Courtesy Bjorn Comhaire
My understanding of jazz is as protest. It’s an activist music … maybe as artists, as promotors, we can all be a little
more courageous with our activism.
Frederike Berendsen
European Jazz Conference 2024
Music Centre De Bijloke/Various venues
Ghent, Belgium
September 12-15, 2024
For such a relatively young music it is ironic that one of the issues facing jazz is old age. Aging audiences to be precise. But let us be clear, it is a good thing jazz retains such a loyal fan base, a lifelong following. The perennial question for jazz festivals and venues packed with grey hairs and no hairs, however, is how to attract younger audiences as well. More diverse audiences too. The Europe Jazz Network, the pan-European organization behind the annual European Jazz Conference had this in mindamongst other thingswhen it came up with this year’s conference theme: “Tomorrow Comes Today.”
The idea behind the conference theme is to recognize the importance of young people in the future of music and in the future of our societies by giving them more agency today. The EJN is increasingly aware of the need for youth to enter the sector in order to bring fresh ideas and new perspectives that will hopefully translate into younger, more diverse audiences for jazz/creative music.
The call went out to EJN members attending the EJC (not to be confused with the European Juggling Convention) in Ghent, Belgium, to bring younger team members. Happily, a healthy percentage of attendees was under the age of fortysome already directing major festivals or programming for venues, others running their own labels, management companies or music agencies.
The perspective of youth lay at the heart of the Keynote speech, the panel debate and, to some degree, drove the breakaway discussion groups as well.
Youth was also to the fore in the Belgian jazz showcases (see separate article). Whereas it would have been easy to pull out Belgium’s more celebrated jazz bands, the likes of 
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And for good measure, a fringe Young Curators Programme empowered nine young jazz enthusiasts to bring out their inner curators and to select three young Belgian jazz acts whom they believed to be worthy of an international audience. The three chosen were: Elis Floren, an avant-guard singer/songwriter; Bodem, the trio of Anke Verslype (drums), Willem Malfliet (guitar) and Adia Vanheerentals (saxophones); and KAU, the trio of Jan Janzen (keyboards, synthesizers), Matteo Genovese (bass) and Andre Breidlid (drums).
The three acts played 45-minute sets in De Centrale, an intercultural music center that takes Ghent’s population diversity as its very inspiration. The venue’s location in the Sluizeken-Tolhuis-Ham district, a densely populated 19th-century belt district close to Ghent’s city center, reflects its programming ethos, as 60% of the area’s nearly 12,000 inhabitants are of migrant backgrounds.
An observation repeatedly made at this year’s EJC (and every edition before) was that if jazz wants to attract youth and diversity then programmers/venues need to think about where it is performed and to whom. Another suggestion raised by more than one voice was for EJN member organisations to look at successful examples of arts and music venues that attract young (and inter-generational) audiences of diverse makeup and to learn from their example.
There was a general recognition (and a concern raised by several attendees) that jazz still struggles with the image it projects to many on the outside of being elite, complex music that is effectively out of bounds, culturally and economically, to a vast swathe of society.
As ever at the EJC, the conversations were many and varied, reflecting the complexities of the jazz/creative music industry in increasingly complex times.
Ghent proved to be a wonderful host city. As handsome as cities go, Ghent boasts quite stunning architecture that reflects its storied history as one of the most important European cities. From a visitor’s point of view the historic city center has benefitted enormously from 2017’s Circulation Plan, which has all but banned through traffic. The result is an incredibly quiet city center of a relaxed pedestrian character. No car horns if you can imagine that. Clean air if you can imagine that.
Many people travel by bicycle, though unlike Amsterdam, where whizzing cyclistsnot to mention trams and carspose an existential threat to the strolling tourist. Cyclists in Ghent, by comparison, are way more laid back on the whole. The main danger, in fact, is death by chocolate. Or by beer.
The main conference venue was the Music Centre De Bijloke. Formerly a hospital dating to the 13th century, the venue hosts concerts year-round and is home to the Ghent Jazz Festival. An attractive mix of the old world and the new, the hall, with its spectacular beamed ceiling boasts excellent acoustics.
Curiously to visitors, a few sheep grazed in the grounds of the Bijloke site, an example of Ghent’s urban farming and sustainable environment program that seeks to maximize the use of green spaces. Sustainability is increasingly part of the European Jazz Network’s ethos. Apart from its efforts to trial and develop green touring, it works in other ways to effect change and inspire less harmful behavior for the health of our planet. Plastic bottles and cups are a thing of the past at the EJC, while for the second year in a row the conference served attendees a vegetarian menugood news for the nearby sheep.
The Nuts And Bolts Of The Europe Jazz Network As EJN General Manager Giambattista Tofoni reminded members and guests in his introductory welcome, the EJN is a Europe-wide association of promoters, festival directors, club and venue owners, record label owners, music programmers, national and regional support organisations, managers and agentsall dedicated to the promotion of jazz/creative music. As of 2024 the EJN boasts 200 member organisations from 37 countries.
Although the European Jazz Conference is relatively young (Ghent marked its 10th edition), the European Jazz Network came into being back in 1987. A European jazz network was the vision of Filippo Bianchi, for many years the Artistic Director of Ravenna Jazz and Reggio Emilia Jazz. Originally based in Italy, its founding members were mostly Italian. Italians still play an extremely important role in the EJN, which can be the only plausible explanation for the Italian wines that accompanied the evening meals in the beautiful surroundings of St. Peter’s Abbey.
Since 2001 the EJN’s official office is in Pantin, France.
A total of 427 professionals from 39 countries attended EJC 2024, a record participation that underlined the EJN’s growing reach, and the importance industry professionals attach both to this remarkable pan-European institution and to its annual gathering. They came from all over Europe, including Ukraine, from North America, from Senegal and Morocco. And for three days they talked, networked, ate together, listened to music together, made plans for collaborations and enjoyed the hospitality of the Belgian hosts.
Keynote Speech: Lisette Ma Neza Over the years keynote speakers at the EJC have delivered a series of thought-provoking talks. This year was no exception. Lisette Ma Neza is a film maker, Belgian slam poet champion and Brussel’s inaugural city poet. Born in the Netherlands in 1998, the daughter of Rwandan refugees, Ma Neza brought a poetic and musical slant to her keynote delivery.
Accompanied by pianist Neil Akenzua, Ma Neza delivered a “poem of love and concern, a poem of tomorrow’s Europe.” Reflecting the conference theme, Ma Neza riffed on how the past resonates in the present. Her poem was a letter to all human beings, recognizing their fundamental needs, their fundamental rightsa home, culture, education, a sense of identity, the need for belonging, of welcome and of a shared future. She spoke of many different pasts creating a shared future.
Recalling the voice of her grandmother through song, Ma Neza spoke to the teachings we carry all our lives. She referenced genocide and the need to make peace with the past. She spoke to the wisdom of youth, their strength in calling out their elder’s failings, their courage to protest against injustices. Her concern for today’s youth, for their future “is hopeful” and this was the takeaway from a wonderfully lyrical, affecting performance, suffused with gently worded though politically pointed insights.
It is sometimes hard to be hopeful for the futurenever mind the presentin the face of wars, racism, political polarization and economic hardship, but Ma Neza’s performance reminded everyone of the need to try, and of the future effects of positive actions today.
Art, be it poetry, music, literature, sculpture, painting or whatever, has the power to deliver important messages and to inspire in more subtle and persuasive ways than grandstanding politicians or our increasingly base and intrusive media/social media. As writer and poet Charles Bukowski put it: “Style is important. Many people scream the truth, but without style it is helpless.”
Parallel Discussion Groups: Could AI Be A Friend? A regular feature of the EJC, the five discussion groups held on the Friday afternoon address the concerns, new and ongoing, of the European Jazz Network. This year the discussion groups turned their spotlights on more sustainable touring; the possibilities of AI in programming festivals and in administration and project planning; helping develop the next generation of music programmers; building inter-generational audiences; communicating jazz to young audiences.
These discussion groups are not randomly selected subjects that sound funky, they reflect the work of EJN members, projects in some cases that have been developing for years. During the breaks for lunch, coffee and socializing, various nooks and crannies of the building were occupied by groups who had arranged to meet in Ghent to discuss ongoing projects and to plan the next stage of development. For many in the EJN there is little rest.
Arguably the most important discussion group, however, was an impromptu one held at the end of the second day in which twenty or so attendees met to discuss the European-wide rise of the far-right and the threat that it poses to society and culture. More countries than ever, it seems, are governed by far-right political parties, with significant support for right-wing ideology in many others posing a threat to liberal democracy.
This informal discussion group was an opportunity for people to raise their concerns and share their thoughts. Ideas on how best to counter the far-right ideology were aired and volunteers put themselves forward to be part of an ongoing think-tank. What was generally agreed upon was just how fluent the far-right is in the language of social media to disseminate its messages. The battle for the hearts and minds of the disaffected (youth especially) susceptible to the advances of the far-right should also be fought on these platforms.
It is worth recording a comment made by artist and activist Frederike Berendsen who noted: “My understanding of jazz is as protest. It’s an activist music … maybe as artists, as promotors, we can all be a little more courageous with our activism.”
Plenary Panel Debate: Tomorrow Comes Today The challenges facing young people today are many, not least the social and economic disparities that make access to and participation in the arts difficult, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The three panelists, artist Kateryna Ziabliuk, artist and activist Frederike Berendsen and rapper, sociologist and youth worker Fatih De Vos shared their own experiences and perspectives. Writer and broadcaster Anna Umbina steered the discussion.
Berendsen spoke about the Dutch branch of the international organization Music Declares Emergency, which levers music to promote cultural change for a better future, one of several positive examples of organisations making a difference. And such organizations are needed. At the same time there were poignant reminders that culture is not accessible to all.
De Vos said that growing up in Ghent he and his friends, mostly people of color, saw the clubs “from the outside” and that it was only when he became a hiphop artists and rapper that he was invited inside the same venues to perform. “There are many levels of exclusion,” he said.
He went on to say that while many organisations are working to make these spaces more inclusive, safer and more welcoming, a lot of this is just “window dressing,” with some organisations making a lot of noise about their inclusivity programs: “With every fart you don’t need to make so much noise,” De Vos surmised succinctly. He also acknowledged the need for intermediaries, or “bridge figures” to coordinate between administrators and policy makers at the top and the people at the grass roots level.
Hip-hop culture, at its roots in the ’70s, is an inclusive, activist, counter-culture music, De Vos said, distinguishing it from the male-dominated, capitalist hip-hop generated by the music industry from the ’90s onwards. If used in the right way, hip-hop is a great way to engage with young people, De Vos said. He gave the example of a project called “A School Called Tribe” which brings young hip-hop artists to collaborate with students from Ghent university’s jazz faculty. It is a learning curve for both parties, De Vos said, opening young people’s eyes to other worlds.
Ziabliuk is also active in connecting people. She was critical of promoters and programmers who tend to play it safe. This she said is not developing culture enough and is degrading to the arts. She said that art should be about risk, not always about giving people what they feel comfortable with. Musicians that promote discussion about societal issues, not least the war in her native Ukraine, should be given a platform. But by programming safe line-ups at festivals these voices are not heard nearly enough.
“It sounds to me absolutely crucial that we use music to communicate these fundamental things in our society,” Umbina agreed.
Berendsen spoke of “No Music On A Dead Planet,” a global campaign that is reframing the conversation around the climate crisis. Using music it asks the question, what are we actually fighting for? What kind of planet do we want to inhabit? “People have to feel connected,” she said.
Of course, there is no one-fix solution to the environmental crisis, Berendsenand the other panelistsrecognized, but informing musicians and audiences about the whys and the ways to be more sustainable and to have less environmental impact over a lifetime is the aim. De Vos emphasized the importance of remembering that the environmental crisis and the social crisis are not separate issues. Structural change is needed to effect social change, he reasoned, adding that the institutions and the activists need each other and need to work together.
Berendsen encouraged people concerned with the environmental crisis to simply engage on the subject with their friends, their neighbors and their work colleaguesin other words, all the people in their networks.
It was encouraging to hear examples of positive initiatives using music to create more inclusive and more caring societies, to hear not just of the need for activism but for pragmatic partnerships with the institutions and policy makers.
EJN Awards & Zenith Award 2024 Each year the EJN bestows three awards that recognize excellence. In 2024, the EJN Award for Music and Community went to two organisations: Taller de Músics (from Barcelona, Spain) for its program Taller Obert, which uses music to socially integrate the homeless, vulnerable and refugees; and Bunkern Bokar (Gothenburg, Sweden) which trains and integrates people with disabilities into the creative workforce.
The EJN Award for Outstanding Programming went to Budapest Music Centre, (Hungary) a live venue, record label and archive (see AAJ profile of BMC here) dedicated to traditional music values and musical freedom of expression.
The EJN Zenith Award for Emerging Artists went to the Liv Andrea Hauge Trio (Norway). The trio performed a brief set drawn from its debut studio album Ville Blomster (Hubro Music, 2024) immediately after the awards.
The obvious pride and joy expressed by all the award recipients was evidence not just of the widely accepted prestige of the EJN Awards (a prestige that only seems to grow year by year), but of the gratitude and satisfaction that comes with a well-deserved pat on the back. Everyone needs a pat on the back from time to time. Some deserve one more frequently for the outstanding work they do.
That goes for the EJN in spades, not just for delivering another excellent confernece with it Belgian organizing partners (Ha Concerts, VI.BE and JazzLab), but for the work its many members do year-round, year after year, to promote jazz/creative music and for its efforts to make the music eco-system more inclusive and more sustainable. Many of these music professionals have dedicated their entire working lives to the promotion of jazz/creative music, which is no small thing.
This year the EJN honored its former President, Wim Wabbes, Artistic Director and programmer in Ghent’s famous Ha Concerts venue, who is retiring after nearly forty years of promoting music. His remarkable career is just one among many remarkable careers in the EJN ranks. Wabbes’ dedication to promoting music, like that of his colleagues, has touched millions of peoples’ lives for the betterand continues to do so.
The EJC 2025 will be in Bari, Italy. Italian wines guaranteed, again.
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Publish date : 2024-09-30 06:12:00
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