IN PHOTOS: The 1st Euro-Pinoy Jazz Concert

MANILA, Philippines — It was rock, flamenco, experimental, folk, electronic, and everything in between.

It was jazz perfection.

It was a music-filled evening last Friday, February 21, as 5 jazz titans performed together for the 1st Euro-Pinoy Jazz Concert. Furio di Castri from Italy, Nguyên Lê from France, Tino di Geraldo from Spain, Michael Schiefel from Germany, and Tots Tolentino from the Philippines performed an eclectic and original set to the appreciative, dance-ready crowd at Arts in the City, Taguig.

Prior to the concert, the musicians engaged in a 3-day workshop to listen to each other’s compositions, work on their arrangements, and rehearse their sets. But the improvisation and creation continued even as they were performing new versions of their own pieces like “Encanto (Nguyên Lê)” “Platypus Happy (Michael Schiefel),” and “Sueno (Furio di Castri).”

“In jazz, it’s very easy to communicate, it’s not like classical music or rock or pop where you have to rehearse a lot,” says Furio di Castri. “Everyone brought some music, but we were flexible, ready to play anything and it worked out well.”

Though some of the artists have encountered each other in past festivals, it was the first time for all 5 to share one stage. Michael Schiefel shares his thoughts on the experience: “We have different musical styles, and I think that really shows because you have parts of the concert when it’s suddenly super quiet, and then suddenly it bursts and becomes aggressive… it becomes a strange mix, which is nice.”

Nguyen Le adds, “The beauty of jazz is it’s improvisation, that means there’s so many things that you have not planned, which happened just because everybody’s creative.”

It was Tots Tolentino’s first time to compose and play with the four European artists. “Yung maganda sa jazz, everybody knows kung ano gagawin. May silent rules, parang ganun. And we seldom see yung mga musicians na talaga namang ganito, yung seasoned (The good thing about jazz is that everyone knows what to do. There are silent rules. And we seldom see musicians of this calibre, the really seasoned ones),” he says.

But the Filipino saxophonist says that although the arrangements were intricate, the entire process was very relaxed. 

“It’s hard and difficult, but it’s always like that… and we are in for that, that’s why we like it,” adds Tino di Geraldo about the collaboration process.

If you missed last night’s performance, there will be a reprise on Saturday, February 22 at the Maestranza Plaza in Intramuros, Manila. You can also view photos from the concert in the slideshow below. — Rappler.com

All photos by Manman Dejeto/Rappler