The “Ovar in Jazz” festival returns to this city in the Aveiro district from April 17 to 20, this year proposing the piano as a common element in six concerts by artists such as Mário Costa, LUME and Ábe Rabade.
With some free proposals, others with paid admission and a general pass available for access to all the performances, the event will occupy different spaces at the Ovar Arts Centre and the School of Arts and Crafts, and will also include a workshop and a commented music session.
For Domingos Silva, the mayor, the aim is to guarantee “all audiences” different options for enjoying jazz, as a musical genre that lends itself to both formal settings and more intimate or relaxed settings.
“The ‘Ovar in Jazz’ is a consolidated bet by the Municipality, and is already one of the national stages of excellence in this musical genre and one of the few outside the major urban centers,” argues the Socialist mayor.
“As a result of our commitment to a program with renowned national and international artists, the audience has been growing, but our goal is to continue to grow and reach new spectators, while maintaining the sharing aspect of the event, with informal initiatives such as the free concerts and the experimentation workshop,” he says.
The 2024 line-up thus includes musicians from Portugal, Brazil and Spain, with the first concert scheduled for April 17, with the Mário Costa Quartet, which the festival organizers classify as “a luxury international cast” for the presentation of “Chromosome”, the new album by the drummer and composer after whom the collective is named.
On the following day, the focus will be on the LUME – Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble, a project created and directed by pianist Marco Barroso, which will have 15 jazz and classical instrumentalists on stage, combining the ‘big band’ register with reinterpretations and some experimental music.
A day later, the Spaniard Abe Rábade will follow with his album “Botánica”, inspired by walks in the forest during periods of confinement dictated by covid-19. The pianist and composer’s concert will combine jazz, Galician folklore and chamber music, using a “heterogeneous artistic collective” made up of eight musicians and a dancer.
After this concert, on the same night, the spotlight will fall on Mané Fernandes, a guitarist and improviser based in Porto and Copenhagen. In Ovar he will present his first work as a composer, “Enter the squigg”, which applies hip-hop and electronica to melodies from the Afro-American tradition.
The festival’s remaining three events are all on April 20, starting with a concert by Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas, who the event’s organizers say is “one of the most internationally renowned names in jazz”. On his European tour, he is bringing the album “Y’Y” to Ovar, announced as a tribute to the Amazon rainforest and the rivers of northern Brazil, in a “unique musical and emotional experience”.
The next performance is by the collective R’B & MR. SC, who define themselves as “a low-frequency ensemble”, mainly exploring low brass instruments. All their songs are original, involving what the group describes as “groove cocktails served without complexes”.
“Ovar in Jazz” then ends with the “Discoslagens” project, in which DJ João Palavra, a producer at the Ovar Art Center itself, presents the public with a selection of themes that he says aim to create a sonic world map “sometimes relaxing, sometimes dancing, of music without prejudice and filled with love”.
GENERAL PASS | 4 days – €25,00
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April 17 | Wed | 21h30
MÁRIO COSTA QUARTET – CHROMOSOME
Ovar Art Center (stage box)
admission € 5,00 | recipients M/6 | duration 75′
April 18 | Thurs | 21h30
L.U.M.E. | LISBON UNDERGROUND MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Ovar Art Center
admission € 7,50 | recipients M/6 | duration 75′
April 19 | Fri | 21h30
ABE RÁBADE – BOTÁNICA
Ovar Art Center
entry € 10 | recipients M/6 | duration 80′
April 19 | Fri | 23h00
MANÉ FERNANDES – ENTER THE SQUIGG
CAO Bar
free admission | recipients M/6 | duration 60′
April 20 | sat | 21h30
AMARO FREITA “Y’Y”
Ovar Art Center
admission € 10 | recipients M/6 | duration 70′
April 20 | Sat | 23h00
R’B & MR SC
CAO Bar
free admission | recipients M/6 | duration 60′
April 20 | Sat | 00h00
DISCLOSURES
CAO Bar
free admission | recipients M/6 | duration 60′
April 20 | Sat | 16h00
The Rhythm… the Pulse… the Breath…Workshop
with Mário Costa
School of Arts and Crafts
Participation free of charge upon prior registration to ca****@cm*****.pt | duration 120′
+ info: ca****@cm*****.pt
https://cultura.cm-ovar.pt
Online Ticket Office https://ovar.bol.pt
