Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest Festival
26–29 March 2025
Opus Jazz Club

For more than three and a half decades, the Strasbourg-based Jazzdor Festival has been one of the most important events on the European jazz scene, both professionally and in terms of audience success. After Berlin, Budapest is the second city to host a special edition of the festival. From 26 to 29 March, the second special edition of the Jazzdor Festival in Budapest will take place at Opus Jazz Club, where the philosophy of French creative jazz meets the work of Hungarian and international artists associated with Budapest Music Center. The festival, realised as an international collaboration, features eight bands in four concerts.

On the first day of the festival, Claudia Solal and Benjamin Moussay present their new chimeric pop-jazz repertoire: Punk Moon, also to be released this spring on the Jazzdor Series record label, is based on Solal’s English poems, partly inspired by the post-war American movement called confessional poetry. The duo’s unique sound is as much obvious and fluid as elaborate and moving, mixing piano, modular synth, voice, and mastered effects. The second half of the concert features Louis Sclavis and his India Quartet. “I have distant memories of a theater on the docks of Calcutta, of a long train in the countryside, of a night at Kali temple, of a marching brass band during Ganesh festivals, and others. These impressions are sometimes present in my compositions; I wish to offer sounds from a faraway land, more imaginary than real”, said Sclavis.

A stellar band from the new generation of Hungarian folk jazz, Kovász (Sourdough in English) put hard bop and free jazz in their jars, fed the pre-ferment with characteristic elements and dances of Hungarian folk music, and of course some hip-hop and funk mixed in from the air. On March 27, they present their debut album, to be released mid-February on BMC Records. After their audio-gastronomic expedition, Bonbon Flamme mixes an imaginary cocktail of delicate lyricism and high energy: in their new repertoire, recently released on BMC Records, the avant-garde, noisy sound has been toned down to allow a more polished, yet extremely spicy and intense musical world come to the fore, inspired by Valentin Ceccaldi's experiences in Mexico.

The collaboration of Mike Ladd and Mathieu Sourisseau is based on a duet in the simplest device, a voice and a guitar. With his acoustic guitar in open tuning, Sourisseau deploys sonorous landscapes, navigating between blues, noise-folk, rock or improvised music on 28 March, while Ladd gives life to his poetic texts, equally tending towards chanson, rap or scansion. Six Migrant Pieces – using emblematic texts by Martin Luther King, Marie José Mondzain or Abbé Pierre – is an invitation to hospitality. The 6 compositions of Christophe Monniot, written specially for this band, are nourished by the cultural heritage of different countries, as well as by great artists like Olivier Messiaen, the Weather Report, Leonard Bernstein, Wynton Marsalis or Allan Holdsworth.

The festival comes to its conclusion on 29 March with Sylvain Cathala’s trio featuring Kamilya Jubran, and the Hungarian ambassador of gnawa music, Tariqa. The collaboration of Palestinian singer and oud player Kamilya Jubran and Sylvain Cathala’s French trio is based on Cathala’s contemporary composition and Jubran's modern orality. During the past decade, they have been revisiting their pieces to benefit musical expressiveness and lyricism, while also conceiving new programs. The music of Tariqa is an organic and unique fusion where Moroccan Gnawa and Hungarian folk music meet to reveal a new musical domain. Tariqa's immersive concerts are ritual experiences where the audience becomes a participant, not just a listener. As William Burroughs put it, Gnawa is “the world's oldest, 4000-year-old rock 'n' roll,” and this tradition is reborn in a new form through Tariqa's art.

Tickets for the Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest Festival's concerts are available for 3900 HUF on the spot, online at bmc.jegy.hu, and at InterTicket Jegypont partners across Hungary.

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Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest | Claudia Solal – Benjamin Moussay (FR) | Louis Sclavis India Quartet (FR)
26.03.2025. 8 PM
Opus Jazz Club

Featuring:
Claudia Solal – Benjamin Moussay:
Claudia Solal – vocals
Benjamin Moussay – piano
Louis Sclavis India Quartet:
Louis Sclavis – clarinet, saxophone
Olivier Laisney – trumpet
Benjamin Moussay – piano
Christophe Lavergne – drums

Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest | Kovász (HU) | Bonbon Flamme (FR/PT/BE)
27.03.2025. 8 PM
Opus Jazz Club

Featuring:
Kovász:
Gergő Kováts – saxophone, bass clarinet
Máté Pozsár – piano, synth
Ábel Dénes – double bass, gardon
Attila Gyárfás – drums, gong, ring modulator
Bonbon Flamme:
Valentin Ceccaldi – cello
Luis Lopes – guitar
Fulco Ottervanger – piano, keys, vocals
Etienne Ziemniak – drums

Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest | Reverse Winchester (US/FR) | Six Migrant Pieces (FR/BE)
28.03.2025. 8 PM
Opus Jazz Club

Featuring:
Reverse Winchester:
Mike Ladd – vocals, lyrics
Mathieu Sourisseau – guitar
Six Migrant Pieces:
Christophe Monniot – saxophone
Aymeric Avice – trumpet
David Chevallier Wille – guitar
Jozef Dumoulin – piano
Bruno Chevillon – double bass
Franck Vaillant – drums

Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest | Sylvain Cathala Trio feat. Kamilya Jubran (FR/PS) | Tariqa (MA/HU)
29.03.2025. 8 PM
Opus Jazz Club

Featuring:
Sylvain Cathala Trio feat. Kamilya Jubran:
Kamilya Jubran – vocals, oud
Sylvain Cathala – saxophone
Sarah Murcia – double bass
Christophe Lavergne – drums
Tariqa:
Said Tichiti – vocals, gembri
Péter Bede – saxohpone, flute
Ferenc Kovács – violin, trumpet, vocals
Ádám Mészáros – guitar
András Halmos – drums

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