2023-08-01 12:00:24
Raivo Tafenau quartet on stage. Photo: Natalia Starostina
Residents and guests of the Narva-Jõesuu resort will remember last Saturday, July 29, for a long time: the city was permeated with the sounds of jazz, laughter and the aromas of delicious food. The first festival “Narva-Jõesuu Jazz 2023” was held in Svetly Park. The weather either frowned, pouring warm summer rain, then smiled with the sun, and people kept coming and coming.
From 3 pm to 10 pm jazz musicians of world renown performed on the stage: the Black Lives international project “From Generation to Generation” from the USA, France, Holland, etc., the Lucy Woodward Quartet from the USA, the Raivo Tafenau Quartet and the Sofia Rubina Band from Estonia, as well as Sebastian Studnitsky.
“Today we are opening a festival that will become a Narva-Jõesuu tradition and that will last for at least 30 years,” said Oleg Pisarenko, one of the organizers of the festival, composer and musician, before the performance of the musicians.
Mayor of Narva-Jõesuu Maxim Ilyin shared with Narva Newspaper that the idea of the jazz festival came after the start of the covid. “My colleagues from the Center for the Interests of our city then began to develop options for the development of the tourism sector in limited conditions,” recalls Ilyin. – The idea of creating a jazz festival arose immediately. There are places in Estonia where people traditionally come to various festivals, for example, in Haapsalu or Saaremaa. Therefore, we decided that the jazz festival could be a good help for the city, attracting those who, for some reason, do not come to our existing events.”
Partners, according to Ilyin, were looking for about two years. At first, they hoped for the locals, but in the end, the case brought Oleg Pisarenko, who immediately got involved in the work. The festival is partly funded by the city, but mostly by the European Union under the European Neighborhood Instrument. Entrance to the festival was free. Ilyin does not hide the fact that the continuation of the festival next year will be a big challenge for the city, when it may be necessary to finance the event only from the city budget. But he is sure that the city will find funds, and the festival will become traditional.
“I always thought that there must be a festival in Ust-Narva, jazz is in the air here, I feel it,” Oleg Pisarenko shared his emotions with NG, adding that he spent his childhood in Narva-Jõesuu.
Performance by Sophia Rubina’s band. Photo: Natalia Starostina
Pisarenko said that he had been nurturing the idea of a jazz festival for several months. “At some point, we agreed at one point: Ust-Narva with my plans, and I with my undertakings,” the musician shares. – It was impossible to do it alone, but together with Ust-Narva and the Center for Interests it turned out to be possible. I understood that the jazz festival in Narva-Jõesuu should have a special program so that it would appeal to the general public: both Russian-speaking and Estonian-speaking, both locals and tourists. I also wanted the music to be festive, light and not too complicated. Therefore, the choice fell on these musicians. For example, Lucy Woodworth performs music that can be defined as more jazz and almost pop, in a good sense of the word.
He believes that the annual jazz festival will fill the resort with a new atmosphere, attracting both citizens and tourists, as well as investors: time”.
Of course, at the festival it was also possible to have a snack: shish kebabs, hodgepodge, various snacks, desserts and drinks. For children, trampolines and a carousel were installed in the play area. And the biggest romantics and lovers of Narva-Jõesuu could buy a postcard with views of the resort, drawn by members of the Sketchy Seiklus Club of Sketchy Seiklus, for 1 euro, and send it anywhere in Estonia for free. The guests of the festival enthusiastically sent greetings to their relatives and friends and took pictures in the photo zone, personifying a corner of the terrace at the resort dacha: an armchair, a table with a white tablecloth, tea, a book, a bouquet of wildflowers.
The festival program also included a five-day jazz camp, where 20 young musicians from Tallinn, Tartu, Viljandi, Narva and Sillamäe took master classes with world-famous musicians: Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu, bass legend Reggie Washington from the USA, guitarist and Professor of Berkeley College (USA) David Gilmour, singer from Washington DC Christy Dashiell and saxophonist Pierrick Pedron from France.
Photo: Natalia Starostina
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