About Cairo Jazz Festival 2010
Dear Friends, Kind Guests and Supporters of the Cairo Jazz Festival,
We are here to celebrate the second session of the Cairo Jazz Festival II on the banks of the great river Nile at the Sawy Culture Wheel, which witnessed the birth of this event one year ago. The first festival was a great success and encouraged us to develop and expand the project this year with representations of 8 countries (USA, Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Austria, Lebanon and Japan) in addition to Egypt’s most prominent jazz bands who will share the stage with international stars from the jazz world.
The festival is proud and honored to host, for the first time, the great Ziad Rahbani from Lebanon, who is visiting Egypt for the first time. He will be inaugurating the festival with a concert.
Outstanding artists have a profound effect on emotion. They inspire and educate us by their art. This year, we have two artists of the highest caliber who we are delighted to acknowledge. They are composer and pianist, Ziad Rahbani and from Spain, the eminent flamenco and jazz bass guitarist, Carles Benavent.
Cairo Jazz festival as it always seeks to present the best performances to its audience that always deserve the best, was keen to show a wide array of diverse Jazz styles such as, The famous American band “Royal Crown Revue” that appeared on the motion picture “MASK” by Jim Carry, the Dutch band “Tarhana” a fusion of Jazz and Turkish and Balkan influences, The Japanese super talented pianist “Makoto Kuryia” and an electronic Jazz fusion by "Abraxas Projekt" in addition to the "Carles Benavent Quartet" from Spain in a unique spectacular mix of Jazz and Flamenco on the bass guitar.
This year we have a new initiative: raising musical awareness amongst a different audience in Cairo. To this end, we have designated Friday and Saturday for families to spend the afternoon at the Sawy grounds, where they will have the opportunity to meet performers and experience jazz first hand. This will introduce a broader audience to jazz and help develop family interest in attending jazz events and supporting music education for children.
“Jazzinino” is the name of this new initiative. It is a special opportunity for gifted children to demonstrate their talent and interact with great artists in a fun, educational and competitive atmosphere.
The festival is keen to provide free educational services in the form of 3 jazz workshops and master classes for young musicians provided by jazz artists, aiming at assisting them in refining their technique and performance to reach an international standard.
Additional performances will be held every night of the festival at the "Rithmo Club" in the Semiramis Intecontinental Hotel and the Boss Cafe in Maadi to enable bands to perform within the festival atmosphere in a smaller more intimate setting.
Let me take this opportunity to extend my thanks to all those who contributed to the realization of this event: sponsors, artists, embassies, cultural centers, organizers and my dedicated employees.
Welcome to the Cairo International Festival II
My thanks to you all
Amro Salah
Director of Cairo Jazz Festival
