Tom Step reports from Jazz in the Park. 30 August- 1 September 2024, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Artists: DAOUD, Qinta Spartă and Norzeatic, Oreglo, Jazzbois, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Isfar Sarabski, Cymande, Orchestra Baobab, Tigran Hamasyan Trio, Avishai Cohen Trio, Roni Kaspi
The unofficial capital of the historical Transylvania province may not be somewhere on your bucket list but when Jazz in the Park promises a weekend of sunny weather forecast and equally hot jazz names, what’s not to like?
Our driver from the airport told us that Cluj-Napoca was no tourist town. Maybe there were fewer fridge magnets and Cluj t-shirts but there was no shortage of sights to see. The second largest city in Romania is home to plenty of churches, a cathedral, museums and a rich, lest we forget, turbulent history. To my shame, my Romanian stretched to a few feeble words, no doubt horribly mispronounced so I was relieved to find that everyone seemed to speak English. What’s more, every time we introduced ourselves and said we’re here for Jazz in the Park, people knew what we were talking about. It was evident from the start that this festival has a positive reputation within the community. This is at the heart of the festival’s success.
Located in Cluj’s Ethnographic Park Romulus Vuia, the festival site is a fruitful, hilly orchard in which is nestled many ancient buildings collected from all across the local region. The festival is laid out with two large stages at each end of the park which provide music almost constantly from 3pm until midnight. Walking to and fro amongst the old wooden houses, farm buildings and mills, you will find food stools, tea gardens, coffee spots and some more unusual spots such as a marquee where you can sign up to learn various different instruments throughout the weekend. The old bandstand is the perfect DJ booth where tunes blasting constantly. The ‘Întâlniri pe prispă’ (porch meetings) provided a quieter space where you could watch talks with some of the headline acts. And if you wanted to escape it all, you could catch a ride in a tethered hot air balloon to take it all in from above.
The festival began at 5pm on Friday evening. As of last year, the organisers now run a sister event: the Jazz in the Park competition. The winner of this years competition, trumpeter DAOUD, opened the Backyard Stage this year. Kicking off the night and working hard to get the crowd into the festival spirit, the Toulous based trumpeter brought hooky tunes together with head-bopping improvisation. All this conducted with an intentionally awkward stage presence and somewhat provocative rockstar energy, ending the set with the crowd singing along to ‘Say My Name’.
Next up and no doubt a fan favourite, an all Romanian collaboration which brought together the band, Qinta Spartă and Norzeatic, a hip-hop artist, known for his poetic lyricism. A surprise attack of rain had the band pause as everyone ran for the trees, but it was over as soon as it began.
Other musical highlights of the first day included Oreglo – a London based prog-rock sounding four-piece notably featuring Tuba. Their odd time signatures and dynamic use of texture was something to get the brain working – and Jazzbois, groove-centric hip-hop jam band with trippy visuals matched their psychedelic soundscapes.
(drums). Photo credit David Vizi
The sun setting behind them as the weather dipped below 30°C and the idea of warm clothing became almost conceivable for the first time that day. The music packed day was wrapped up by the glam and glitter of New York with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox. It was a cabaret filled with unexpected twists: the old school renditions of pop classics were interspersed with moments of beatboxing, a Super Mario tap routine and covers of everything from Stevie Wonder to Darude Sandstorm. Add to this countless outfit changes and… that’s showbiz.
On Saturday Isfar Sarabski’s Quintet stood out as one of the best received acts of the festival. The pianist took us on a colourful journey of unexpected turns within the world of Azerbaijani folk music accompanied by Sasha Mashin (drums), Makar Novikov (bass) and Shahziyaz Jmanov (tar). The 11-stringed tar stood out, with an attack near to the banjo, and the resonance of a sitar, and sounded amazing when in unison with the piano. Although miles from the American songbook jazz that jazz students diligently study, there was no doubt that the facility is there. The ornaments of the traditional folk provided blues with a new flavour. Sarabski’s left hand vs right hand time-feel harked back to the likes of Erroll Garner and just felt so good. The band described the limitations of playing a shorted festival set in comparison to the usual two hours. This however didn’t stop them from having a compelling, virtuosic tar solo, moments of rich, free soundscape improvisation and the crowd not giving up without an encore.
The second evening headliners were the legendary British-Caribbean band, Cymande. Symbolising peace and love, the bands name means “dove” and they brought everyone together in joyful rhythm to sum up the second night of festivities in Cluj.
Sunday, the final day saw yet more exciting acts. Orchestra Baobab brought their African tradition and left everyone with no choice but to boogie. Then Tigran Hamasyan supplied us with a compelling concoction of Armenian folk, jazz and heavy metal. We were lucky enough to have a chat with Hamasyan in the morning, we talked about music, spirituality and his latest album “The Bird Of A Thousand Voices” which was released with French label, naïve on 30th August 2024 (the day before this performance). And performance was phenomenal. Hamasyan has built a wealth of folk vocabulary which he recites fluently. Then, contrastingly, the heavy metal of the piano’s bass strings is assertive and driving – his rhythm section did a lot to back up this ‘djent vibe. Arman Mnatsakanyan is a precise, powerhouse behind the drumkit and Marc Karapetian’s deep, 6-string bass with its satisfying sub tones sounded built for that festival sound-system, with him intermittently jumping up to fullfill a more melodic function.
Bringing the festival to a close was Avishai Cohen Trio and it was refreshing to see young talent, Roni Kaspi took metaphorical centre stage from the drum stool in the midst of a male dominated program.
When the first festival was held, 12 years ago, it was held in Simion Barnutiu Central Park. At this point, it was a free festival. Their local law meant that they could not walk on the grass in the park. They have opened this park up to the public. Now the festival has five stages, it is in it’s third year at it’s new location, but the Central Park remains open, thanks to them. “The festival is something that doesn’t last long you know?” says manager, Alin Vaida. “It’s like a butterfly: it dies in three days and you won’t see it for another year.” They are committed to having a positive lasting impact. Continuing in this vein, the festival works hard to align itself with European policies. Jazz in the Park were the first festival in Romania to introduce re-useable cups – this is a big thing when you consider only last year the country has implemented national recycling infrastructure.
When we asked Alin “why are you doing jazz in the park?” he explained that every time he used to get that question he’d say things that were good PR, for example we’re doing this for the community or we’re doing this for the museum or for jazz music or for money. “But the truth is” he said “these are consequences. We’re not doing it for any of these reasons. We’re doing this because we want to and we can and we’re managing to do it. It’s nice to spend your life like this.” It is exciting to see this passion project establishing itself as a positive beacon for its entire community, not only for the minority of local aspiring jazz musicians but for everyone it touches.
Tom Step travelled to Romania as the guest of Komiti/ Jazz in the Park
