Ten years after it all began, Windcraft Music Festival returns to Cyprus village
Next week The Windcraft Music Fest celebrates its tenth anniversary in the intimate village of Katydata, with two days of workshops, concerts and music jams on July 13 and 14 with wind instruments in the leading role. Here’s what to expect.
The line-up of Windcraft Music Fest 10 features winds in many different musical styles: mesmerising jazz, contemporary music infused by folk traditions, a mixture of acoustic and electronic sounds, powerful Balkan and techno brass bands, electrifying funky beats, atmospheric sunset ragas, interdisciplinary performances, an exciting combination of music and storytelling and a DIY saxophone quartet.
This year the Orchard – the festival’s main stage – will blossom with music by the Andreas Polyzogopoulos Trio and Odysseas Toumazou’s Origins project, as well as with the blend of Cretan and rock music of Ideaon Project with the addition of the uilleann pipes of Loïc Bléjean.
Powerful Balkan and techno brass sounds will excite corners of the village with Captain Stambolov and Mefisto Brass respectively and with a mix of acoustic instruments and electronic beats by Norlyz. The Krama Brass Band, featuring the most promising wind players of the youngest generation of the island, balances between eastern and western music, while the Chunky Funky Quartet teams up with saxophonist Jan Kus to bring electrifying funky beats.
Various special locations of the village will host exciting performances and concerts: the Windcraft Band & Voices with a repertoire of original arrangements of traditional music; the musical-narrative performance The Fellowship of Aeolus by Bruno Tomasello & Marina Katsari, which will be the result of their artistic residency supported by EFFEA; Indian classical music with sunset ragas by Markus Schmidt and Ravi Saundankar; the Kardjin Sax Quartet, made up of players from different participating bands that will perform music by Cypriot composer Evagoras Karageorgis; and the interdisciplinary performances HA KO by the Selas Dance Company and Day Fades Into Night Fades Into Day Fades Into by Annie Khoury and Elena Xyda.
The festival’s rich parallel programme will encourage visitors of all ages to mingle and actively participate in the magic of musical and artistic creation. A Makams workshop with Harris Lambrakis and Elena Xyda; Indian classical music with Markus Schmidt; the tradition of tsiattista with Nikoletta Demetriou and spoken word interpretation with Kalia Loizidou; the making of pithkiavli with Renos Ktoros and tin flute playing with Timo Bark; creative movement with Maria Kamberis and Demetris Yiasemides; ceramic art with Souzana Petri; the reviving energy of yoga with Lisa Karaoli; the village’s and the wider area’s mining history with Aliosha Bielenberg. All workshops and parallel activities will be open to everyone and offered for free.
Two permanent installations at the Stavrinos Inn will welcome visitors throughout the festival: At the Armarouthkia literary corner, guests can relax, browsing through literary works by Cypriot writers and poets, while at the Sounds of Memory thematic exhibition, visitors can listen to the stories of objects, as remembered and narrated by inhabitants of the village. Two days full of activities and world music are waiting to take place in rural Cyprus as the festival returns for another summer edition.
10th edition of music festival with concerts, workshops and more. July 13-14. Katydata village, Nicosia. www.windcraftmusicfest.com
