CAIRO: The 2011 Cairo Jazz Festival (CJF) kicked off on the 119th Birthday of late Egyptian singer and composer Sayed Darwish, Thursday. Funded by three Egyptian jazz players in 2009 with the aim of celebrating Contemporary Jazz in Egypt, the CJF's 3rd edition will host 16 local and international bands coming from as far as Japan, the U.S.A. and Australia. Bikya Masr met Alex Simu, who plays clarinet for Arifa, one of the main bands performing at Sawy Cultural Wheel on Friday, where the CJF will be hosted. “We keep our roots in contemporary jazz,” Simu told Bikya Masr, commenting on the special blend of jazz, western and eastern contemporary performed by his band. With all band members coming from countries as different as Romania, Iraq, Turkey and Holland, Arifa find themselves perfectly at ease with the definition of ‘World Music.' The quality of their music is mirrored by the band's name, said Simu. “Arifa” is an arabic word that describes a beautiful, mannered and learned woman: “We want our music to be like this,” he said. Simu lives between Amsterdam and New York, where he studied jazz and classical music, graduating from Amsterdam Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Simu became famous at home when elected “Best New Artist” by the Romanian National Radio Society and winning the 2008 Dutch Jazz Competition. Among his many collaborations, he played with world oud master and head of the prestigious Cairo Music School “Beyt al Oud” Naseer Shamma, and is now the fourth leg of an international quartet that brought Middle Eastern jazz to 4 different continents, playing on world-renowned stages including the 2010 Havana Jazz Festival, Cuba. Other than Simu, the band consists of qanun player Osama Abdolrasul, percussionist Shjahin During and oud player and singer Mehmet Polat. After playing at Sawy on Friday, Arifa will support the performance of Egyptian band Eftekasat at Cairo Jazz Centre on Sunday. CJF 2011 will not only host performances, but also provide non-profit educational services to music students and Jazz lovers through workshops and lectures. BM
