10th Black Sea Jazz Festival to Host Unprecedented Number of Participants
The Black Sea Jazz Festival was founded in 2007 and for the following eight years welcomed a huge number of jazz and world music stars. This year will be no exception. With the status of one of the leading festivals, it has on its 2016 list the greats The Prodigy, Chris Brown, Quincy Jones, James Cullum and Lauryn Hill, who will perform in Batumi on July 15-24.
“First of all, I want to highlight that the jubilee festival is to be celebrated with an unprecedented number of participants and duration,” announced Giorgi Kereselidze, director of Eastern Promotions and organizer of the Festival, who went on to explain that the festival will host about 200 foreign and 100 Georgian musicians this year. Moreover, also for the first time, the Black Sea Jazz Festival will last a whopping 10 days instead of the usual seven. “Which means that our listeners will have two weekends to enjoy world-class music,” said Kereselidze.
The opening of the festival will be a highlight, with Quincy Jones celebrating his birthday on July 15 by starting the festival with his and The Global Gumbo All Stars Band’s concert, in the framework of which great artists such as Richard Bona, Alfredo Rodriguez and Jacob Collier will perform. Kereselidze added that Jones will also host the event and, apart from the concert, guests will be able enjoy fascinating stories from the music maestro himself.
Macy Gray, on a second visit to Batumi, will close the Black Sea Festival with a huge concert on the main stage of Batumi Tennis Club on July 24. Moreover, after the concert, she will perform as a DJ at the Take Five Club.
The festival will also have a daily feature of 40-minute street concerts from Georgian musicians who will constantly move around the city, thereby sharing the festive atmosphere with all.
Kereselidze said they would organize a marketplace during that the festival where snacks and traditional Georgian souvenirs will be sold. “We had this kind of market last year, but this one will be bigger and better,” he said. “We cannot ignore the fact that the Black Sea Jazz Festival has become one of the leading events in Georgia and is significant for both the economic and tourism development of the country. That is why we want to present Georgia on all sides.”
This year’s jubilee festival is carried out within the framework of the State program ‘Check in Georgia,’ thanks to which ticket prices are now much more affordable- the expected maximum price of the tickets this year will be 50 Lari. Further, the festival’s presenter TBC Status plans to offer the owners of TBC Platinum, TBC PrimeCard and TBC Status cards the chance to purchase Black Sea Jazz Festival tickets with a unique 15% and 20% discount.
The tickets will be available online (tkt.ge) from May 11. Additional information and the schedule are available on the official festival website: batumijazz.ge
Eka Karsaulidze