Mœrs festival
Encyclopedia
The Moers Festival is an international jazz festival in Moers, Germany
, happening yearly every Whitsun
.
Many famous musicians have appeared there, including Fred Frith
, David Murray, Cecil Taylor
, Lester Bowie
, Herbie Hancock
, Abdullah Ibrahim
, Archie Shepp
, Sun Ra
, and Jan Garbarek
.
Over the years the festival's music character has changed from pure free jazz
to include world music
and crossovers with popular music. Today it includes all kinds of jazz-related music, though still with many experimental and avant-garde
performers.
The festival was founded in 1971 by Burkhard Hennen, as initiator and artistic director. The International New Jazz Festival Moers established itself quickly in the national and international free jazz scene.
In the early years it took place in the paved yard of the castle. Later (1975), it moved to a nearby park because of the growing audience. After a few years outdoors, it moved to a large marquee where it remains now.
In 1974 the Germany-based jazz record label
Moers Music was created to document performances at the festival.
In 1979 the festival was enlarged with several morning projects.
The African Dance Night was added as a popular event in 1985. Well-known musicians such as Mory Kanté
, Salif Keita
, Cheb Mami
and Youssou N’Dour played there. After the artistic director changed in 2005, the event was discontinued.
In 2005, after 34 years as artistic director, Burkhard Hennen handed the job over to Reiner Michalke. The festival is now officially named "mœrs festival", with lowercase letters.
Due to financial crisis of the city the festival was shorted to only three days since 2011.
Moers
Moers is a German city on the left bank of the Rhine. Moers belongs to the district of Wesel...
, happening yearly every Whitsun
Whitsun
Whitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
.
Many famous musicians have appeared there, including Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, David Murray, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim , born Adolph Johannes Brand, 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, and formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer...
, Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
, and Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
.
Over the years the festival's music character has changed from pure free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
to include world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
and crossovers with popular music. Today it includes all kinds of jazz-related music, though still with many experimental and avant-garde
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
performers.
History
In the early years it took place in the paved yard of the castle. Later (1975), it moved to a nearby park because of the growing audience. After a few years outdoors, it moved to a large marquee where it remains now.
In 1974 the Germany-based jazz record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Moers Music was created to document performances at the festival.
In 1979 the festival was enlarged with several morning projects.
The African Dance Night was added as a popular event in 1985. Well-known musicians such as Mory Kanté
Mory Kanté
Mory Kanté is a vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was born into one of Guinea's best known families of griot musicians...
, Salif Keita
Salif Keita
Salif Keïta is an internationally recognized afro-pop singer-songwriter from Mali. He is unique not only because of his reputation as the Golden Voice of Africa, but because he has albinism and is a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita...
, Cheb Mami
Cheb Mami
Ahmed Khelifati Mohamed better known by his stage name Cheb Mami , is an Algerian-born raï singer...
and Youssou N’Dour played there. After the artistic director changed in 2005, the event was discontinued.
In 2005, after 34 years as artistic director, Burkhard Hennen handed the job over to Reiner Michalke. The festival is now officially named "mœrs festival", with lowercase letters.
Due to financial crisis of the city the festival was shorted to only three days since 2011.
Selected discography
- 1974: Anthony BraxtonAnthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
Quartet – At Moers Festival - 1976: John SurmanJohn SurmanJohn Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...
– Live at Moers Festival - 1977: Anthony Braxton – Solo: Live at Moers Festival
- The World Saxophone Quartet – Point of No Return
- 1978: Phillip Wilson Quartet – Live at Moers Festival
- 1979: David Murray/Sunny Murray Trio – Live at Moers
- 1987: Reichlich Weiblich – Live at Moers Festival 87
- 1993: Jamaaladeen Tacuma with Basso Nouveau – The Night of Chamber Music
- Richard Teitelbaum – Cyberband
- 2005: James Choice Orchestra – Live at Moers