater in Warsaw on April 5, 2016. On April 20, 2016, the Phonographic Academy honored Korona Złotym Fryderyk for lifetime achievement.

compounds

In the years 1971-1984 she was the wife of Marek Jackowski, with whom she later founded the band Maanam. Their only son Mateusz was born in 1972. After three years of marriage and moving from his native Krakow to Warsaw, Kora met her next partner, Kamil Sipowicz. The fruit of this relationship was her second son Szymon, born in 1976. Sipowicz later worked on the organization of Maanam's concerts. In 1979, Kora and her husband and children returned to Krakow. In 1984, she divorced Jackowski, stopping the children, but they both decided to continue to share their professional life. She lived with Sipowicz only in 1989, after the death of his mother, who did not accept her son's relationship. The pair then established their own record label Kamiling Co, which mainly publishes Maanamu records. December 12, 2013 they formalized a relationship that lasted for 40 years, getting married.

Religion

Because of her childhood experiences she had a critical attitude towards the Catholic Church. She opposed the cases of hiding pedophilia in the Church, which was perceived as an anti-clerical person. The artist adhered to the religion of the sun, wind and flowers.

Lawsuit

In August 2012, Kora was accused of having a legally illegal quantity of 2.83 g of cannabis dried in her home, for which she was punished by imprisonment for up to three years. The search of the house came after the information of the customs service, who discovered that in the package given in June, the artist's address was 60 g of Indian hemp. In her defense, due to the low harmfulness of the alleged act, the former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski stood, who in September gave her a joint interview with Newsweek magazine and introduced her to the artist on his cover. The case was dismissed by the prosecutor in December of the same year due to the failure to detect the perpetrator, and the possession of drugs at home was conditionally discontinued by the court in June 2013. Kora's blame was confirmed, but it was recognized that the social harmfulness of her act was not significant.

Disease and death

Kora confessed that from the end of the 90s she felt abdominal pain and was repeatedly diagnosed and treated for this reason. In 2013, she was diagnosed with a metastatic ovarian cancer with metastases to the peritoneum. The singer has undergone several operations and chemotherapy courses. In 2016, she achieved remission of the disease. After the therapy, she started a campaign to refund the medicine containing the active substance olaparib. Due to the high price of treatment, she turned to the fans for financial help and later sold the house. On August 12, 2016, the Minister of Health signed the decision on taking the medicine for a refund. She died on July 28, 2018 at 5:30 am surrounded by family and friends in a house in BliĹĽowie. Her manager a few months earlier informed the media about the good condition of the singer, her concert plans and her return to work in the studio. Professor Magdalena Ĺšroda, a friend of Kora, confessed after the artist's death that in the last week her condition deteriorated significantly and life threatened. The funeral took place on August 8, 2018 at 11:00 am at the Military Cemetery in PowÄ…zki at ul. PowÄ…zkowska 43/45 in Warsaw. It was secular.