00:00
WOMEX 2018
Since 1994, World Music Expo (WOMEX) has been attracting musicians, agents, a great number of press agencies, as well as media companies from all over the world. Its main exposition event has been held in various locations throughout Europe, including Berlin, Brussels, Marseille, Stockholm, Seville, Cardiff, and Budapest. The 2018 edition of WOMEX was held in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. One of its showcase participants, Mario Batkovic, aims to explore the sonic possibilities of the accordion, without effects or loops, rather through a mutualist symbiotic relationship between man and instrument. Challenging, hypnotic, and grandiose, Batkovic’s single-handed symphonic vision is certainly unique.
00:35
Synesthetic 4 - jazzahead!
Annual trade fair, exhibition, and festival jazzahead! is one of the international jazz community's most important events. Hosted in Bremen, Germany, jazzahead! brings together musicians, bookers, agents, organizers, jazz experts, and music enthusiasts. Due to COVID-19, only half of the scheduled performances of the 2021 edition were actually recorded in Bremen. Among the performing ensembles is Synesthetic 4. Founded by clarinetist Vincent Pongracz and guitarist Peter Rom in 2017, this quartet has made its mark on the European scene, appearing at various high-profile jazz festivals. The quartet's music combines elements of contemporary music, jazz, funk, and electronic music. The members are Vincent Pongrácz (clarinet), Peter Rom (guitar), Manuel Mayr (bass), and Andreas Lettner (drums).
01:03
jazzahead! 2024 - Sinfonia de Carnaval
Annual trade fair, exhibition, and festival jazzahead! is one of the international jazz community’s most important events. Hosted in Bremen, Germany, jazzahead! brings together musicians, bookers, agents, organizers, jazz experts, and music enthusiasts at the world’s largest jazz event. In 2024, jazzahead! paid special attention to the jazz scene of the Netherlands and invited over forty jazz acts to perform over the course of three days. Among the duos presenting themselves at jazzahead! 2024 is Sinfonia de Carnaval, composed of two exceptionally adaptable Austrian musicians: Anna Lang (cello, piano) and Alois Eberl (trombone, accordion, vocals). Their project ‘Sweeping Dragon’ is “inspired by the nature all around us, and by places of fantasy beyond it” and blends jazz and pop with electronic sounds and a full range of classical playing techniques.
01:35
Arsenik - Olympia, Paris
The mythical duo Arsenik is a rap group from France, made up of two brothers, Lino and Calbo. The team performs at Olympia Paris to celebrate their 20 years since their first album, Quelques gouttes suffisent… It’s a unique concert: Arsenik plays the entire album with numerous special guests for the first time. The album has sold over 300,000 copies in France. Today it’s being considered a classic, and it continues to be cited in the top five of the best French rap albums of all generations. Enjoy Arsenik’s live show in Olympia Paris!
02:53
Jazz in Comblain-la-Tour, 1963
In 1963, the small Belgian town of Comblain-la-Tour hosted an exciting line-up of both new and older jazz groups. Opening things up is the British trombonist Charlie Galbraith’s All Star Jazz Band, performing classic Dixieland jazz. Next up is German singer Knut Kiesewetter, who, with backing from the Prague Dixieland Band, sings the blues. Perhaps the highlight of this event is the coupling of American alto saxophonist Bud Shank with Dutch pianist Pim Jacobs’ trio, who play standards and bossa nova. Bringing things to a close are French clarinetist Marc Laferrière and his New Orleans Stompers with more classic Dixieland.
03:37
Mizikopéyi Big Band Live à L'Atrium
Mizikopéyi is the first West Indian and Caribbean group to perform contemporary music from Martinique and Guadeloupe - zouk, beguine, mazurka and kompa - with big band arrangements. Together with Martinique artist Tony Chasseur, the big band offers a musical journey through a rich cultural heritage, mixing traditional and popular Antilles and Afro-Caribbean melodies with the harmonies of brass instruments as seen in the great tradition of New Orleans. The talented musicians who form MizikOpéyi focus on the quality of the musical creation and emotion from Martinique, from yesterday to today, in this particular exercise of the big band arrangement.
04:58
Misha Enzovoort
Misha Mengelberg, the forgetting has begun. He is waiting for a taxi he didn’t call to go to a performance that won’t take place. Dutch composer/pianist and grand duke of jazz Misha Mengelberg (1935) has been submerged in the shadow of dementia, ending his life as a musician. At the London jazz club Vortex in 2013 he impressively says his goodbyes to the international stage. It’s also his last major performance with his band, the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra. The musicians find it hard to let him go, but Misha’s decline is constant, and he slowly fades away from their midst. A film about exceptional loyalty, dilemmas, respect and dedication. And about music, the music of Misha Mengelberg.