Jazz breaking news: Hugh Masekela, Mari Boine And Asere For Musicport
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Bridlington in Yorkshire hosts Musicport next month with the three-day festival taking place at the Spa venue on South Marine Drive in the East Riding seaside town.
The great South African trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer Hugh Masekela (left), Norwegian Sami singer Mari Boine and Cuban soneros, Asere are some of the leading headline names this year at Musicport which is now in its twelfth year.
Masekela, on the cover of Jazzwise last year talked in interview about a wide range of issues and referenced an early love of Clifford Brown and the influence on him of the film Young Man With A Horn, in which Kirk Douglas portrays Bix Beiderbecke.
As a teenager, Masekela, a talismanic figure in the cultural and political fight against apartheid and the continuing struggle against injustice globally, was given Louis Armstrong’s old trumpet and later when Masekela arrived in New York, soon met some of his jazz heroes not only Armstrong but Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. Both Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter studied alongside him at the Manhattan School Of Music.
Mari Boine was born to Sami parents in the far north of Norway, and appears in the UK regularly where she has a strong and growing following, appearing memorably at the Bath Festival in 2007. Singing in the joiku style, her remarkable voice defies concepts of genre and borders and spans the centuries, combining ancient sounds in her songs with important contemporary concerns in their lyrics and performance.
Asere, who have successfully toured extensively with jazz-rock fusion great Billy Cobham, have taken son to a new level interpreting the likes of 1920s-era trova by the likes of Miguel Matamoros and making familiar material seem fresh on acclaimed albums such as Destinos.
The extensive line-up of Musicport includes on Friday 4 November 12lve, Asere with students of Headlands School, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Sail Pattern, Sea Fret, East Riding Youth Dance, Geoff Berner, Blair Dunlop, Kath Canoville’s Global Meltdown, Flying Chilli Beats and Sambalada.
On Saturday 5 November Hugh Masekela is the main headliner with Mercedes Peon, Mary Coughlan, DJ Andy Kershaw, Asere, Cigdem Aslan, Claudia Aurora, Huong Than, Krar Collective, Chris Wood, The Boat Band, Celtarabia, Natalie Duncan, Fran Smith, Brigid Kaelin, Jasdeep Singh Degun, Trumpets of Death, John Wedgwood Clark, Lester Allen, Randolph Matthews and Byron Johnston, Danto Aya, Faerd Dorge Becker Hjetland and Changing Horses.
On Sunday 6 November along with Mari Boine, the festival’s final day this year also includes Kanda Bongo Man, Julaba Kunda, Iain Matthews, Boy With Tape On His Face, Tashi Lhunpo Monks, The Third Policeman, Deglulen, Freya Abbott & Ferguson, Sura Susso, Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell, Soznak, Kim Richey, Zion, Whiskey Dogs and Joe Solo.
– Stephen Graham
For more go to www.musicportfestival.com