mos.ru
The world-famous Russian saxophonist Igor Butman will perform at the opening of the Japan-Russia Festival of Culture and Arts which opens on October 26 in Sapporo, Hokkaido's main city. The festival is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the agreement on friendship and economic cooperation between Sakhalin and Hokkaido, TASS reports.
In addition, Butman and his quintet will perform the concert at the festival's opening ceremony. There he will play jazz versions of Russian folk songs and romances and the works of compositors. According to the musician, the team prepared a few songs in Japanese for the local public. In an interview, Igor Butman assures that the concert will be excellent, because jazz is understandable in all languages and unifies people. The Japanese love and understand jazz, he adds.
Another music festival called Sakhalin-Hokkaido Jazz proves this. It will take place on October 30-31 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. For the second time the best jazzmen of Russia and Japan will appear on its stage. Igor Butman and his musicians are waiting for there too. According to the People's Artist of Russia, the festival organizers plan to invite participants from more regions at the festival. Next years, Sakhalin-Hokkaido Jazz may be held in other cities of Sakhalin and the Far East, musicians will come from many Asian countries.
According to Russkiy Mir, saxophonist Igor Butman was the first Russian to receive the prestigious National Dialogue Award for promoting the peaceful coexistence of people of different nationalities and races. The ceremony will take place on November 1 in Washington.
Russkiy Mir
