Economic Growth Bulgaria Project #39027

Help Vitalize Nine Bulgarian Villages

by Devetaki Plateau Association

Project Report | Apr 9, 2024
Thank you for your continuous support

By Iva Taralezhkova | Board Chair, Devetaki Plateau Association

Jazz and bass under the stars

Dear donors, dear friends,

This year we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of our Jazz Under the Stars of The Devetaki Plateau festival!!!

As you already know, the Devetaki Plateau Association is a non-for-profit organization working for over 15 years for the economic, social, cultural and tourist development of nine small Bulgarian villages in the area of 3 municipalities– Lovech, Letnitsa, and Sevlievo. As a part of our activities, we organize an annual jazz – festival “Jazz Under the Stars of the Devetaki Plateau” – an event aimed at promoting the area as a cultural tourist destination.

And, it happened: the festival has become the most popular event in the region bringing throughout the years over 100 famous Bulgarian jazz – musicians and over 10 000 people audience. The festival is free-entrance as it is an event with a special cause – promote the beauty of the Devetaki Plateau, foster cultural life, and enliven the villages in the region.

On 28 – 30 June 2024 our Jazz Under the Stars festival will be held for a 10th consecutive year. This is a special anniversary for us and we have invited a very special guest - a Spanish singer, Mrs. Carme Canela - one of the most charming and famous jazz singers in Spain, one of the first Catalonian educators in this genre since the 90’s. She has played at jazz festivals all across Spain and Europe and is a very respected musician, however, this will be her first time in Bulgaria. She is a wonderful performer and it will be a great privilege to have her on our stage.

Carme Canela will be accompanied by the Spanish piano-player Joan Monné - another impressive performer and professor with many original albums in his career. We are planning to make a collaboration between the two of them and Arnau Garrofe Farras, a Catalonian saxophonist who lives in Bulgaria, as well as with the other Bulgarian musicians at the stage.

We have also invited the Balkan jazz trio Jazzta Prasta. This is a formation founded in 2004 by world famous accordion player and composer Martin Lubenov, virtuoso guitarist Angel Demirev and master bassist Mihail Ivanov - Misho. Next in the program we have planned a master - class for young musicians lead by the extraordinary piano-player and professor, Konstantin Kostov. An interactive lecture on the origins of jazz will follow lead by Vladimir Radulov, a prominent Bulgarian professor, trainer and musician. The major concert will invite over 15 musicians to play individually and together under the stars, at times giving birth to new and spontaneous collaborations and pieces. The concert will evolve into an open-end jam session lasting until the stars dive into the dawn. The Sunday morning is the Jazz For Kids time – with Ventsislav Blagoev, the leader of the format and a musical director of the whole festival.

Thanks to our community, to our efforts and to your continuous support we have managed so far very well. We have worked hard and the program is already at hand.

Thank you for being our friends and we hope you will stay with us for this very special edition of the Festival!

Jazz for Kids and their families

Links:

A short video from Jazz Under The Stars - 2023

Permalink

Nov 24, 2023
Jazz Under The Stars - a rural development model

By Iva Taralezhkova | Board Chair

Jazz sings in Bulgarian

Another year is coming to an end. With the Ninth edition of our rural festival Jazz Under The Stars of The Devetaki Plateau behind, we balance between achievements and challenges.

Every year our humble initiative for enlivening the nine villages in the Devetaki Plateau, Bulgaria, is getting broader and more ambitious. This year's festival was a good example: we had a three - day event, rich in activities and emotions:

The concert "Jazz Sings In Bulgarian" was held on the first evening - 30.06.2023, in the village of Karpachevo, in the yard of the former school, at present - a hospitable guesthouse. Marina Gospodinova - vocals, Milen Kukosharov - piano, Ventseslav Blagoev - trumpet, played popular jazz standards arranged over the beautiful poems of Maria Doneva, who was also there, reading pieces of her poetry. A jam - session followed inviting more than ten other jazz musicians before over 250 guests from the region and the surrounding towns.

Two master - classes were held in the morning of 01.07.2023 in the Old Mill - the newly renovated Cilture and Information Centre in Karpachevo village. They were lead by the renown musicians and pedagogs Milen Kukosharov - "Jazz Improvisation", and Marina Gospodinova - "Jazz Singing". Fifteen students took part in these classes - youngsters studying jazz and other genres, as well as a number of side guests, who came to listen, attracted by the interesting lectures and interactions of the two exceptional master - class leaders.

The basic Jazz - concert was held in the evening on 01.07.2023 - in the open, under the stars near the Garvanitsa Cave, between the villages Gorsko Slivovo and Karpachevo, Letnitsa municipality. We erected a professional stage that was granted for free by the municipality of Sevlievo - one of the three municipalities - partners of the Devetaki Plateau Association. We also had the support of the municipalities of Letnitsa and Lovech to which we are really grateful!

Twenty - two outstanding Bulgarian jazz musicians stepped on the stage under the stars: Marina Gospodinova, Militsa Gladnishka, and Petar Terziev - vocals, Milen Kukosharov, Vladimir Radulov and Stanislav Arabadzhiev - piano, Georgi Kornazov, Rosen Zahariev and Ventseslav Blagoev - trumpet, Nevilian Gemizhev - clarinet, and many others. The audence (over 1000 people) inclided people from the villages and from the whole country.

The "Jazz For Kids" concert was organized on the Sunday morning, 02.07.2023. More than 40 familied with their kids as well as many other jazz - lovers took part in the interactive format under the proficient guidance of ts author and leader, Ventsislav Blagoev, a person of great contribution to Bulgarian culture, and with many of the musicians participating in the other parts of the event.

Thanks to all of you, dear donors, friends, like-minded, thanks to the local community, the municipalities, and the businesses who believed us once again we were able to organize a real celebration of the living villages and to make our beautiful area the centre of Jazz, Education and Culture - for three whole days!

THANK YOU AND STAY WITH US!!!

Jazz energy under the stars

Let me see how many singers in the room

Master class Jazz improvisation

Jazz for Kids

Jazz for the whole Devetaki Plateau

Permalink

Apr 3, 2023
Getting started for the ninth edition

By Iva Taralezhkova | Board Chair of Devetaki Plateau Association

Nature is love

Dear friends and donors,

After a good last year, we have started the preparation of the new Jazz Fest edition already! This year, the event will enliven our nine villages for the ninth time! The dates are June, 30 - July, 02, 2023.

After a serious analysis of the work of our Devetaki Plateau Association, Jazz under the Stars of The Devetaki Plateau was identified as the most significant initiative in the region! This is no doubt the biggest event in the villages and in the area as a whole. For the local people, the festival is a time of intensive cultural and social life, meeting people, and self-esteem. It is a reason for them to look around with dignity, to talk to guests and tourists and realize their lives matter and their little villages are actually alive and attractive.

For the music fans that come from all over the country and from abroad, this is an opportunity to enjoy freedom, nature, and art together, to meet like-minded people, to leave the hustling towns and the city behind for a little while. For a little while, they forget about traffic-jams and crowded spaces, phone calls and emails, they lean on the grass and enjoy the music and the air.

This year's edition will start on Friday, June 30, with a beautiful concert called "Jazz Sings Bulgarian". Marina Gospodinova - vocal, Maria Doneva - poems, Antony Donchev - piano, and Ventsislav Blagoev - trumpet - these are all people with an exceptional contribution to Bulgarian music and culture. At 20.00 h. EET they will present their debut album combining the universes of jazz with the beauty of Bulgarian language, the words sung and voiced. A jam session will follow, leading us to the first July morning!

Saturday, July 1st will be very special for us. We will organize free master-classes for pupils and students from the area - a unique opportunity for them to meet and work with professional musicians. In the evening,after 19.00 h., the big concert will gather Bulgarian jazz stars: Militsa Gladnishka, Milen Kukosharov, Ventsy Blagoev, and many more will share music and emotions with those who come under the stars of the Devetaki Plateau!

For the youngest inhabitants and guests of the villages in the region, we have planned a Sunday matinee: Jazz For Kids will draw in children and their families in the Devetaki Plateau in a moving experience. Our professionals will share the stage with everyone who wants to sing or play an instrument - to bring jazz closer to their hearts and minds.

Dear friends, help us make this happen once again! We appreciate your support - it gives life and visibility to our nine villages and to our small community!

Love is shared

Jazz for kids

Jazz for All

Links:

"...and the way you look tonight"

Permalink

1 2 3 4 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.