Katarina Pejak is a singer/songwriter and piano player who combines genres of the American roots music, filtering them through her Balkan descent and a classical musical training.
Inspired by Tom Waits, Bessie Smith, Van Morrison, Otis Spann and many other artists whose music she had access to through her father's collection in her home in Belgrade, she decided to stray away from her classical upbringing and started writing songs.
Katarina started performing in her late teens, playing blues clubs in her hometown (Belgrade) and other cities in Serbia. She put out three albums in her home country, "Perfume&Luck", 2010, and "First Hand Stories", 2012 and “Old, New Borrowed and Blues”, a live mini album recorded in 2015. Katarina’s albums are critically acclaimed in Serbia.
In January 2011, she started her songwriting studies at Berklee College of Music, where she was admitted on a scholarship. She graduated in May 2014 and in her last semester was awarded the Songwriting Achievement...
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Katarina Pejak is a singer/songwriter and piano player who combines genres of the American roots music, filtering them through her Balkan descent and a classical musical training.
Inspired by Tom Waits, Bessie Smith, Van Morrison, Otis Spann and many other artists whose music she had access to through her father's collection in her home in Belgrade, she decided to stray away from her classical upbringing and started writing songs.
Katarina started performing in her late teens, playing blues clubs in her hometown (Belgrade) and other cities in Serbia. She put out three albums in her home country, "Perfume&Luck", 2010, and "First Hand Stories", 2012 and “Old, New Borrowed and Blues”, a live mini album recorded in 2015. Katarina’s albums are critically acclaimed in Serbia.
In January 2011, she started her songwriting studies at Berklee College of Music, where she was admitted on a scholarship. She graduated in May 2014 and in her last semester was awarded the Songwriting Achievement Award for her overall success within the department. At her studies at Berklee, she was mentored from the likes of Dave Limina (a long-time keyboardist for blues legend Ronnie Earl), Pat Pattison (an internationally acclaimed lyric writing guru), Scarlet Keys (accomplished song and jingle writer).
She has performed at larger scale festivals in Serbia such as Belgrade Beer Fest (a Serbian Octoberfest that gathers an audience of hundreds of thousands), Crossroads Blues Festival, Belgrade (an international blues festival), blues festivals in other cities (Backa Palanka, Senta, Budapest HU).
Currently based in Boston, she has performed at London School Of economics at an alumni event, Chan's Jazz & Blues, Woonsocket, RI, as a support act for Ana Popovic, at Passim club in Cambridge, MA within the Soul Recitals, the Midway Cafe in JP, the Dreamsicle Listening room in Suncook, NH.... She had the honor of playing two songs with Ronnie Earl at Scullers Jazz Club (Boston).
As a writer, Katarina relies heavily on imagery, references and metaphores; but when it comes to telling the big truths of life in songs, it is best done using small words.
When she can't do that, she tries to be groovy.
