Snarky Puppy’s star Michael Leag opens the anniversary A to JazZ Festival with Bokant
The biggest jazz festival in Bulgaria celebrates the tenth edition with headliners from the world stage and premieres of the latest Bulgarian productions
The emblematic international festival A to JazZ, which has turned Sofia into one of the European capitals of jazz, will surprise all music fans with an exciting program and artists from 4 continents for its anniversary edition. For a whole decade, he started the music summer in our country with an emotional weekend under the open sky. One of the biggest and most significant events in cultural life will once again welcome its thousands of fans in South Park 2 on July 9, 10 and 11.
Special international guests from the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Greece, Turkey and Guadeloupe are among the musicians who will blow up the A to JazZ stage. Among the headliners are Bokanty – the band with 8 musicians from 4 continents of the 4-time Grammy winner Michael League from Snarky Puppy, who will present their best-selling, Grammy-nominated album “What Heat” from 2020.
The focus of the second festival evening will be a kind of homage to a true citizen of the world – the legend Milcho Leviev, who left a legacy without analogue on the global music scene and culture. The project “Milcho Leviev Forever” will present his latest jazz arrangements of iconic musical works, recorded by him in the album “Sonata 57”, released posthumously in 2021. They will be performed by Anthony Donchev Quartet, David Lynch (USA) and Human Touch (Greece), in the company of the unique Vicky Almazidou and the virtuoso Theodosius Spassov.
The borderless Jose James is the headliner of the closing night. He arrives with his latest band to present his last two albums, released in 2020 and 2021 specifically to the phenomenal Bulgarian audience, as Jose himself defines it.
The phenomenal ethno-jazz singer Burju Karada arrives from Istanbul and will take the stage with her quintet.
A special focus of this year’s festival are the young Bulgarian artists and their latest production, created in the challenging conditions of the past pandemic year. Brilliant Bulgarian projects such as Terziyski-Logozarov with the album “Settlers”, “Senses” by Angel Dyulgerov, singer Lina Nicole, Zhivko Vassilev Quintet, the trio Via Mavis and The Essential Funk Trombone by Vili Stoyanov, Arrow and SoulBmoll will make their festival awards. author albums. A rich additional program and many surprises in the festival are provided by the organizers of A to JazZ. The crazy jam sessions, the children’s educational program A to JazzZ Kids, the morning yoga breakfast and the sports area will again be part of the accompanying events of the festival. Stay tuned for more up-to-date news about the incredible emotions that await all music lovers on summer evenings between July 9th and 11th in South Park 2.
For more information, details and current news about A to JazZ 2021 follow Facebook and Instagram, as well as the site www.atojazz.bg.
A to JazZ Festival is part of the Calendar of Cultural Events of Sofia Municipality.
Admission to the festival is free. A to JazZ Festival is under the honorary patronage of the Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council Elen Gerdjikov and is carried out with the exclusive support of Sofia Municipality, National Culture Fund, America for Bulgaria Foundation and the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Bulgaria.
About A to JazZ:
In its first decade, the festival gathered a record audience of over 160,000 people and met hundreds of artists from the world and Bulgarian jazz scene. A to JazZ featured Branford Marsalis, Jacob Collier, Christian McBright, Robert Glasper, Roy Hargrove, Kenny Garrett, Corey Henry, Leila Hathaway, Kurt Elling, Richard Bona, Michelle Camillo, Diane Reeves, Durty Lustie. and more and more.
In its previous edition, the largest jazz festival in Bulgaria achieved unprecedented success and reached over 50 million viewers worldwide from five continents, thanks to the invitation for partnership from the leading channel for jazz, classical music and dance MEZZO, which filmed and broadcast part of the event. Thus, A to JazZ became the first Bulgarian cultural event on the world media.
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