About the concert

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Nao Yoshioka grew up in Osaka in a family with artistic traditions. Her mother was an illustrator and fashion designer, her father a painter and interior architect. Following in her parents’ footsteps, Nao went to art school to study painting and sculpture – though even then she was secretly in love with music.

Her parents’ divorce hit her hard. The rigid framework of Japan’s collective culture and the pressure of her artistic surroundings drove her to rebel. She started skipping classes and spending more and more time alone, until she finally dropped out and barely left her room for a year. In that dark chapter of her life, shut in between four walls, Nao began listening obsessively to American soul and R&B. The voices of artists such as Alicia Keys and Sam Cooke became an outlet for her emotions and a light at the end of the tunnel.

In 2009 she declared all-out war on depression, bought a one-way ticket to New York and left Japan with barely any English. She swapped the harmony of Honshu for the chaos of Harlem – and soaked up its jam session culture. She took part in the famous Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, where Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Jackson started their careers, and finished second. In one of the more absurd turns of fate, she also entered a gospel competition organised by McDonald’s with 40,000 entrants – and made it to the final.

Three years in the US were like a dream, but in 2012 Nao’s visa ran out and a painful awakening loomed. Uncertain of her future, at her farewell performance in the States she sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” – and that’s when Japanese producer Naoki Yamanouchi spotted her.

“Make The Change” became the title of their debut record, and after returning to Japan Nao became an ambassador of soul in a country dominated by J-pop. She also began to gain recognition worldwide: playing the Blue Note in New York, appearing at the Jazz Cafe in London and at international festivals such as Java Jazz Festival and Capital Jazz Fest.

She comes to Scena MONK with six full-length albums to her name, the latest – Self (2026) – released this July. 

This will be only her second performance in Poland.

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Additional information

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We don’t take table reservations and seating is limited, so we recommend arriving early to get a seat.

19:00 – doors open

20:30 – concert

Powered by Singleton. The event is supported by Singleton, renowned for its exceptional single malt whiskies, prized for their smoothness and depth of flavour.