On 7th December, free of barriers and divisions - musical or geographical – starts Hades Jazz Bez Festival (Jazz Free of...) in Lublin.
For 10 days, 24 bands and 93 solists from 12 countries (incl. Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Italy, Romania) will be performing in 10 cities in Poland and Ukraine. According to the leader of the “Shockland” band – Dana Wynnycka – this festival will include such musical genres as free jazz, raggy, funk, folk, experimental jazz.
The festival is a well established and well-known in the musical circles, both Polish and Ukrainian. Since 2001 it has been appreciated by the audience as well as the musicians. It represents most contemporary trends in improvised music, giving the opportunity to develop Polish-Ukrainian cultural cooperation and to form international musical projects.
At the beginning, the festival was organized in Lviv and Przemyśl, where this year's edition is to take place from 5th till 14th of December. This year, from the 7th of December, the Jazz Bez Festival will also be taking place in Lublin. It has also gained popularity in Ukraine, where it is organized in Kiev, Sevastopol, Kharkiv, Ternopil and Lutsk. In Poland, it has also appeared in Sanok and Jarosław.
Hades Jazz Bez Festival in Lublin
This year's edition is the 7th in the history of the Festival. Lublin's frantic preparations show how much involved the city is in this event. 7 bands from Ukraine will perform this year; they are: Dzyga Jazz Quartet (Lviv), Shockload+PL (Lviv & Warsaw), Fusion Orchestra (Sevastopol), Dzyga Imagine (Lviv), MT-3 (Lviv), Marina Zakharkowa (Kharkiv) and Fortuna Bartholomew International Jazz Project (London-Lviv-Cracow).
Jazz free of limits in time or space
Markijan Ivaszczyszyn – the festival director, the director of the Dzyga and Nenio artist associations as well as the father of many artistic events in Lviv – talks about the festival:
“Considering the current conditions, this festival has already exceeded our wildest expectations. I'm quite certain that in the current situation of “political mess” in Ukraine, for many people, this festival will become 'a psychological escape route' and will give the Ukrainians the opportunity to 'vote for Jazz', considering the fact that the date of the festival and elections in Ukraine coincide”
“Our aims differ slightly from those of the organizers of the Polish edition of the festival. While the Polish edition is promoted clearly as 'Jazz Free of limits', in Ukraine, by organizing the event, we wish to expand the jazz community. We can say that so far there have been some irreversible changes in Sevastopol and Ternipol; there is a faithful and devoted audience, there are clubs, musicians, a small but active group of critics, and above all, there is creative process and experimentation”
Over the last eight years (that's how long the festival has existed) many people have caught that jazz bug, and even if it's not spreading fast yet, there are certainly “carriers” and “patients” both growing in numbers each year. Once you've caught that bug, there is no treatment...”
True, there is a borderline between Poland and Ukraine, but even there (near the border) Jazz Bez has fans. What's really important, is the fact that both Polish and Ukrainian musicians involved in the festival - many of them already famous jazzmen - are totally devoted to the festival's idea.
Festival programme
7th December
18:00
Opening of the Festival: Performance by Vlodko Kaufman (Art Gallery “Dzyga”) - Hades Art Cafe
18:30
Dzyga Jazz Quartet - Hades Art Cafe
8th December
18:00
Shockolad - Hades Art Cafe
20:00
2 Horny Quintet - Hades Art Cafe
9th December
18:00
Fusion Orchestra - Hades Art Cafe
20:00
Dzyga Imagine - Hades Art Cafe
10th December
18:00
MT.3 - Hades Art Cafe
20:00
Maryna Zacharowa - „Anno Domini” - Hades Art Cafe
11 grudnia
17:30
“FBI Jazz Project” – Fortuna, Bartholomew International Jazz Project - Hades Art Cafe
19:30
EMPE3 – Mateusz Pospieszalski project - Hades Art Cafe
13th December
18:00
Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Lublin Philharmonic Hall
14th December
19:00
Concert of Marek Napiórkowski - Hades Art Cafe
