Nowadays, when many musicians prefer to demonstrate their abilities in technique, playing complicated melodies with no swing whatsoever, it is not easy to find ones who appreciate the importance of the phrase and stylistic integrity.

This is one of the most significant accomplishments in the work of Massimiliano Rolff. He is able to select the right musicians and compose all those wonderful melodies, allowing every member of the band to express his or her self as individuality, but as a part of the whole as well.

The Unit Five Project comes from the desire of bass player Massimiliano Rolff to unite and develop composing, arrangement, improvisation and grooving. Solos develop at the background of a constant swinging rhythm and their sound has been influenced by the typical jazz expression, but also bears the touch of the modern and harmony.

* Thanks for the support of ITALIAN CULTURE INSTITUTE in Sofia.

09.07 / Wednesday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

This is undoubtedly one of the most lyrical and warm jazz voices of Bulgaria. When she even just speaks, it seems that Miroslava Katzarova hums. Her timbre is so lyrical, tender and gentle that it looks likes she makes white lace just by using her voice.

She has been educated as a theologian but she is a musician by vocation. That’s her – Miroslava, the woman who every Saturday pins us with an invisible pin to the Jazz FM Radio station with her show. Apart from being a radio host, she also works with some of the best musicians of Bulgaria. In 2000 she released her first album – White on white. And on top of this she writes lyrics – how can you not be envious of her abilities?!?

We will hear her in the company of:
Yavor Dimitrov – piano
Red One – beatbox
Stratzimir Dimitrov – drums

09.07 / Wednesday/ 22:00 h. / Piano bar Hotel “Smolyan”

What can you possibly become when your grandfather is the owner of a music shop where only jazz and blues are played? What can you become when your mother is a music teacher and gives her best to you? A jazz musician, of course, but first you play classic music on the piano and when you become more confident you take the saxophone. With such a start and such a biography Ben gets on the big stage when he is only 14. In 2004, together with his brother Gideon, Ben wins the Princess Christina Competition. The same year he completes his education at the New School University in New York. He is the winner of many prestigious awards the last being Deloitte Jazz Award '07.

10.07 / Thursday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

A voice and a tender sound of a guitar. The voice is Brenda’s and the Rob extracts the sounds from the guitar. They, however, are not a jazz duo in the classical sense. At the stage they give their best when they play a repertoire of various wonderful pieces, composed by Rob. They have been performing together since 2003 and they make music with a feeling and create a marvelous atmosphere. Rob and Brenda are often joined by different musicians – a percussionist, a violinist, a saxophonist. They enrich the music of the duo and give the voice and the instruments the opportunity to demonstrate all the nuances they have.

Although the compositions differ a lot from each other, the typical Rob’s style is recognizable. He feels free to combine his melodies and harmonies with pop and Brazilian rhythms. The atmosphere he creates goes from daydreaming and fairy tale to ecstasy.

The people responsible for bringing these people to Smolyan are:
Dimiter Liolev
Nikola Goryalov, who has recently graduated from the Musical Academy in Groningen, the Netherlands.
Peter Salchev – vocal will add their brilliant company

* Thanks for the support of ROYAL NETHERLANDS Embassy Sofia

10.07 / Thursday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

This is a project by the prominent Bulgarian musician drummer Hristo Yotzov. It was born in 2006 and it plays his original pieces. The style can be defined as “fusion”. But it actually combines things form different styles, which have passed through the jazz sifter and performed with much rhythm and energy.

Apart from Hristo Yotzov and wonderful trumpet player Misho Yosifov, young but mature and talented musicians also are a part of the project – Strahil and Martin studied at the Musical Academy in Sofia and Misho Ivanov – at the Conservatory in Amsterdam.

11.07 / Friday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

Youth is not a disadvantage. It is just the opposite when we speak about the art of beatbox.

Here we present three youngsters who dare compete with the best. To listen to the drum sound coming from… the quick mouth of SkilleR (Alexander Deyanov), Mario Balabanov and Ramon (Georgi Yalamas) is not just attractive, it is pure art.

It is a question of some patience to see what is hidden behind “Pumpkin Temp”.

12.07 / Saturday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

„Sweet Bread”, „Nestinari”, „Balkan Cowboy ”, „Roses”. Such titles can never be authored by a westerner and they are just few of the compositions by Milcho Leviev. We should say a few words about the guest musician Giorgos Kontrafouris with whom Milcho Leviev will go to the stage in Smolyan. He was born in 1967 in Athens. He studies classical piano at the National Conservatory and he was only sixteen when he turned to jazz and started taking lessons in jazz improvisation with Markos Alexiou. Later he studied at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. Nowadays he teaches master classes in different schools in Greece, Ireland, Indonesia and Estonia.

Milcho Leviev and Giorgos Kontrafouris, together with Vicky Almazidu and four more Bulgarian musicians have recorded four programmes for the TV show Jazz Time of the Bulgarian National Television. We are looking forward to this melting of talents at Smolyan too.

15.07 / Tuesday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

The newest and shortest road to Turkey is now called "JazzMixCulture". This is the name of the new project by Leo Organization and Ankara Jazz Festival with the partnership of the July Jazz Foundation, the Italian Cultural Institute in Ankara and Goethe Institute – Ankara. The initiative is funded by the European Community and private sponsors. The diva of the Bulgarian and Turkish jazz – Yildiz Ibrahimova – is a consultant of the project.

The first part of the project includes the performance by "Dimiter Liolev Group " of his piece “Rakia” on April, 4, this year at the Campus of Samsun – Turkey. The same programme will be played for the second part of the project, but this time in Smolyan. We will see the musicians from Kachkar Illusion, who, influenced by the culture of the Black Sea region, have been creating their own music close to the ethno-jazz for several years. Just like them Bulgarian musician Dimiter Liolev is also fascinated by our folk music. Try to play ratchenitza like him on the saxophone. I bet you won’t be able to!

Dimitar Liolev - saxophone
Boris Taslev – guitar
Borislav Bulchev – piano
Tzvetan Georgive - drums
www.dimitarliolev.com

16.07 / Wednesday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

In Bulgarian literature the goat’s horn is a popular symbol and we all know it, but in Norwegian music it has another leading role thanks to Karl Seglem. Yes, apart form saxophone he plays the goat’s horn and very spectacularly too. Karl has recorded many CDs with different labels, he is a part of different bands and has played at a great number of concerts throughout Europe, the USA, Japan, the Far East, Scandinavia. He is the director of the NORCD label. He played for the first time with Nikolai Ivanov eight years ago and four years ago the two of them recorded together some material for the album REIK in Oslo. Together with percussionist Harald they have been performing at the European stages with great success for the last three years.

17.07 / Thursday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

Dirty Purchase is a band which performs mainly in clubs but its members have been to many Bulgarian and international venues. The band was founded in 1995 by Hristoslav “Galyo” Galileev for playing at the Swingin’Hall music club. Twenty popular Bulgarian musicians have been its members since it foundation. All of them are exceptional professionals and have been a part of various music projects apart from being members of the band. The best example is Amalia who has been a backing vocal for Robbin Gib(Bee Gees) for three years.

Dirty Purchase - Hristoslav “Galyo” Galileev – bass guitar, Nilolay Radev – percussions, Lyudmil Stoynev – keyboards, guitar and violin, Ivan Lechev – guitar, violin, Mihail Yossifov – trumpet, Velislav Stoyanov – trombone, Vassil Enchev – saxophone, Emil Minchev – vocal, Amalia - vocal.

18.07 / Friday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

In the program: musicians from Burkina Faso, Vasil Petrov, Big Band Plovdiv with bandmaster Nikolaj Geshev and soloist Peter Salchev.

* Entrance with invitations

19.07 /Saturday/ 18:30 h.

Percussion Mania can be defined as am intoxicating battle of rhythms in which the musicians are as if in a trance and the audience is in the same situation. All instruments participating in this “battle” are traditional for the music of West Africa.

Mamadou Diabate, Karim Sanou and Louis Sanou were born in Burkina Faso but they have been performing in Europe for years. Their music is a mixture of African rhythms and the best from the partnership with prominent European musicians.

Mamadou Diabate comes from a family of musicians. He composes music and plays the balaphone. He teaches at workshops and acquaints people with African music culture.

Karim Sanou was born in 1974 and grew up with the oldest traditional quartet in his native town of Bobo Dioulasso. He is a talented djembe player. He also plays the dundun, lunga and ngoni.

Louis Sanou was still ten when he decided that to become a musician when he heard w Mamadou payed the balophone. Now he plays balaphone as well as djembe.

19.07 / Saturday/ 20:30 h. / Amphitheatre

A wise-cracker should has a sweet tooth and love to talk informally, should be able to tell his jokes everywhere, should seek and record all forms and types of jokes. He should not be mean, he should not be lazy and indecisive and he shouldn’t give a damn for crisis. These are just a small part of the 40 rules of the Wise-crackers’ Club. It was founded exactly on April, 1 – All Fools Day – in the not so far way 1991 at the suggestion of Krum Levov at the community centre “Orpheus’ Forests” in Smolyan (Raykovo quarter).

“If with what we do we manage to make even one person laugh, God will love us”, the wise-crackers say proudly when asked and when not asked their motto.

12.07 / Saturday / 11:00 h. / Аlibeev konak – part I
13.07 / Sunday / 11:00 h. / Alibeev konak - part II
19.07 / Saturday/ 11:00 h. / Alibeev konak – part III

09.07 / Wednesday / 18:00 h. / Sity Art Galery

10.07 / Thursday / 18:00 h. / Hotel “Smolyan”

Lobby in Hotel “Smolyan”

Lobby in Hotel “Smolyan”

Lobby in Hotel “Smolyan”

Movie about one Bulgarian-Indian project, happen last summer.

10.07 / Thursday/ 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”
16.07 / Wednesday/ 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”

With his new movie “Fados” legendary Spanish director Carlos Saura continues the tradition to make musical documentaries. Among them are such famous films as “Flamenco” (1995) and “Tango” (1998).

Under the musical direction of Carlos do Carmo, the movie has one of the most beautiful soundtracks of world music. “Fados” is just a musical journey and Lisbon is presented in its whole patina grandeur through the wonderful work of the director of photography. The performers are filmed with inspirations and love and the music itself is totally sufficient to make your heart and soul sing.

11.07 /Friday / 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”
18.07 /Friday/ 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”

Juliet, a white girl, falls in love with dark Romeo – virtuoso trumpet player of Gypsy origin. Her father Sacmo, the leader of the rival band of white musicians is not at all happy with the dark complexion of Romeo. At the coming Trumpet Players’ Festival Romeo has to prove to Sacmo that his talent makes him suitable for his daughter. Sacmo is willing to overcome his prejudices and give his daughter to the young Gypsy if he proves he is better than the father.

12.07 /Saturday / 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”
17.07 / Thursday/ 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”

"I had a dinner in a small restaurant in Istanbul with friends from different Balkan countries – a Greek, a Macedonian, a Turk, a Serb and I am a Bulgarian. There I heard the song whose story I tell in my documentary. Immediately after we heard the song, each of us started humming it in his or her own language. And each of us insisted that the song is from his or her country. Thus an argument arose – whose is this song? I knew from childhood that the song was Bulgarian. I wanted to know why the others also pretend the song to be theirs."
Adela Peeva

Indeed, whose is the song which everyone knows and loves but everyone thinks that it is originally theirs and which we think came from the Turks at the fall of Constantinople and others think came with the Crusades which passed through the lands of Alexander the Great? Turkish? Greek? Albanian or Bosnian? Macedonian or Bulgaria – which in the end is not one and the same? Whose is this song? This is the question the author asks herself, sitting at a table with fiends who came to have a drink and sing form their harts.

13.07 / Sunday/ 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”
15.07 / Tuesday/ 18:00 h. / Club “Venus”

Movie of The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate

13.07 / Sunday/ 15:00 h. / Hotel “Smolyan”
15.07 / Tuesday/ 15:00 h. / Hotel “Smolyan”

Actors from Bulgaria, Sweden, Hungary and Macedonia – for the concept of one nation for other.

12.07 / Friday/ 15:00 h. / Hotel “Smolyan”
17.07 / Thursday/ 15:00 h. / Hotel “Smolyan”

A fresh and funny cartoon about sports, passion, bets and of course – music. We meet the resurrected Triplettes de Belleville – the eccentric music stars of the 1930s. This is a spectacular performance with their improvisations on unbelievable “musical” instruments.

10.07 / Thursday/ 15:00 h. & 18:00 h./ Hotel “Smolyan”
12.07 / Saturday/ 15:00 h. & 18:00 h./ Hotel “Smolyan”
16.07 / Wednesday/ 15:00 h. & 18:00 h./ Hotel “Smolyan”

11.07 – 19.07 / 10:30 – 12:00; 14:00 – 16:30 ч. / Hotel “Smolyan”