News -page consists of current topics and interesting articles about jazz in Finland.
The organizing association Rajatsi ry has decided to cancel the summer 2020 festival. The festival organizers believe that in the present situation it won’t be possible to run the festival in a safe and meaningful way.
A group formed by 18 Finnish top musicians grew tired of having their concerts cancelled during the corona pandemic and recorded a joint quarantine video remotely. Released on Friday 24th April, the video features several saxophonists, trumpeters, trombonists and other musicians as well as dancers. The new group is called Quarantine Big Band.fa
Ministry of Education and Culture is granting additional subsidies for cultural sector associations and operatives during the COVID-19 crisis. The subsidies are directed i.a. at national art institutions, cultural associations and professionals, museums, orchestras and theaters as well as operatives in the film industry. Deadline for the ministry subsidies is 14th May 2020.
To celebrate the International Jazz Day, Finnish Air Force Big Band releases a video on 30th April at 5pm together with six other military big bands. The song that is performed is "I'll Be Seeing You" by Glenn Miller, which was released for the first time during the second world war to bring hope of re-uniting the groups from the battle field.
The Finnish Music Foundation has distributed Jazz & Etno Finland LIVE subsidy funds worth of 130 000 € to 12 concert organizers.
Finnish government has decided to ban large public events and gatherings in Finland up until July 31st 2020. Due to this resolution we regret to inform that Pori Jazz 2020 has been cancelled. The 55th edition of Pori Jazz will be organised in July 2021 and the main concerts will be held at the Kirjurinluoto Concert Park between July 15th and 17th. This year's tickets vill remain valid for 2021.
On 22th of April, the Government of Finland issued a policy concluding that they will cancel public events of more than 500 people until the end of July. This unfortunately means that the two bigger events that were supposed to be held in the Taalintehdas and Turku area will be postponed to the summer of 2021. The status of the two smaller events, Korpo Sea Jazz and Åland Sea Jazz, will be updated in the near future.
The debut album by vocalist Kadi Vija's newest quartet Key Project comes out on Flame Jazz Records on the 15th of May. The extensive release tour was scheduled to take place in May, but is now postponed to May 2021.
The 34th April Jazz Festival was already announced to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but will be held after all through a live stream from April 22nd to 25th. The April Jazz Subgrooves live streaming festival presents eight jazz performances altogether, two each night. The live stream is available globally at Keikalla.fi -website.
UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and British-Nigerian soul singer-songwriter Ola Onabulé did not give up on moving their joint concert from April to December, but decided to delight their fans by implementing the music video as a remote recording.
