International Guitar Festival returns for the fifth time in Tel Aviv

The fifth annual International Guitar Festival – aka I Am A Guitar – takes place at Tzavta in Tel Aviv November 4-7. This year’s artistic director, popular singer-songwriter Guy Mazig, has compiled a broadly ranging program for the four-dayer, with top artists from here and abroad from an eclectic spread of genres and styles.

Jazz fans will, no doubt, be delighted to get another – rare – opportunity to catch the silky skills of Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine firsthand, 12 whole years after his previous appearance here. The octogenarian artist has been a leading member of the global jazz league for over half a century, collaborating with the likes of bassist Charles Mingus, famed clarinetist-band leader Benny Goodman, and trumpeter Chet Baker.

Catherine has done some fellow instrumentalist twinning over the years. His synergy with American counterpart Larry Coryell in the 1970s proved to be popular, and he subsequently toured extensively in a trio alongside French violinist Didier Lockwood and French gypsy guitarist Christian Escoudé.

The latter experience should stand him in good stead when he teams up, for the first time, for a super duo berth with Stochelo Rosenberg from the world-renowned Dutch jazz threesome Trio Rosenberg which feeds off the oeuvre of preeminent Romani-Belgian jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

The cultural hinterland spreads appreciably with the inclusion of Latin Grammy-winning seven string guitar-playing Brazilian virtuoso Yamandu Costa. Costa is no stranger to these shores, having performed for Israeli audiences in the past including at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat.

Mazig was clearly determined to cover as many cultural and stylistic bases as possible, as evidenced by the Balkan Hafla mob described by the festival program notes as: “a Balkan-psychedelic hafla with energy from outer space” and “a crazed gang of skill.” The quintet show should get the juices flowing and vibes rocketing.

Elsewhere, popular singer-songwriter Carolina presents her So Close production. The show moniker suggests the sense of intimacy Carolina will aim to convey as she performs scaled-down versions of some of her hits of the past two decades.

The other slots

Other slots include guitarist Uzi Noy, psychagogic duo BZAAT with Hadar Levi (on guitar) and Aviv Skippy Bart (on drums), and the intriguing eclectic confluence of Ofer Mizrahi, who plays a uniquely crafted version of an Indian slide guitar, and bassist Lior Ozeri with their Shem HaMakom program which blends Western, Turkish, Indian, and Caucasian music.

For tickets and more information: tzavta.co.il