Jazz Fest Berlin 2010: KINSMEN feat. Rudresh Mahanthappa & Kadri Gopalnath (04/11/2010)

3 –7 November

For more than 40 years each fall the Berlin Jazzfestival turns the city into a major international meeting point for jazz musicians and -fans alike. JazzFest Berlin 2010, November 3-7, puts an emphasis on European Jazz and will showcase a lot of varieties in a densely packed programme that is contemporary but in a tradition-conscious way.

Nils Landgren © Steven Haberland

The full and varied programme is equally traditional and progressive, and has tended to focus in particular on big bands and large ensembles. This five-day »jazz marathon« also sounds the spectacular final chord of each year in Berlin’s jazz calendar.

Several generations of German jazz talent will be featured: from swinging ‘elder Statesman’ Emil Mangelsdorff to restless seeker and innovator Joachim Kühn and up to budding piano talent Pablo Held, to name but a few. A manifold and long-haul concert is dedicated to Jazz Institut Berlin, the city’s musical college, and to ‚Europe’s next jazz generation’ … some staff in attendance, though.

From “deep in the heart of Europe”, Austria sends a considerable array, spearheaded by Jazz Bigband Graz. In addition to improvisers like bass clarinettist Denis Colin and baritone saxophonist Céline Bonacina, France sends its Orchestre National de Jazz to Berlin paying an extraordinary homage to Billie Holiday.Artistic director Nils Landgren’s musical survey of Europe –from Helsinki to Skopje and from Kiev to Dublin– has delivered exciting results for the inquiring ear and mind.

The five-day festival calendar is as inviting as it is brimmed with enthralling acts. Enjoy the ‘live’ excitement at the clubs A-Trane and Quasimodo, at the Savoy Hotel, at Georg-Neumann-Saal of Jazz Institut Berlin – and as always, at Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

JazzFest Berlin 2010 Flyer – download as PDF file

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Thu 04-11-2010 | 07:00 pm CET

• KINSMEN feat.
  Rudresh Mahanthappa & Kadri Gopalnath

Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage

Rudresh Mahanthappa : Alto Saxophone
Kadri Gopalnath : Alto Saxophone
A. Kanyakumari : Violin
Rez Abassi: Guitar
Poovalur Sriji : Mridangam
Carlo de Rosa : Bass
Dan Weiss : Drums

© La Frances Hui

Kinsmen is Rudresh Mahanthappa’s collaboration with Kadri Gopalnath, a living legend of Indian music known as “The Emperor of the Saxophone”, a true innovator in bringing the saxophone to Indian classical music. The music on the homonymously titled album Kinsmen, featuring their co-led Dakshina Ensemble, is exemplar of successful multicultural, transnational collaboration. Utilizing his extensive knowledge of both jazz and the traditional melodic and rhythmic concepts of Indian music, Mahanthappa has masterfully provided a framework that has brought out the best in all the musicians, resulting in spectacular interaction and virtuosic displays. The music burns with passionate interplay: Mahanthappa’s biting attack intertwined with Gopalnath’s staccato outbursts; Kanyakumari’s slippery portamento and Abbasi’s Mahavishnu-like single note runs. Rather than “Indo-jazz fusion”, the music harmoniously synthesizes the cultural and musical divide, creating a sound that truly transcends labels and genre.

Utilizing Indian ragas, songs, and rhythmic cycles as a starting point, Mahanthappa composes new melodies and harmonies that connect them with a jazz sensibility. About the collaboration, Rudresh says:

“The piece is really about finding this middle ground where we’re both comfortable playing in this setting that is half-Western and half-South Indian, and maybe pushing to a point where it actually becomes neither (…) Eventually though, I would just ask Kadri to think of something contrapuntally to play with my parts, and he’d sit there and think for a minute and then come up with these beautiful melodies, these lines weaving in and out of each other. It was really amazing.”

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Further Programme… 3rd – 7th November

Wed 03-11-2010 | 18:00

JazzTalk ‘Two for the Blues’
Homage to Jon Hendricks

Venue: Hotel Savoy Berlin

Wed 03-11-2010 | 20:30

Blues March – Soldat Jon Hendricks
Film by Malte Rauch (2009)

Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Side Stage

Wed 03-11-2010 | 22:30

Emil Mangelsdorff Quartett
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Side Stage

Thu 04 + Fri 05-11-2010 | 22:00

Céline Bonacina Trio
Venue: JazzFest@A-Trane

Thu 04-11-2010 | 22:30

Roger Hanschel’s Heavy Rotation
Venue: Quasimodo

Thu 04-11-2010 | 23:30

Paavo
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Side Stage

Fri 05-11-2010 | 19:00

‘Beyond’ zeitkratzer vs. Terje Rypdal & Palle Mikkelborg
Studio Dan feat. Nika Zach
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage

Fri 05-11-2010 | 20:00

Stomping@Savoy
Jean-Pierre Froehly Trio meets Malte Dürrschnabel

Venue: Hotel Savoy Berlin

Fri 05-11-2010 | 22:00

Bleu
Denis Colin & la Société des Arpenteurs
Venue: Georg-Neumann-Saal, Jazz Institute Berlin

Fri 05-11-2010 | 22:30

Led Bib
Venue: Quasimodo

Fri 05-11-2010 | 23:30

Little Red Suitcase
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Side Stage

Sat 06-11-2010 | 19:00

Long Night of the JIB
Venue: Georg-Neumann-Saal, Jazz Institute Berlin

Sat 06-11-2010 | 20:00

Moss
‘Out of the Desert’ hr-Bigband feat. Joachim Kühn Trio
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage

Sat 06 + Sun 07-11-2010 | 22:00

Magnus Lindgren ‘Batucada Jazz’
Venue: JazzFest@A-Trane

Sat 06-11-2010 | 22:30

Borderhopping
Anderson-Bennink-Möbus-Glerum-van Kemenade
Venue: Quasimodo

Sat 06-11-2010 | 23:30

Peter Bolte
Pablo Held Trio
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Side Stage

Sun 07-11-2010 | 15:00

‘Between Shores’ Kocani Orkestar meets Municipale Balcanica & Roberto Ottaviano
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage

Sun 07-11-2010 | 17:00

Ulrich Drechsler Cello Quartet
Iro Haarla Sextet
Venue: Georg-Neumann-Saal, Jazz Institute Berlin

Sun 07-11-2010 | 20:00

Django Bates Beloved Bird
Orchestre National de Jazz / D. Yvinec ‘Broadway In Satin’
Venue: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage

Sun 07-11-2010 | 22:30

Christine Tobin
Partisans
Venue: Quasimodo

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Tickets – Prices (Online Orders)

Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Main Stage
4, 5, 6, 7 November € 45.00 | 35.00 | 25.00 | 15.00 | 10.00
7 November (15:00) € 35.00 | 28.00 | 20.00 | 15.00 | 10.00

Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Seitenbühne
3 November film € 6.00
3 November concert € 10.00
3 November film + concert € 12.00
4, 5, 6 November € 12.00

A-Trane € 12.00
Quasimodo € 18.00
Georg-Neumann-Saal € 12.00

Hotel Savoy Berlin
3 November Jazz Talk free admission
Limited seating capacity, tickets from 17:00 on the spot
5 November € 15.00

Wheelchair Spaces The Haus der Berliner Festspiele offers designated wheelchair spaces. These are not available for online booking but can be reserved by phone or e-mail ( ticketinfo@berlinerfestspiele.de ).

Box Office of Berliner Festspiele

Schaperstraße 24
10719 Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Phone +49 (0)30 254 89-100
Monday to Saturday from 14:00 to 18:00
Sunday 7 November from 14:00

Tickets are available at the evening box office one hour prior to the performance.
Advance purchase tickets are also available at most advance ticket agencies.

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Artist Archive from 1964 to 2009

Please find a complete listing of concerts and artists at the Berlin Jazz Festival in the data base here.

(Source: 10/2010 – Berliner Festspiele – Jazz Fest Berlin 2010)

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