Dear friends,
Again this year Bansko will gather you from August 8 to August 13, 2007, to see you involved one more time into the magic called JAZZ. In 2007 the Festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Together with you we will turn the event into a week-long feast of music in which performers of 15 countries from 3 continents will take part.
This year we have arranged for you an exceptionally rich program. As early as on the first day the atmosphere in Bansko will be heated up by one of the most prominent English blues performers, Papa George. Especially for the opening we have invited the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio with Denise Jannah - the most popular name of the Dutch jazz as the solist. Next to them is the legend of the Bulgarian Jazz Milcho Leviev, who will be accompanying to the phenomenal Greek singer Viki Almazidu. The evening will go on with the American gospel, blues and jazz singer Janice Harrington. The musical critics describe her "as warm as sunshine".
In the next five nights of the Festival the town square will see the boogie-woogie fury Christoph "Boogie Wolf" Steinbach from Austria, the fire flamenco group El Macareno from Spain, the Czech guitar star Pavel Ryba, the melodic gipsy jazz quartet of Francesco Buzzurro from Italy as well as the Polish trio of Wlodek Pawlik.
On August 13, 2007 the audience will again enjoy Djabe, the Hungarian number one fusion formation. Immediately after that the stage will see the eminent Bulgarian actress, singer and poetess Nona Yotova and her band. This jazz formation involves some of the best Bulgarian musicians like Ivan Lechev, Dani Milev, Michail Shishkov, Kalin Velyov, Michail Yossifov and Valchan Valchanov. The evening will end up with the show of the unique Bulgarian musician and holder of Grammy Award, Theodosii Spassov along with the Swiss band Fonixx.
Especially for the jubilee we have invited the favorites of the audience - the Egyptian band led by the virtuoso percussionist Yehya Khalil, who several years in a row have roused the town square to absolute frenzy. This time, however, he is coming with a 15-member formation including the popular Egyptian vocalist Mona Hair.
Of particular honor and pride for us is the visit of SHAPE International Big Band - the NATO's official Big Band who will close the Festival with the best of the classical jazz of the 40's - selected pieces by Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, as well as by the contemporary composers Matt Harris and Thom Cubis.
We'll inform you in the near future about the participation of a number of special guests playing classic, blues, fusion, Latin, nu-jazz, gipsy jazz, R&B, soul, afro-beat and other jazz styles who will contribute to making the 10th Festival the most spectacular musical event of the year.
Thanks to our sponsors, you'll have the unique opportunity to enjoy the performance of stars from all over the world absolutely free of charge. Clearly, the feast this year will continue with jam sessions and dances at the Bansko pubs whose owners are also our partners.