Music without frontiers
Rojales festival returns with five nights of international music
THE 12TH Rojales Músicas Sin Fronteras music festival runs from March 15 to April 12 and, in an extension of previous editions, this year features five performances by national and international stars.
All concerts take place at the Teatro Capitol and commence at 21.00.
This year’s curtain-raisers on Tuesday, March 15 are Korrontzi, who were formed by Agus Barandiaran in 2004, and offer an amalgamation of the traditional sounds of Basque folk music mixed with more contemporary music. Their music is based on the trikiti (Basque diatonic accordion), which is mixed with modern instruments.
The band has released seven albums and travelled the world displaying their culture, language, dance and music. They have received awards from the World Music Charts and the Best European Band at Eurofolk, among others.
This will be followed on Tuesday, March 22 with a tribute to Billie Holiday at the hands of vocalist Celia Mur, who will be backed by Kiko Aguado on guitar, Francisco Palomo on clarinet and harmonica and Nicolás Medina on electric bass.
For many fans Holiday was the best jazz singer of all time.
The show will consist of a selection of her best songs including Strange Fruit, God bless the Child, Did I Remember? and No Regrets.
The following Tuesday (March 29), it is the turn of the quartet consisting of Patxi Valverde on saxophone, Cédric Gysler on bass, Evaristo Pérez on piano and Raphael Nick on drums.
Acclaimed Spanish saxophonist, Patxi Valverde music is influenced by New Orleans, Miami and Europe.
The band, which is based in Switzerland, plays an original repertoire featuring pieces written by the members that cover a good mixture of styles and grooves.
April 5 features a much-anticipated date with the acclaimed US alto saxophonist, Jesse Davis, who will be accompanied by the equally well thought of Fabio Miano Trio, with Miano on piano, Ignasi González on bass and Jo Krause on drums.
Davis is a respected New Orleans-born musician who says his influences are in equal parts Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley. He is said to have a ‘flawless technique, a very wide sound and a natural affinity for the blues’.
Jesse has shared the stage with such jazz luminaries as Chico Hamilton, Kenny Barron, Tete Montoliu, Cedar Walton, Benny Golson, Tana Reid, the Newport All Stars, Roy Hargrove and Hank Jones, among others.
The closing concert of this year’s Músicas Sin Fronteras festival is on Tuesday, April 12 and is by the Portuguese traditional and fado singer Mara. She will be backed by a band consisting of Carlos Menezes on bass and musical direction, Bruno Chaveiro on Portuguese guitar, Sergio Leite on keyboards and Balzara Molina on percussion.
Mara music is described as going ‘beyond culture, absorbing the numerous roots of a sonorous Iberian Peninsula’. Her projects are based on stories, places and harmonies, interweaved by Spanish and Portuguese guitars, sharing her wish and will to preserve the past, but at the same time reinventing popular music and folklore.
Tickets for individual concerts are €8, however a season ticket covering all five performances is available for €25.
Tickets can be purchased from municipal archaeology museum, from Monday to Friday from 09.00-14.00 from February 1.
Tickets are also on sale at the venue, every Friday from 21.00.