Butman — about the abolition of Russian culture: «In the USA they admire our musicians»

MOSCOW, June 19, Roman Kharrasov. The 2nd Moscow International Jazz Festival starts today. Moscow will become the center of world music for a few days. The organizer of the forum, People's Artist of Russia Igor Butman, in an interview spoke about the guests, including foreign ones, jazz in general and his creative plans.

Moscow is the capital of the world: how will the jazz festival go

— Is everything ready?

Yes, we have been working on the festival for a year. In 2022, it was created as a one-time event in honor of the 100th anniversary of jazz in Russia. It went very well, with great interest from the audience, so that both the Moscow government and the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives supported the organization of the second forum in the capital. Most likely, it will become an annual event.
Free venues have been opened throughout the city. The Zaryadye park, VDNH, Muzeon, the square near the Central Department Store, the Northern River Station, and even Depo.Moscow were involved. Only the Zaryadye Hall and the Hermitage Garden are ticketed.
In the world, our festival is in the top three largest in terms of audience coverage. Last year there were 250 thousand people. More will come in 2023, I'm sure. 00″ data-crop-height=»383″ data-source-sid=»rian_photo» class=»lazyload» width=»1920″ height=»1226″ decoding=»async» />

— Who are the participants?

— Our masters of jazz. In addition, there will be Polina Gagarina, and Valery Syutkin, and Sergey Mazaev, and the ILO with special programs.
The festival included an all-Russian competition and a serious selection — 100 best youth jazz bands from all over Russia will come: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Vladivostok and other cities. Moreover, their travel, accommodation and meals are paid by the organizers. But the most important thing is that they will perform at the same venues as the headliners.
— And what about the training of musicians in the regions?
— Amazing! One of the proofs is that Varvara Ubel literally burst onto the big stage from Novosibirsk. The region has a famous school and many festivals. Varvara will perform at the Moscow Jazz Festival with my brother Oleg Butman's quartet. 67″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»400″ data-source-sid=»» class=»lazyload» lazy=»1″ />

In the spring, we invited the Tuva Jazz Band to the Triumph of Jazz, which made a huge impression on everyone with its skill, Maria Zakharova and ambassadors from different countries attended the concert. And I performed several times in Abakan with this orchestra, everyone was delighted. By the way, the famous throat singing in jazz is used in the region.

Thai jazz and guests from the USA: what will surprise the festival

is an international festival. What kind of foreign guests are we waiting for? Were there any problems?

— No problems. There will be musicians from different countries, including those with «unfriendly governments».
Besides, we have discovered completely new jazzmen. For example, there will be a group from the Thai city of Chiang Mai — Street Jazz Collective.
Or the Indonesian team Keubitbit. On stage they use colorful outfits and, of course, their own music — with national flavor and amazing improvisation based on the best examples of world jazz.
Remarkable pianist from Turkey Eylul Ergul will come to Moscow not for the first time. She is amazing at the piano. On the other hand, she sings beautifully: both standards and arrangements of Turkish songs. Sounds very fresh and modern.

There will also be a wonderful Ofer quartet Landsberg from Israel. The list goes on and on.

— Thai Jazz— It has been talked about a lot lately. What is this phenomenon?
— Street Jazz Collective, on the one hand, virtuosos, on the other hand, use complex national rhythms and percussion instruments. This is what makes them unique.
Interestingly, the late King Rama IX of Thailand was a saxophonist and wrote a lot of music. When we played his tunes on tour in this country, people immediately recognized them. He has done a lot for jazz in the kingdom.

— Will there be representatives of the homeland of jazz — the USA?

— They will! For example, the brilliant bassist Eddie Gomez. I've been friends with him since 1992. We came to Russia together, I — after a five-year absence from here. He played in my album of 1994, and in the last one too — in half of the compositions.

Love and fears: Russia could not be fenced off from the world

— How do you manage to negotiate for musicians to come to Russia and our jazz to remain international?
— In Russia, there is a huge army of music fans in general, a very educated and well-read audience. And people constantly need cultural nourishment.

Jazz has indeed been preserved, thanks in part to foreign colleagues who have been on tour here and admired the Russian audience.
In addition, before the pandemic, we traveled to the United States every year with the Moscow Jazz Orchestra to give concerts. It sounds strange — like Siberia with its own snow, but nonetheless. And American experts were surprised at us.

— Are foreign colleagues afraid to come here? Maybe they are even afraid of losing their jobs.
A friend invited me to a festival in Switzerland. At one of the press conferences, journalists pecked at him. In the end, he called and said that he was afraid for my safety, although crime is minimal in this country. » data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»400″ data-source-sid=»rian_photo» class=»lazyload» width=»1920″ height=»1280″ decoding=»async» />