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| Pangea Jazz Fest In NYC on Nov 15th First-ever New York Festival of World Jazz Debuts at Drom on Sunday, November 15. Twelve Hours of Continuous World Jazz at DROM - 85 Ave A, Manhattan, Sunday, Nov 15 - 2:00pm to 2:00am. In a recent story about the state of contemporary jazz, Will Friedwald of the The Wall Street Journal observed that jazz has made as important a journey "from nation to nation and continent to continent" as it has from one style or one era to another. To bring attention to and to celebrate that journey, Michael Katsobashvili, founder and the director of the New York Hot Jazz Festival, in partnership with Serdar Ilhan and Mehmet Dede of DROM, announce Pangea Jazz Fest - New York's first festival dedicated exclusively to world jazz which will be held on Sunday, November 15th (2pm -2am) at DROM in Manhattan's East Village. Pangea Jazz Fest gathers an all-star collective of many of the city's top world jazz practitioners who combine jazz with the traditions of music from all around the world. During 12 nearly continuous hours of world jazz by some of its finest exponents, who will reflect the multicultural musical mosaic of New York City, the festival will highlight the fact that jazz is both a universal language and a catalyst of unity. "Jazz is a symbolic force that pulls the continents together back into one, hence the name of the festival, " says festival director Michael Katsobashvili. "It is a musical art form that knows no boundaries, thus is truly global. Though Jazz was born in the US, its ancestry and roots come from outside of America's borders from a multitude of musical traditions. Music from virtually any culture, be it Flamenco, Romany/Gypsy music, Arabic Maqam or Indian Ragas, can be played as jazz, or infused with enough jazz ideas to create a unique sound of world/jazz fusion. We will present the widest variety of traditions that we can, not only to entertain, but to bring people together and to place jazz in a more global context." Festival attendees will journey from East Africa to Eastern Europe, from South-East Asia to South America, and from North America to West Africa. By focusing on the geographically sprawling Romany/Gypsy musical influences, the festival will also take listeners from Western Europe to Western Asia via the Balkans. In some cases the festival will highlight very different jazz influences from the same country, such as Colombia's cumbia and joropo. • Gregoire Maret Invites Edmar Castaneda • Stephane Wrembel Band • Michele Rosewoman' New Yor-Uba • Slavic Soul Party! - Duke Ellington's Far East Suite • Oran Etkin's Kelenia • Gregorio Uribe Big Band with Sofia Rei • Prasanna - All Terrain Guitar • New York Gypsy All-Stars with Michal Urbaniak • Arki Sound • Panagiotis Andreou's Festival Jam Band with special guests ABOUT THE ARTISTS: Many of the festival's participants work in styles that are specific to a certain region of the world, but others draw on various musical disciplines to form a sound that is truly pan-global. Such is Swiss-born GRAMMY- winner GREGOIRE MARET, one of the greatest jazz harmonica players of our time. Maret's group will feature a celebrated master of Colombian harp, EDMAR CASTANEDA, who incorporates Colombian joropo into his compositions. Edmar has just released an album with his World Ensemble - Live At Jazz Standard - which features Gregoire Maret in its multinational contingent. Edmar is just one of the several virtuosic string instrumentalists in the festival. Another standout is French guitarist STEPHANE WREMBEL, whose wholly original music, that goes far beyond his famed compositions for Woody Allen films, is influenced by Gypsy Jazz through its two world music components: French musette and European Romany/Gypsy music. Fittingly, Stephane's participation in the festival honors the legacy of the legendary Roma guitarist, Django Reinhardt, perhaps the first internationally revered star of jazz informed by the spirit of world music. Among other inspired guitarist band leaders in the festival is India-born PRASANNA, who has a prominent presence in different disciplines of Indian music. Beside his instrumentalist prowess, Prasanna is an award-winning composer and a maverick educator. Among a multitude of Prasanna's innovations is his interpretation of the classical art form of Carnatic music on the electric guitar. Prasanna will be performing selections from his new album All-Terrain Guitar, which features Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Dave Douglas among other notable collaborators. Two bands in the festival draw directly upon the musical traditions of Africa, both the East and West coasts of the continent. The first, ARKI SOUND, led by electric bassist Samson Kebede, draws its sound from classic Ethiopian jazz of the 1960s and '70s. The other, KELENIA, led by a rising star clarinetist ORAN ETKIN from Israel draws on Malian music and features traditional Malian musicians. Among Oran's early mentors was one of the first major American jazzmen to embrace world music - legendary reedman Yusef Lateef. Kelenia's eponymous album featuring Benin-born star guitarist Lionel Loueke has been released a few years ago. Another band-leading clarinet wizard in the festival is Macedonia-born Roma ISMAIL LUMANOVSKI who leads the NEW YORK GYPSY ALL-STARS. The unique sound of this virtuosic multinational collective is profoundly influenced by Balkan Romany and Mediterranean music. New York Gypsy All-Stars second album is awaiting a release within months. Romany musical elements and particularly Balkan Romany elements can also be found in the Balkan brass band tradition adopted by the raucously brilliant 9 piece SLAVIC SOUL PARTY, which will be presenting their interpretation of Duke Ellington's Far East Suite. Their new album featuring this project is also slated for a release in the near future. Another Slavic exponent in the festival is a veteran Polish jazz violinist MICHAL URBANIAK, who, although primarily known for his prominent presence in the jazz-rock fusion movement, also incorporates elements of traditional Polish folkloric music into jazz. Michal will be joining New York Gypsy All-Stars as a special guest. One of the two Afro-Latin bands in the festival is the 11-piece NEW YOR-UBA ensemble. Representing Afro-Cuban sound it is led by one of the pre-eminent latin jazz big band leaders, MICHELE ROSEWOMAN, whose music has been described by Ben Ratliff of The New York Times as "cultural multiplicity taken to a reasonable extreme, where a song can still be allowed to sound logical and beautiful...ancient and experimental at the same time." Michele has released a multitude of important recordings over the years, the most recent one being New Yor-Uba: 30 Years - A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America, which was universally praised as one of the best records of 2013. The second ensemble - this one drawing heavily on the Colombian cumbia - is an explosive 16-piece big band under the direction of Bogota-born rising star triple threat (vocalist/accordion player/band leader) GREGORIO URIBE. Gregorio will be joined by the acclaimed Argentinian jazz diva SOFIA REI. Gregorio's debut album, Cumbia Universal (Zoho Music), is coming out this October. The festival will conclude with a pan-global jam trio featuring yet to be announced special star guests and led by the versatile Greek electric bassist, PANAGIOTIS ANDREOU, who will be additionally appearing earlier in the day with Prasanna and the New York Gypsy All-Stars. SCHEDULE: *schedule is subject to change FIRST HALF (doors at 1:00pm) -------------------- 2:00 pm - Arki Sound 3:00 pm - Prasanna write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Jazz News :: home page |