Guinness Cork Jazz Festival announces stellar programme for 2022 event
Tolne Bastings of Lamarotte Jazz Band at the 2019 Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. The festival returns to the city with a full programme in October. Picture: Clare Keogh
After the trials and tribulations of the Covid era, the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival is very much back on track, as evidenced by the launch on Tuesday evening of the programme for its 2022 edition.
The long-running festival was cancelled in 2020, and while last year’s hastily-assembled event drew thousands to the city, this is the first time since 2019 that organisers have been able to put on a full programme.
Running over the October bank holiday weekend (October 27-30), this year’s roster has a distinctly Brazilian feel, as well as the inclusion of a number of top contemporary acts, and the embracing of other genres that has seen the festival broaden from its traditional jazz base.
The land of samba will be represented by two artists at either end of the age spectrum: Hermeto Pascoal, the 86-year-old multi-instrumentalist who has played with the likes of Miles Davis; and Amaro Freitas, the 30-year-old regarded as one of the emerging stars of Brazil’s contemporary scene.
There’s further international flavour to the lineup with Seun Kuti and Fela’s Egypt 80, as the son of late Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti continues his efforts to keep the Afrobeat sounds of his father moving in a modern direction.
Meanwhile, the rude health of the UK’s jazz scene is represented by Gogo Penguin, the Manchester-based trio who played a stunning gig at Triskel on their previous visit to the festival in 2015.
Also returning to Cork are the New Power Generation, best known as Prince’s backing band, several of whom played with the late American legend at his Páirc Uí Chaoimh gig in 1990.
At the launch of the festival at Cyprus Avenue on Tuesday evening, Rory Sheridan, head of partnerships at Diageo Ireland said: “This year will see us welcome a world-class line-up of both music and art to Cork, that represents, not just established artists, but also provides us with the opportunity to champion Irish and emerging talent on a global stage.”
Some of that homegrown talent was in evidence at the launch, when Limerick rapper Denise Chaila combined with Brazilian jazzfunk trio Azymuth.
Cork’s jazz festival began at the Metropole Hotel in 1978 when hotel manager Jim Mountjoy wanted to make the most of the newly-established bank holiday weekend.
Sponsored in the first couple of years by cigarette brand John Player, the festival was then taken over by Guinness, whose support helped the event become a major fixture on Cork’s entertainment calendar, as well as providing a major boost for the local economy.
The festival still draws tens of thousands of people to the city every year, and has hosted such legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock.
