Shkodra to host seventh jazz festival

TIRANA, June 10 – Albanian and international jazz musicians will perform for two days from June 11 to 12 in a festival in the northern city of Shkodra. The seventh edition of the annual festival is organized by the Rrok Jakaj Cultural Association, and the Optional Music International. The annual Shkodra Jazz Festival is an effort to bring new music varieties to the cultural life of northern Albania. Since 2005, the festival has brought top performers from Western Europe, the United States, as well as local talents. Through the years, it managed to bring performers like saxophonists Diego Borotti and Michael Rosen, trumpeter Johannes Faber, harpists Park Stickney and Uschi Laar, pianists Fred Ferrari and Markelian Kapedani, as well as Eileina, a singer. The program has included classic and contemporary, ethnic, Gypsy and Latin jazz. The festival has also reached out to the musical community in Shkodra, Albania and beyond, through musical education offered by the performers in different workshops. It has also built a network of international performances and presentations mostly in Italy and Germany. It has also reached out to underprivileged groups in the society by offering them musical training. The festival intends to become a necessary stop for music and party lovers in the region, by offering a complex product of quality music, education, tourism and regional development. While most concerts are performed at the Migjeni Theatre Hall of Shkodra, the festival has also reached out to the public through various street performances and late jam sessions in some of the main bars of the city. The festival is dedicated to Rrok Jakaj, a renowned Albanian violinist and musical manager who parented the idea and supported it until his premature death.