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The top brass of world music playing at Blaze
The Barbican’s dance-themed festival, featuring free outdoor events, has attracted a global glitterati of musicians, from the Balkans to Argentina, writes Simon Wroe
JAZZ, folk and feet-shaking rhythms from every corner of the world – so much is going on at the Barbican’s Blaze Festival it’s difficult to know exactly what to call it.
Dance, in all its many forms, is the broad theme for the centre’s first summer music festival, with leading exponents of jazz and world music including Wynton Marsalis, David Sanborn, Carmen Linares and Argentina’s Café de los Maestros on the bill.
Proceedings are at the half-way mark now. Sadly, the tribute to Cuba – mandatory in any festival of dance – has already sashayed its way into the past. Pablo Milanes, Los Van Van and Orchestra Aragon all played at Victoria Park in June.
Still to come though are Balkan trumpeter Boban Markovic; a tribute to Nina Simone by some of the greatest female singers alive, such as Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright; Giles Peterson at Cargo with contemporary jazz trio The Mighty Jeddo; the mighty Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; and the 12-strong afrobeat all-stars Antibalas – meaning “bulletproof” in Spanish.
Perhaps the gig which best sums up the festival is the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio: it features 16 musicians, each from a different part of the world, with a different musical instrument, who will reinterpret classic pieces.
A champion of the indigenous British music scene since the creative explosion of the 1960s, Boston-born producer Joe Boyd is credited with introducing the world to Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and the UFO Club, all courtesy of his acclaimed Witchseason label. Two of those legends – Fairport and String – return on July 18 and 19 with special guests Mike Heron and Robyn Hitchcock.
Most of the concerts start at just £10, but there are many free outdoor events to catch. There’s even a programme of workshops which teaches aspiring dancers the moves for some of the more unusual dances, such as The Frevo, a frenzied, infectious polka from Brazil.
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