The European Jazz Conference 2017 that took place at Cankarjev dom cultural/congress center in Ljubljana ended on Sunday 24 September 2017. With 280 delegates from 43 different countries the 4th European Jazz Conference, that included the 30th EJN General Assembly, has been the most attended EJN Conference so far.
During four intense days international delegates had the opportunity to listen to three great contemporary artists telling their life stories across different countries and continents: Lebanese composer and oud-player Rabih Abou-Khalil, Malian singer and songwriter Rokia Traoré and French/Serbian, pianist and leading figure in European jazz Bojan Z.
The theme of the conference “What if…”, and its links with the need for exploring new social inclusion policies by those working in the arts and cultural sector was explored in a panel debate with national and international artists, promoters and academics, and during the special Creative Walks around the city of Ljubljana, that were introduced in the Conference for the first time, with the important examples of hip-hop artists N’toko and Naji and their work in Rog squat/cultural hub in Ljubljana, of Syrian violin player Shalan Alhamwy and the story of his violin arriving from Syria to Europe, and of Benin trumpet player Eric Yovogan and the difficulties in being accepted as a professional musician in Belgium.
The European Jazz Conference 2017 was co-organised by Europe Jazz Network (EJN), the main association of jazz festivals and venues in Europe, and Cankarjev dom (CD), organiser of the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, and was supported by the Ministry of Culture of Slovenia, the city of Ljubljana, European Green Capital 2016 and UNESCO city of Literature and by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
You can read the full report of the European Jazz Conference 2017 in Ljubljana on issuu here: https://issuu.com/europejazznetwork/docs/ejc_ejn_ga2017_report
You can check out an aftervideo of the European Jazz Conference 2017 here:
