- Minnesota Sur Seine
The Minnesota Sur Seine is a music festival held every October in the Twin Cities,
Minnesota . It was established in 2004 by the French record producerJean Rochard .Minnesota sur Seine was conceived to provide a means for regional musicians of the highest artistic caliber to collaborate with international artists of an equal or greater level of mastery. Originally presented as primarily a
jazz festival, Minnesota sur Seine has broadened to include rock,hip-hop , Celtic, Berber, percussion and other genres. Programming in 2006 will continue to offer a broad spectrum of music while maintaining the festivals primary focus; providing a showcase for collaborative performance and artistic experimentation between regional and international musicians.Minnesota sur Seine has a confirmed line up including:
Anthony Cox ,Fat Kid Wednesdays ,Stokley Williams ,Happy Apple ,Jello Slave ,Geoge Cartwright and ,Chris Thomson andBrother Ali from the Twin Cities. National and international participants include:Evan Parker ,Benoit Delbecq ,Peter Brotzman ,Ursus Minor ,Tony Hymas ,Bernard Lubat ,Denis Colin ,Pablo Cueco ,Didier Petit ,Regis Huby ,Jacky Molard ,Helene Labarriere ,Janick Martin ,Francois Corneloup ,Mark Sanders ,Umar bin Hassin ,Jef Lee Johnson and French ActressNatalie Richard among others.A highlight of 2006 festival will be a performance by a group of six Moroccan women singers called
B'net Houariyat , who sing, dance, and chant in a trance like style of music. Based inMarrakech, Morocco , they have recorded withPeter Gabriel as well as our ownHappy Apple .“Minnesota sur Seine” translates to “Minnesota on the Scene” (the Seine is the famous river running through Paris), and pays homage to the exciting musical exchange developing between the Twin Cities and
Paris . A host of pioneering musicians from both River towns will come together for an adventure in music and cross-cultural collaboration. Each night usually features two concerts with combinations showing both French and Minnesotans in collaboration.The roots of the festival began in 2000 when
Michel Portal , a reed player and leading figure in modern European jazz, along with iconoclastic French record producerJean Rochard , visited the Twin Cities. Excited about what they found, the team entered Creation Audio in Minneapolis and recorded a CD called Minneapolis (Universal Music Jazz France / 2001) with Portal (bass clarinet, saxophones, bandoneon),Vernon Reid ofLiving Colour (guitar),Tony Hymas ofJeff Beck fame (keyboards),Sonny Thompson (bass, rap) andMichael Bland (drums). Minneapolis became jazz record of the year in France and had the best jazz record sales of the year 2001. It was followed with a live CD,Minneapolis We Insist , documenting a French tour that culminated with a tremendous success at Paris Olympia and even a box set entitledDipping in Minneapolis .External links
* [http://www.surseine.com Official Site - www.surseine.com]
* [http://www.myspace.com/surseine www.myspace.com/surseine]
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20005 Review of 2005 festival on AllAboutJazz.com]
* [http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/5567/53/ Review of 2005 festival on JazzPolice.com]
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