Jazz Talk and Play at the CCP International Jazz Festival

THE story of Jazz music will roll out as some of the best jazz music artists come marching into the Cultural Center of the Philippines for the 1st International Jazz Festival on August 23-28, 2011. All kinds of jazz music will be played and talked about in lectures and performances by local and foreign jazz musicians in various venues of the CCP.
World renowned royal hartigan and blood drum spirit is slated to do a lecture series on the evolution of jazz music. Percussionist and pianist royal hartigan and group have performed all over the world, exploring the great music traditions of the world through live jazz performances. The group will kick off their gig at the CCP on August 23 with a talk on the Roots of Jazz at 1 PM at the CCP MKP Hall and a performance entitled African American Music: History of Jazz from its African Origins to the Future at 8 PM at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo.
When black slaves streamed out of the rural South and travelled up the Mississippi to spread out to the industrial North in search of work, they brought their music with them as well. New Orleans jazzmen found themselves in Chicago and there the Chicago blues was born. According to www.hypermusic.ca, the blues are described as a highly expressive, predominantly vocal tradition, expressing the stories and emotions of African-Americans at the beginning of the 20th century. Blues singers often accompanied themselves with the harmonica, guitar and piano while blues performed on the trumpet and saxophone often imitated the growl and rasp of the blues singer. The story of the how the blues became the blues is taken up by Joric Maglanque on August 24 1 PM at the CCP MKP and by Japanese jazz guitarist Shun Kikuta who will talk about the blues in the modern setting at 3:30PM. The Blues are going to brew in performances by Faith Gospel Singers on August 23, 5 PM at the CCP MKP Hall and Cooky Chua and Bluesviminda on August 27, 8 PM at the CCP Silangan Hall. American jazz guitarist Michael Bourne will collaborate with the young Filipino jazz trio Bleu Rascals while Japanese jazz guitarist Shun Kikuta with perform the famous local jazz group the Blue Rats in Blues Night on August 24, 7:30 PM at the CCP Tanghalang Batute.
The 1940s saw the birth of Be Bop, a style of jazz that emerged in juxtaposition to Big Band typified by the sound of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Be Bop, whose name is derived from nonsense syllables used in scat singing, came to be what we now know as modern jazz. Royal hartigan and blood drum spirit will discuss the beginning of be bop on August 25 at 1 PM at the CCP MKP after which they will perform Be bop, Hard Bop and Modal Jazz in a concert at 5 PM at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage wherein the audience will be on stage to witness the performance. Emy Munji and Majam also perform Be bop on August 25, 8 PM at the Silangan Hall.
Joey Valenciano will talk about the influence of Indian Music on jazz on August 25, 3: 30 PM at the CCP MKP. Royal hartigan and blood drum spirit will lead a discussion on Free Jazz on August 26, 5 PM at the CCP MKP Hall. Free Jazz is a style of jazz borne from the infusion of new sounds from the great musical traditions of India, China, Africa and the Middle East. Free Jazz, a new direction explored by jazz musician in the 1960s in the spirit of experimentation, is distinctive for its dissonance.
Neris Gonzalez and Lowcal will do Brazilian jazz on August 26, first in a lecture at 3 PM at the CCP MKP and then a performance at 5 PM at the CCP Tanghalang Batute. The Brazilian beat, or the Bossa nova musical style, has contributed much to the standard jazz repertoire, the most iconic of which is the 1964 Getz/Gilberto recording of The Girl from Ipanema.
Royal hartigan, who has done extensive research on West African traditional drumming, dance and song and culture, will lecture on African jazz on August 27 1 PM at the MKP to be followed by an African Jazz Concert at 5 PM at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage.
Pinoy Jazz is the subject of the video documentary by Richie Quirino and Collis Davis Jr. to be shown free of charge on August 28, 3 PM at the Dream Theater. Based on Richie Quirino’s book, Pinoy Jazz Traditions, which won the 2004 National Book Award in the music category (Philippines), Pinoy Jazz: The Story of Jazz in the Philippines is a 58-minute video documentary that provides the first-ever documentation of the development of jazz in the Philippines, from its infancy in 1898, when Filipinos were first exposed to Black music performed by African-American soldiers, to its present-day maturity in which musicians are turning to indigenous sources for inspiration. Incorporating historical still photography, turn-of-the century film footage, maps, old recordings, present-day performances and interviews with veteran and contemporary musicians, the video presents an eye-opening view into an almost-forgotten history of the art of jazz as it developed in the Philippines over the last century.
The 1st CCP International Jazz Festival, said Menchi Mantaring, head of the CCP Music Division, will not only see the largest gathering of local and foreign jazz artists at the CCP for the first time. "It will also be a time for these foreign and local artists to bond together and collaborate, in this enjoyable language of musical expression."
Tickets prices to the events at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) are P800, P600, P400 and P200. Ticket price to all concerts at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute and the Silangan Hall are at P300. Tickets to the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage performances are at P300. All lectures and workshops at the MKP Multi-Purpose Hall are at P100. The standard 50% discount for students and 20% for senior citizens apply.