Jazz and Arts Festival set for November
The 2018 Samoana Jazz and Arts Festival in November this year will feature an array of both local and international artists.
Samoan Grammy Award winner and jazz artist, La‘auli Matt Catingub, will lead a cast of artists in the November 7-11 event.
They include his quintet of musicians Steve Moretti (U.S.A.), Kevin Axt (U.S.A.), Christina Souza (Hawaii), Mike Booth (New Zealand) and Andrew Hall (New Zealand).
The “Papana”, the U.S. Air Force Band of the Pacific – Hawaii’s eight-piece ensemble will also be on show as well as Lea Love (U.S.A.), Michelle Rounds (Cairo, Egypt), Isaiah Brunt (Sydney, Australia) and New Zealand-based Samoana trumpet diva Edwina Thorne.
According to the organisers of the event, the the Samoana Jazz and Arts Festival Boards of Samoa and American Samoa collaborated since 2014 to provide enriching and entertaining jazz performances and music education programmes to a growing community of interest.
The jazz celebrations begin in April each year with the celebration of the International Jazz Day on.
There is also an Ethnomusicology Forum which explores traditional Samoan music.
This year’s Ethnomusicology Forum was held on September 6 at the Tanoa-Tusitala Hotel conference room. It featured Falealili singers and dancers who performed traditional Samoan singing.