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Jazz Obert organizes an International Jazz Festival, our main annual event. Since 1999 we have been able to fully develop an event which has become a must in the island’s cultural calendar. By request of Consell Insular de Menorca (the regional government of Menorca) and, since its second year, the Festival has been included as part of Menorca tot l'any, a programme for the promotion of tourism which aims at offering cultural events all year round, something that was previously offered only during the summer months. Also since its second year, the festival has been open to all Menorcan towns and villages, Ciutadella and Maó being the towns that have hosted the main concerts.
Since the very beginning we were convinced that our offer had to be of quality, and we want to think this has been the case our invited artists have included Al Foster, Aaron Goldberg, Perico Sambeat, Paul Motian, Chris Potter, Marc Johnson, Gorka Benítez, Al Di Meola, Joshua Redman, Johnny Griffin, Freddie Hubbard, Steve Wilson, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ignacio Berroa, Mark Turner, Marc Miralta, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jordi Rossy, Stefano di Batista, Chano Domínguez, John Scofield, Jacky Terrasson, Philip Catherine, Miguel Zenón, Jeff Ballard, Ben Street, Xavier Maureta, Adam Kolker, Terence Blanchard, Miroslav Vitous, Pedro Iturralde, Kenny Barron, Ben Riley, Dave Holland, Robin Eubanks, Llibert Fortuny, Eliane Elias, amongst other international artists, without forgetting the long list of national musicians who have also taken part in the Festival. However our Festival cannot live by concerts alone! During the course of the festival, which lasts around one and a half months, Jazz Obert’s intention is that a great deal of Menorca’s cultural life breathes jazz. To do so, and together with other associations, we organize various activities to compliment the concerts: a poster contest, film cycles, exhibitions, conferences, a peculiar musical picnic… Jazz al carrer Amongst these complementary activities it is worth highlighting an alternative programme of concerts, Jazz al Carrer (Jazz on the streets), which aims to bring jazz music closer to the people, with free concerts and parades in various public spaces of the island’s towns, as well as to give local jazz musicians a chance to play in front of an audience. One of these activities is the already traditional Vega Jazz, a sort of musical picnic which takes place every year at the palm grove of Cala en Blanes. It’s a relaxed and free proposal, with concerts by local musicians. Dixieland gathering
In its 8th year, and under the name of Gathering of Dixieland-New Orleans, Jazz Obert presented a new proposal, a mini-festival which took place during the Festival, where some Dixieland music bands gathered for four days and put on several shows in the streets and music venues of the island’s towns. The highlight of the mini-festival is a jam session with all the bands that have taken part in the Gathering. In 2006 the performing bands were Barcelona Hot Angels, Los Krokodillos and Pixi Dixi Band. |