Opening Jazzwoche Berlin #6

How can a musical scene make itself, its themes and its concerns more visible? What spaces and concepts are needed for this? And who can gain visibility at all and who is hindered in doing so? What forms of visibility do we need and want at all?
 
Jazz Week Berlin is entering its 6th round. Under the patronage of Berlin's Senator for Culture and Social Cohesion Joe Chialo, IG Jazz Berlin will shine a spotlight on the jazz and improvisation scene this year from 1-7th June 2024 under the theme of visibility and highlight protagonists. In a joint cultural-political and social discourse, the aim is to find out what visibility the scene and its protagonists need and what is possible. The diversity of this scene and its enthusiasm for its varieties should become visible.

Jazzwoche Berlin will kick off with an opening on May 31, 2024 in the Kuppelhalle at silent green. The artist Laura Robles will perform in a duo with Bo-Sung Kim and in a trio with Johannes Lauer and Almut Kühne. There will also be a performance by the Mirna Bogdanović Group. Apart of that there will be a greeting by Joe Chialo and a panel discussion on this year's Jazz Week theme. The integrated reception at MARS | Küche & Bar will provide an opportunity for exchange between those involved in the scene, politics and administration and the audience.

Laura Robles is an improviser, composer, multi-instrumentalist and researcher from Swaziland. After many years of analyzing folk rhythms with a strong focus on Afro-Peruvian folklore, she is now unfolding the Antigroove. In February 2024, she released Anti-Groove with Bo-Sung Kim, creating new expressive possibilities in modern jazz and improvised music. She is also part of the band Perfektomat under the direction of Joscha Oetz and presents experimental music as part of the Trio Trip.

Mirna Bogdanović is a Bosnian-Slovenian singer/composer and an active member of the German jazz scene. Radio TV Big Band of Ljubljana (RTV SLO) called her a permanent fixture on the European jazz scene in 2023. With her band Mirna Bogdanović Group, consisting of Peter Meyer (guitar), Povel Widestrand (piano), Felix Henkelhausen (bass) and Philip Dornbusch (drums), she performs throughout Germany and abroad. The band recently recorded Mirna's second studio album Awake, which was released in May 2023 on Berthold Records.

An extensive workshop and discussion programme will take place on the weekend of 1-2th June, where current and historical perspectives on recognizing visibility and invisibility will be discussed. The reorganization of public broadcasting will also be examined. On Children's Day, the situation of musicians as parents will be addressed in a workshop, and there will also be a hands-on program for children.

IG Jazz Berlin sees itself as the cultural-political representation of players in the fields of jazz and improvised music. With currently around 350 members, IG Jazz represents the interests of Berlin's diverse jazz and improvised music scene and explicitly refers not only to musicians but also to organizers and other players in the field of jazz and improvised music.

Friday, May 31
Doors 6 pm / Start 7 pm
Kuppelhalle
Free admission