Maciek Schejbal grew up in Cracow, Poland where he earned a Masters Degree in classical percussion from the Academy of Music. He honed his craft in the jazz, fusion, classical, and avant-garde scenes of Cracow and taught at local music schools. He had the great fortune to share the stage with legends of Polish song, Ewa Demarczyk and Marek Grechuta, from whom he learned the art of performance. After performances with the Cracow Radio Symphony Orchestra in England (which included the world premiere of Penderecki’s Polish Requiem), he decided to stay behind in London and after several months emigrated to South Africa.
Maciek’s decade in South Africa allowed him to continue to develop his wide-ranging musical interests. He performed with the Johannesburg and Cape Town symphony orchestras, jazz and African music artists including Winston Mankunku, Robbie Jansen, Basil ‘Mannenberg’ Coetzee, The Genuines, and many others; theater and dance groups as well as teaching drums at many centers around the country, including Mega Music in Johannesburg, 1820 Foundation in Grahamstown, Cape Town’s Musical Action for People’s Progress, The Jazz Workshop and the University of Cape Town.
Schejbal’s involvement with the progressive theater circles of the Market Theater in Johannesburg allowed him to compose and perform his own music for several theater productions, which received both popular and critical acclaim. He wrote and workshopped music for Barney Simon’s Flight, and Gary Gordon’s Anatomical Journey of a Settler Man, among other productions. Collaboration with actor Andrew Buckland brought No Easy Walk, an award-winning mime and music piece and Thing?, a play for three actors and three musicians.
Since his arrival in New York in 1993 Maciek has worked mostly with African performers, including a nearly 15-year collaboration with Cameroonian singer Kaïssa. He produced her first album, Looking There, and directed her various ensembles in venues across the globe. Maciek has also been working extensively with a South African great Tony Cedras.
In the fall of 2018 Maciek released his solo album Afro-Polka featuring John Patitucci, Jerome Harris, Bakithi Kumalo, Brian Charette and many other, top-tier, New York musicians.
Maciek Schejbal has been a faculty member of the world-renowned Drummers Collective music school in Manhattan since 1998. He co-wrote Afro-Caribbean & Brazilian Rhythms for the Drumset and published Afropop Play-Along for Drummers.
Currently, Schejbal is developing his Afro-Polka music project as well as being involved in various musical and interdisciplinary collaborations including work with mulit-media artist Bahar Behbahani.
Maciek endorses Canopus drums, Remo skins, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Axis Percussion hardware, and RTOM practice pads.
More information at afropolka.com