The Israeli Jazz & World Music Festival returns to Chicago this year with an even more diverse array of artists, featuring clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, the Idan Raichel Project and many others.
World-music sensation Mika Karni launches the festival on Tuesday, May 6 with free concerts at Daley Plaza and the Chicago Cultural Center.
Throughout the week, festival fans can enjoy free shows at the Chicago Cultural Center (Reut Regev), Old Town School of Folk Music (2013 festival favorite Hadar Noiberg), and Beth Shalom B'Nai Zaken and Temple Sholom congregations (Mattan Klein).
City Winery hosts two global stars: Keren Ann on May 7 and Avishai Cohen on May 11. The festival concludes with two Chicago favorites: Idan Raichel making his Auditorium Theater debut on May 15, and Anat Cohen playing a double bill at the Green Mill Jazz Club with her quartet on May 16 and 17.
The festival is presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. The eight featured artists all reflect the multicultural mosaic and collaborative spirit of Israel.
Maya Karmely, Consul for Public Affairs of the Israeli Consulate, explains that there is no one style of music that can be called "Israeli Jazz."
"Israel, because if its location, because of its nature, is a cosmopolitan crossroad. It imports, it exports, it embraces different cultures," she said. "There is no one Israeli jazz style. The country's so broad, it's so diverse, there's a wide spectrum of different talents and musical styles."
The musicians in the festival reflect this Israeli diversity. "Everyone will be able to find one musician or style they relate to at the festival: It could be Afro-Caribbean, it could be Middle Eastern, it could be Klezmer, it could be straight-ahead jazz," Karmely said.
"All those influences, plus some kind of Israeli element."
For more information online, click here: https://isra.li/jazzfest
