THE SECOND annual Limassol jazz festival is taking place next month with organisers determined to change the way local audiences view the musical genre.
“We have to break the mind set of what people in Cyprus perceive jazz to be,” said Matthew Steliou of Fluffy Fish productions who organise the week long event, and adding that the festival is well on its way to becoming an established annual event.
“We are building on the success of last year’s festival; the whole point of the events is to bring together various artists and create a vibrant happening.”
Over the seven days in November, thirteen events will be staged at five different venues with more than 30 artists taking part.
The first Limassol Jazz Festival was described by Fluffy Fish as “a landmark music and arts festival that launched a creative platform for international and local artists to entertain, educate, collaborate and communicate an inspirational message of intercultural musical exchange”.
“Not everyone believes in the ‘Cyprus product’ and think that if artists are from abroad they must be much better than home grown performers. But this isn’t the case,” said Steliou.
“There are many superb local musicians and this festival provides the opportunity for them to collaborate with other top billed international artists and play together and share the experience.”
Born in Cyprus, Steliou lived in the UK for a number of years and working at a small record label and searching out new talent. He moved back to Cyprus 16 years ago.
Steliou, who says he plays “a bit of percussion and guitar”, is also a singer and has an eclectic musical taste.
In 2000 he started Alma productions, which brings many artists to Cyprus. He also started a company called Fluffy Fish which is responsible for the jazz festival.
Looking towards the future Steliou added, “It’s important to have an intercultural exchange between musicians and I hope that Limassol is granted of European cultural capital title in 2017.If this is the case, we would hope to have 60 or 70 venues participating for the week long festival.”
The music lover noted that Cypriots in general are very musical and there are many different cultures living on the island.
“Limassol is a good example of this,” he said.
Steliou says he has his finger on the pulse of new or undiscovered musical talent as he is regularly sent numerous white label records and unreleased tracks.
”People are always introducing me to new artists as well, and if I get a feel for something, I want them to be involved.”
But he pointed out that organising a festival isn’t just about the emotional side of music. “You also have to see how it all fits together in the bigger picture,” he said.
“The good thing is that the festival is musically balanced. We have standard jazz, ethnic and Brazilian jazz, as well as a Latin jazz party. There something for every musical taste,” he said, noting that last year’s audiences spanned in ages from about 15 to 70 years old.
The Limassol Jazz Festival will take place from November 14-20. For further information click on www.limassoljazzfestival.com or call 25 661 466
