Jazz Ahead is the largest world jazz exhibition, which takes place every year in the city of Bremen, for many years. Recently, the event has also included Bulgarian participation in the festival program.
To make it possible for our moment to come, we have done a lot, but there are some processes that are beyond us, they had to happen and modernize,” he shares Mila Georgieva, vice-president of the Bulgarian Music Association (BMA). She revealed that since the inception of JazzAhead until now, the artistic director of the event has been the same person, but as of this year he is new and the selection itself is quite different.
“We are developing some styles in jazz that are not the ones that are developing in Northwestern Europe and which are mainly present in this program. For one process we have acted together and we have fought, and the other was happening because it is not only our problem,” she added.
In her words the festival program of the event includes everything that is outside the “mould” of things, while everything that gets the jury’s approval goes into it.
Mila Georgieva specified that both JazzAhead delegates and external audiences are present at all locations and in both programs.
Over the years, apart from the lack of Bulgarian participation, the presence of the countries of the region has also been weak, she noted.
“We tried to lower expectations on the one hand, but also to be as prepared as possible on the other, because opportunities come in the most unexpected ways. Thanks to our communication opportunities, there was a little more accumulation of information and a little more fatigue. Our performance as a group it was thought out by ourselves because we knew that we will be in an unconventional space – an old winery from 1405. A space like this is certainly not thought out for a sound system, but on the other hand our hosts being super professionals, or at least trying to be, made it super comfortable for us as a band to find a balance between our style and the space.” pointed out Pavel Terziyski, soloist of the trio Clavexperience.
As important highlights for the Bulgarian participation, he revealed that:
“Our music has been heard by people from this music industry, it has been presented by a Bulgarian institution such as BMA, based in Bulgaria, we have participated as a Bulgarian format.”
“The European music community is full of outstanding Bulgarian professionals in each of these countries. In many of the cities there are top musicians of various genres, but most of the time they are presented as local projects,” explained Terziyski.
Trio Clavexperience, which is the Bulgarian representative of JazzAhead, has been making music together for a long time.
“Which gives us the opportunity to look at things a little bit higher, as a project over time, because that gives us perspective. For such exhibitions as JazzAhead, it is not enough for a formation to have only good musicians, but also a clear concept”the musician thinks.
It was the fact that they had a concept that contributed to the success of the formation, added Mila Georgieva from BMA. In her words what impresses the audience is precisely the integrity.
“There are great people in every genre, jazz is an endless field, the question is how to take what we want to pass on, but shape it in a different way,” she said.
Pavel Terziyski also has another role – as a creator of theater music, he is also the winner of “Ikar”.
“It is important that a person tries to expand his creative potential, to provoke himself, to use his opportunities,” he says.
What else is important for the creator, hear more in Lili Goleminova’s conversation.
