Monika Bulanda
Monika Bulanda (born on 13 April 1983) is a musician and visual artist. From an early age, Bulanda showed interest in art, music, theatre, sport, language, and culture, but chose music and art as her primary focus. She has collaborated with several artists on musical and artistic projects while living in different places around the world, such as China, Turkey, India, Malaysia, and France. She currently works and lives in Istanbul, Turkey. She released her first solo album Forever I'll Be Young under the Turkish music label 3 Adım Müzik. Life and career 1983–1997: Early life Bulanda was born in Cracow. She was the youngest member of a local art gallery where she took painting classes at the Maria Kaminska and Ignacy Kurowski atelier, while at the same time taking part in various painting competitions. She started private piano lessons at the age of 6, and later began learning to play the drums from Wiesław Piszczyński who encouraged her to continue with music professionally. At the age of 13, she began performing at local weddings and events with professional bands. She also participated in regional young instrumentalist competitions where she won a couple of times in a row. 1997–2004: High school and career Preparing to enter art school, she attended VI Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. A.Mickiewicza in Cracow, specializing in linguistics. She graduated with a bilingual (Spanish and Polish) education. As the age of 16, she started to play in music clubs in Cracow, being named as the first female drummer in Poland. During jam sessions and concerts, she met musicians such as Paweł Maciwoda and Marek Stryszowski whom she performed with. She was voluntarily working at the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days and Jazz Jamboree where she met renowned jazz musicians with whom she played at jam sessions. She appeared in the "Droga do Gwiazd" young talent contest where Sony Music proposed her to join the female pop-rock band Matka, which she accepted. Playing with Matka she gained most of her performing experience, appearing on different programs such as "Kuba Wojewódzki" talk-show, "Bar" and other soap operas. When she was 19, the band Matka started to work with polish pop singer Michal Wisniewski. She continued to develop her drumming skills with Artur Malik at the Cracow School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, later Wroclaw School of Jazz Music under Andrzej Lewandowski's tetelage. She entered Katowice Academy of Jazz Music and continued to study with Adam Buczek. At the same time, she studied in Warsaw at the Chopin School of Music "Bednarska" where she was a student of Kazimierz Jonkisz. To continue her interest in linguistics she entered the University of Warsaw at the Oriental Department studying Chinese Language and Culture. Bulanda simultaneously graduated from both universities and holds B.A. in Music and B.A. in Sinology. 2007–2008: China After graduating from both universities, she quit all her bands, and left to Beijing, China. She joined the Beijing Film Academy at the Foreign Department of Chinese Language and Culture. Soon after she started