Night Four - 21.07.2006
“Standard” – the night before the closing night of the ethno-jazz festival in Smolyan started with jazz standards.
Eight musicians lead by Atcho Zaberski – Junior climbed the stage.
Their compositions were the only ones out of the ethno program but anyhow they fitted entirely in the jazz stylistics. The octet finished its program with the vocal performances of Angel Zaberski’s sister – Margarita who is not only named after her famous-in-the-past mother Margarita Radinska, but has also inherited her talent.
A whole book can be written about the arrival of the next band and its mishaps on the way to the stage of the fest. This book would sound as a guide for the young promoter who should learn how to get matters into control in the last minute if he happens to forget about the van necessary to bring an Italian band from Greece to Bulgaria. We are talking about the band which registered the international participation in the festival – “Municipale Balcanica” . Literally in the last minute possible, in the middle of the performance of the Atcho Zaberski octet, a van appeared next to the stage and the Italian band came out of it. Indecently young, hyper-enthusiastic and just as much talented, although the fatigue of the long trip from Greece to Smolyan, the band of Livio Minafra managed to make the spectators stand up on their feet and even start dancing with its “Foua” program. For more than an hour the ten young musicians made Italian variations of the Bulgarian rhythms as well as of rhythms from Romania, Turkey and Serbia. It was an experience of absolute delight.
After their artistic final the “Balkanists” gave piles of autographs of their exalted new fans. After that, helped by Professor Umberto Rinaldi – the director of the Italian Institute of Culture of Sofia (Istituto Italiano di Cultura) – gave a blitz interview finished with a united cordial salutation to Smolyan and the fest.
Night Five – the Closing Night
22.07.2006 – The darkness haven’t fallen over the mountain yet when the most extraordinary performer in the entire festival program got on stage. It was difficult even for specialists to define the style of the Ya-Ya program, performed by Stoyan Royanov. They only managed to check up in the dictionary the names of the instruments he used and one of them didn’t even belong to the “music” chapter, for it was no more than a simple stove-pipe. With it and with his lyrics, Stoyan Royanov proved one more time that David Lynch was right to say: “The owls are not what they seem.”
After his performance the surprise of the July Jazz came out – the newly founded trio (which was created in the days of the festival) which was nameless and wasn’t even announced yet. It presented a 40 minute jazz interpretation signed by Mitko Lyolev. This time he got on stage together with Milen Kokosharov – keybords and Atanas Popov – drum.
And it was really difficult to find your way through the crowd to the Tuborg!
They have placed the beer quite far from the stage!
And after the young here came the stars. After a 16 year break the prima of Bulgarian jazz Y?ld?z Ibrahimova got on the Smolyan stage again.
The amphitheatre of the new city center was filled to the maximum with her fans. Among the numerous spectators was the mayor of the Smolyan municipality Mrs. Dora Yankova, who was the one to invite Y?ld?z Ibrahimova to the first ethno jazz festival in the Rhodopean city. The jazz-vocal of the century, as she is being called by specialists, performed a part of her program “30 years on stage” which will be promoted in the Bulgarian capital this autumn. It includes Renaissance music, Gypsy ballads and jazz standards. With her on the stage were the top musicians Hristo Yotzov – drums, Jivko Petrov – piano and Vesselin Vesselinov – Eko. A whole lot of world-famous vocal have done their interpretations of “Summertime”.
We are sure that Y?ld?z’s performance would win her the compliments of Gershwin himself!
P.P.: “I know what you did last summer”, now we’re waiting for it to be continued!
The Photo Exhibition >>>
