Nils Petter Molvaer, 21 April

The festival will start with a concert of Nils Petter Molvaer, who next to Jan Garbarek, is the most famous representative of the Norwegian jazz. His first solo album, “Khmer”, was released in 1997 by the legendary record label ECM. A spectacular success of the album made Nils Petter Molvaer one of the elitist electronic jazz visionaries and co-founders of nu-jazz. Molvaer is a trumpeter, inspired by a wide range of various artists such as Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Brian Eno and Bill Laswell. He combines his musical fascinations and creates a sublime mix of jazz, accessible electronic music and dub.

The concert took place on 21 April in the Szczecin concert hall. See photos>>

Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopia), 20 May

On 20 May Szczecin will host Mulatu Astatke (born in 1943). Astatke is the most important musician in Ethiopia. He is an innovative multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger. He is the author of the “ethio-jazz” style which he has been developing for years. The artist has been recording since 1960s. In the 1970s he cooperated with the legendary band-leader Duke Ellington. Astatke became famous after recording the “Ethiopiques” albums which were a compilation of the best Ethiopian and Eritrean songs. Recently, he has been more heard of thanks to the soundtrack to “Broken Flowers” directed by Jim Jarmusch and cooperation with The Heliocentrics - a British collective of progressive instrumentalists headed by drummer Malcolm Catto. The album recorded by Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics turned out to be a club music hit of 2009. Mulatu is a musical ambassador of Ethiopia who uniquely combines Western jazz and funk with traditional Ethiopian melody and elements of Egyptian sacral music.

Mariza (Portugal), 2 June

The best known fado musician, national treasure of Portugal, star of the best concert halls in the world after three years once again visits Szczecin! Her voice is described as “magical, diamond, magnetic”. Her popularity is compared to the most famous opera divas and pop and rock mega stars. Her concerts electrify, amaze, delight, excite!  Mariza was born to sing and her career is a streak of success. From the very beginning she has been compared to the divine Amalia Rodriguez (the most famous fado singer in the history). Once she had gained recognition in Portugal, she became successful in the world. Her albums become bestsellers. She receives prestigious awards and her concerts only strengthen her position of a big star. The music on her last album “Terra” (“Earth”) is a mix of styles: morna, flamenco, jazz and folk, but there is no doubt that it is Portuguese... Her fame has certainly gone beyond the circle of fado lovers.

Gotan Project (Argentina-France), 15 June

In 2006 one of the artists of the Szczecin Music fest was Bajofondo Tangoclub. The immense success of the concert encouraged us to invite Gotan Project - the most famous electro-tango band.
Gotan project was formed in 1999, by three musicians: Philippe Cohen Solal, Eduardo Makaroff and Christoph H. Müller who decided to create something new and unusual. They decided to modernize the Argentine rhythms by enriching them with electronic music. The result turned out to be very interesting and original music: a fusion of tango and modern music which amazed both the public and critics alike. Their first album La Revancha del Tango (Tango Revenge) received great interest and was a huge commercial success. The trio immediately became immensely popular in Europe and later on also on other continents. At concerts they deliver true multimedia performance combining music with visualizations which give an incredible result.

Paco de Lucia (Spain), 16 June

Paco de Lucia (born Francisco Sanchez Gomez) is the most famous flamenco guitarist and one of the most famous guitar players ever. He got his first guitar from his father when he was five, and so he has been playing the guitar for over 55 years! He has recorded dozens of albums (first in 1965) and received hundreds of awards. His influence on modern guitar music is immense - he has his share in the popularization of flamenco in the world, and on the other hand, he enriched flamenco with jazz and classical music. He has been a member of the most popular guitar trio in the history: Al Di Meola - Paco de Lucia - John McLaughlin. Their album Friday Night in San Francisco (1981) was enormously popular and sold in millions of copies!
The artist will come to Szczecin with his entire band - eight persons on the stage!

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SG