Music from Germany featured in a festival that combines jazz with world music traditions!
The winds are once again taking a starring role in contemporary music creation, drawing inspiration from world music traditions, as Windcraft Music Fest returns to the village Katydata for the sixth time, over the weekend of 10th -11th August 2019. Among an international line-up of bands and a rich programme of workshops and activities, the Berlin-based Agios Lavrentios Brass Band and the participation of German percussionist Nils Fischer have a central role. Additionally, the screening of the documentary film Sound of Heimat will give an insight into the real German folk music.
Agios Lavrentios Brass Band is probably the world’s only brass band without any actual brass in it. It comprises of saxophonists and percussionists from Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand and Canada. The band has provided countless legendary parties with their interpretation of New Orleans and Balkan tunes, taking over the squares of Mount Pelion in Greece – where the band was formed – and many famous Berlin clubs. On 10th August, the Agios Lavrentios Brass Band will endeavour to conquer the streets of Katydata with their music.
The mastermind behind this band is the saxophonist Hayden Chisholm – a New Zealander with Irish roots, who has studied and settled in Germany. In the film by Arne Birkenstock and Jan Tengeler Soundsof Heimat - Deutschland singt! (2011), which will be screened during the festival, Hayden travelled through the Federal Republic of Germany in search of the real German folk music. In his road trip from Cologne to Bayern and from Vogtland to the Erzgebirge, he discovered a dynamic, original and productive music scene, that is alive and not just a museum artefact. This film is a confirmation that the actual Volksmusik still exists out there and it is far from what is spread through TV shows and request concerts.
Foto (Ausschnitt): Marcel Boshuizen
German percussionist Nils Fischer is also heading to Katydata to participate in a concert with the Cypriot band Macumba on 10th August. Nils is a great addition to the band, as he is considered one of the most important European percussionists. He is touring and recording constantly with Nueva Manteca, with his own groups CaboCubaJazz and Timbazo as well as with many others, while at the same time he is teaching latin percussion at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam, where he is also Head of the Latin Music Department. His collaboration with Macumba was launched earlier this year, when he participated at the recording of the band’s first album. Now they are ready to share the stage for the first time, presenting an explosive repertoire of original compositions that combine rhythmic and melodic elements of latin music traditions from different parts of the world, topped with jazz improvisations and harmonies. Nils Fischer will also offer a workshop for percussionists on the 11th August, in which he will focus on playing techniques and rhythms in latin music.
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