Makarska, the city of jazz music.
Richard Bona, one of the most influential jazz bassists in the world, is coming to Makarska in August. This American, with Cameroonian roots, is known for his distinctive style of bass guitar playing and has influenced many musicians. Throughout his long career, he has collaborated with hundreds of jazz musicians since his innovative playing techniques changed the world of bass guitar playing.
The Makarska Jazz Festival, recognized as an inevitable place for every jazz and pop-rock music lover, is a traditional musical event that takes place at the end of August in Makarska. Find out more about this festival here.
Even though it is only for a few days, Makarska really becomes a place of good music and enjoyment of performances by world-renowned instrumentalists. This year, the festival will be held at a different location (until now, the main stage was set up on the central square), and you can get tickets at this link. The location of this year's festival is a historical monument to the Revolution at Glavica hill, right above the ferry stop in Makarska center.
Bona is a singer/songwriter, bass player, composer, bandleader, and digital and analog engineer/producer with a singular artistic vision. Behind these achievements lies a storybook life. Born in the village of Minta in 1967, Bona was a baby who cried all the time, and the family soon discovered that the one thing that calmed him was music. By the age of five he was playing the balafon (a wooden-slatted melodic percussion instrument) in his grandfather’s traditional music band. At eleven, his family moved to the capital city, Douala, where he became an in-demand dance band guitarist before discovering and quickly mastering the language of jazz—at just fourteen. Bona moved to Paris in 1989 and New York in 1995, establishing in these two cities a reputation as one of the most exciting jazz bass players on the planet. And all this before he began his solo recording career with Scenes from My Life in 1999. Now Bona’s seventh solo album, Bonafied, an intimate, mostly acoustic, multi-genre set of songs, offers personal stories, tributes, philosophy based in lifelong love of nature, and a spirit of musical adventurism that just won’t quit. Between 2015 and 2020, Richard co-owned a jazz club in New York Club, and his fourth solo album Tiki, was nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 49th Grammy Awards.
We believe that all fans of jazz music and bass guitar will enjoy this fantastic concert in Makarska.
Along with Richard Bona, Sarajevo Jazz Guerilla and Alberto Marsico & Organ Logistics will perform at the festival on different dates.
Source: bonamusic.com, wikipedia, makarska jazz festival