Kupczak, Jakub

[Born and?] lived in Hala Boracza, near Żabnica [SSW of Żywiec]; The earliest gajdziorz of Hala Boracza remembered by the mountaineers of the region; He was probably born in the first half of the 19th century; Married to Agnieszka, née Żyrek, they had at least two children: Anna and Wawrzyniec; In the 2nd half of the 19th century, Jakub formed a "kapela" [band] with Wawrzyniec (prymista [1st violin]), Feliks Maciejowski of Hala Boracza (sekund [2nd violin]) and, interestingly, a woman, Małgorzata Dadok "uod Dadoków", who played the basy [double-bass, an instrument that was then probably even more rarely played by women then nowadays (21st century); ws]; The band played in D major, and both violins were tuned one second higher than usual; Jakub’s Gajdy differed from the type that is usual in Istebna: its gajdzica was provided with a thumbhole; When Jakub died, his place was taken by his son-in-law, Jan Maciejowski, who inherited his gajdy, and continued to play for some time together with his brother-in-law Wawrzyniec Kupczak as a duo.