The Festival returns to San Bartolomé de Tirajana with Cyrille Aimée, Patax, Chico Pinheiro & The Black Barbies
- La Faro (Lighthouse) of Maspalomas Esplanade and the Convention Centre ‘ExpoMeloneras’ are the venues for the concerts on 9 & 10 July
The Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Mas returns to the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana on the occasion of its 30th anniversary featuring four artists of national & international prestige. The French-Dominican singer Cyrille Aimée, the Brazilean guitarrist Chico Pinheiro with his quartet and two of the most versatile national ensembles of its genre, Patax & The Black Barbies, complete the programme for the nights of Friday 9 & Saturday 10 July at the Faro (Lighthouse) of Maspalomas Esplanade and the Convention Centre of ‘ExpoMeloneras’ All information relating to the programming and sale of tickets is available on www.canariasjazz.com.
A little over a decade since in 2010 they last visited the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the festival returns here on a significant occasion, celebrating its 30th anniversary & within the framework of the programme of the XXIX edition of the Summer University of Maspalomas. The Councillor for Culture at the Municipal Town hall, Elena Espino, reassured that “Maspalomas is once again thrilled to offer an extensive cultural offering. The return of the festival to the municipality is a clear example that in San Bartolomé de Tirajana we support culture as an essential entity which assists us to get through difficult times such as those we are now experiencing”.
Miguel Ramírez, director of the festival, has been pursuing this return for many years, “I thank the Town Hall of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and the Department of Culture for backing the festival and allowing us to contribute to the richness of their cultural offer. We are thrilled to be back to stage these concerts featuring top-level artists in an ideal environment such as the Faro (Lighthouse) of Maspalomas”.
Concepción Narváez, mayoress of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, highlighted the importance of returning to normality & fostering culture, “we are managing to get people to come here not only for fantastic days of sunshine & beaches that our natural heritage has to offer, but also to enjoy the extensive cultural offer with events such as the International Trumpet Festival, the Summer University of Maspalomas and of course, the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más”.
A ‘Grammy Award’ nominee, for singer Cyrille Aimée improvisation is not just a vocal technique. It’s a way of life that allows her to share her contagious voice & creative spark with the world, and which has also taken her towards new directions. Her adventure began in the small town of Samois-sur-Seine in France, where the young Cyrille was introduced to a wealth of diverse music by her French father and Dominican mother, listening to everything from Michael Jackson to French chanson, merengue & Latin salsa. She and her sister would dance around the living room, instilling a gleeful abandon and warm groove that still shines through her music to this day.
Aimée currently resides in New York, but frequently returns to Europe. In 2007 she won the vocal competition at the famed Montreux Jazz Festival, recording her debut album with the prize money. This would be one of many such awards that would make her outstanding, like being a finalist in the legendary Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition and winning the Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition. In 2008, she released her debut album Cyrille Aimée and the Surreal Band, followed by two albums with the Brazilean guitarrist Diego Figuereido, and two live recordings, namely Birdland & Smalls, featuring Roy Hargrove as guest artist. It’s A Good Day was released in the year 2014 and marked a new path alongside her ground-breaking group.
Stephen Sondheim chose her in 2013 to participate in a tribute concert at the New York City Center, backed by Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In 2106 she released Let’s Get Lost, an intensely acclaimed album which got to top spot in the USA hot charts.
Chico Pinheiro is considered to be a prominent figure both within and outside the Brazilean musical scene, as a distinguished guitarrist, composer & arranger. His latest release City of Dreams (2020), was nominated for the Grammy Awards in the ‘Best Latin Jazz Album Grammy 2021’. Alongside his projects as leader, he also has collaborated with artists such as Placido Domingo, Brad Mehldau, Dave Grusin, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Danilo Pérez, Nnenna Freelon, Bob Mintzer, Herbie Hancock, Julian Lage &Steve Cardenas, Esperanza Spalding, Ivan Lins, Rosa Passos, Chico César, Ed Motta, Chris Potter, John Patitucci, Lee Ritenour, Ari Hoenig, Peter Erskine, among others.
At present, Patax is the most prominent fusion band in Spain and already known all over the world, continues on an unstoppable career path. Drawing from the legacy of some fusion greats like Weather Report, Corea’s Elektric Band, Herbie Hancock, & Zawinul Syndicate, and without concealing the powerful influence by visionary jazz entities Irakere, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Enrique Morente, Hermeto Pascoal & Paco de Lucía, Patax carries the fusion concept to totally unexplored territory, where a communication between flamenco, funk, jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms is the key ingredient to their complex, explosive & magical recipe. In Maspalomas they will present their repertoire Patax plays The Beatles (2021), a musical tribute by them to the most influential pop band in history.
The Black Barbies is one of the most original and innovative proposals on the current music scene. This band from Barcelona brings musicians from different backgrounds together, both stylistically and geographically (Spain, Italy, Africa), which is why, from the very first note, they create a sensational, explosive mix of sounds and flavours of the most extraordinary kind. With the powerful voice of Xiluva Tomás at the helm and the musical direction of guitarist Oriol Riart, they also have the funniest and sexiest brass section in the whole of Barcelona. Always with a fresh, catchy and sensual sound, they combine their own songs and versioned hits from all times to the rhythm of jazz, swing, soul & funk.
In this 30th edition, the Festival Canarias Jazz & Mas goes to the eight islands for the first time in the same edition (having already staged concerts on all, but not in the same year), a milestone that is due also to the collaboration of all the institutions that have made it possible to celebrate this musical event: the Canary Islands Government; the Island Councils of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife & Gran Canaria (through its Tourist Board); the Town Halls of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Brígida, Teguise, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Laguna, Puerto de la Cruz, Adeje, Los Llanos de Aridane, San Sebastián de La Gomera; and venues such as the Adán Martín Auditorium of Tenerife, the Auditorium & Theatre Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Theatre Guiniguada, the place of interest ‘La Granja’, and others that have been added this year, like the Elder Museum of Science & Technology, the Convent of Santo Domingo in La Laguna, the Convention Centre of ‘ExpoMeloneras’ and the Tenerife Nature & Archeology Museum (MUNA).
PROGRAMME:
Friday 9:
Faro (Lighthouse) of Maspalomas Esplanade, 20.00 hours.
Chico Pinheiro Quartet & The Black Barbies.
Saturday 10:
Convention Centre ExpoMeloneras, 20.00 hours.
Cyrille Aimée
Faro (Lighthouse) of Maspalomas Esplanade, 21.30 hours.
Patax[:]
