The group will play three concerts under the umbrella of the Jazz Tales Festival: two in Alexandria and one in Cairo, thanks to the contract with the Library of Alexandria that came about at the latest Fira B! market for music and performing arts in the Balearic Islands.

The first of these concerts will be on Tuesday 2 April at the Library of Alexandria, featuring Egyptian singer Nesma Mahgoub. On Wednesday 3 April, they will hold their second concert at the Library of Alexandria; and on Thursday 4 April, at the American University in Cairo.

RESULT OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN FIRA B! and IRL

Last year, IRL invited 24 international programmers to FiraB!, the professional music and performing arts market in the Balearic Islands. It is the perfect place to showcase contemporary Balearic creation to the general public and professionals from around the world, as well as establishing new lines of cooperation with other international creators. One of the participants in this a series of events was Neveen Kenawy, the artistic programmer for the Library of Alexandria Cultural Centre, which is helping organise the Tales Festival (Alexandria). At FiraB!, Kenawy had the opportunity to discover the latest, most representative proposals from artists in the Balearic Islands, including Glissando Big Band, which has been invited to the top jazz festival in Alexandria this year.

One of IRL’s lines of action in the music arena is to provide support for artists from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands to perform and/or tour outside of Catalonia, as well as promoting their participation in new national and international markets through specific collaboration agreements with prestigious institutions and festivals.  

GLISSANDO BIG BAND

Glissando Big Band is a jazz group with 18 musicians, one of the first stable associations of the kind on Mallorca, established in May 2011. From the beginning, the group has given concerts all over the island in order to promote and raise awareness of jazz and swing music in Mallorca and the Balearic Islands. In the style of US swing bands from the 1930s, the group has five saxophones (two altos, two tenors and one baritone), four trombones (three tenors and one bass), four trumpets, rhythm section (upright bass, guitar, piano and drums) and a singer. Their repertoire features songs by noteworthy artists such as Duke Ellington, Sammy Nestico, Henri Mancini, Count Basie and Glen Miller, among others.