Tampere Jazz Happening Programme Published
The Tampere Jazz Happening, which will be organised for the 45th time on the weekend of All Saints’ Day, marks the opening of the refurbished Tullikamari to the public. The theme country of the programme put together by Martyna van Nieuwland, the festival's new Artistic Director, is the Netherlands. Dutch music will be heard both at the opening concert in Klubi on Thursday 29 October and in Pakkahuone concerts on the weekend.
Vibraphonist Joel Ross will appear at the festival with his new Gospel Music project.
The Netherjazz concert that will open the programme will present new, up-and-coming groups whose common denominators are an open-minded combination of electronic music and jazz as well as the diversity and internationality of Dutch jazz. The event will feature the trios Neon River and Raw Fish as well as the sextet AWICHAS led by Bolivian artist Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti. Entry to this concert in Klubi will be free of charge.
The doors of Pakkahuone will open for the first time on Friday for a prize-giving ceremony. An award will be presented to the most highly appreciated jazz musician in Finland, and the Finnish Jazz Federation's Yrjö award as well as awards to other distinguished actors in the field will be handed out. The ceremony will conclude with a performance by the Yrjö award winner.
The first act of the concert programme will be Cosmic Ear, representing a kind of continuum between this and the last year’s festival: Goran Kajfeš, who concluded last year’s international programme, now returns to the stage to launch the weekend that marks the Happening's 45th anniversary. Cosmic Ear is a super group of Swedish jazz, and besides Kajfeš, its members include Mats Gustafsson, whom audiences in Tampere know from many contexts, and Christer Bothén, who has also performed and recorded with Don Cherry. The other performers of the evening will be Tomasz Dąbrowski & The Individual Beings with soloist Johanna Elina Sulkunen, as well as the Dutch-American-Bolivian MESTIZX whose vocalist, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, will also feature in the opening concert.
As usual, Telakka will offer oodles of Finnish jazz during the festival weekend. Kiri Ra! composed of Linda Fredriksson, Laura Naukkarinen and Matti Bye, Dantchev:Domain led by vocalist Anna Dantchev, and the fixed star of Finnish electrojazz, RinneRadio, will take the stage on Friday.
On Saturday Pakkahuone will resonate with live music provided by six bands at two concerts. The daytime event will feature two pianist-led ensembles, or the I've Known Rivers Trio of Cuban Aruán Ortiz and Swiss Colin Vallon's trio. In addition, celebrations of the Jazz Finland 100 anniversary year will be led by Mikko Innanen’s Celebration Ensemble, with visiting soloists Selma Savolainen, Juhani Aaltonen and Adele Sauros.
The opening act of the evening event will take the audience to the Far East, as Dutch saxophonist Benjamin Herman’s trio joins forces with Japanese Tomoaki Baba and brings the noise, fast rhythms and unique atmosphere of Tokyo to the stage. The French group Kolinga is led by musician, author, composer and singer Rébecca M'Boungou. The last line-up of the evening will introduce the audience to less familiar instruments with Manu Delago’s handpans and Max ZT’s dulcimer.
On Saturday, electric guitarist Jukka Kääriäinen and Argentine saxophonist Camila Nebbia, guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, as well as Elifantree composed of Anni Elif, Pauli Lyytinen and Olavi Louhivuori will take the stage in Telakka.
On Sunday, the first act of the programme in Pakkahuone will be the Norwegian-Dutch Beiggja, who will now play in Finland for the first time. French double bass player Claude Tchamitchian will bring his band, Poetic Power, to the concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of Vapaat äänet (Free Sounds) tours. The culmination of the international programme at Pakkahuone will be American vibraphonist Joel Ross with his new Gospel Music project.
Jazz finally returns to Klubi on Sunday evening in a closing concert featuring the swaying rhythms of the French-Colombian ¡Ya Voy! group. Entry to the concluding concert will be free of charge.
