In Retrospect
The 1st International Jazz Meeting "Kostas Kouvidis 2008" took place in Heraklion, Crete on the 30 June, 1-2 July 2008.
The 1st International Jazz Meeting “Kostas Kouvidis 2008” is already history…
Its success has exceeded the expectations of even the most optimistic of us regarding:
- The level of attendance and the participation and response of the audience
- The quality of the musicians and performances
- The transformation of a musical meeting to an artistic event for the whole city, demonstrated by the voluntary participation of almost 100 local artists (painters, graphic artists, street performers).
There is no space for bragging or triumphs, however.
The pain that we feel from the loss of Kostas, was, is and will be too strong to allow space for such feelings… the hosting of this important event at the city of Heraklion – the Greek “capital” of deadly traffic accidents – is by itself a constant reminder of the tragedy of this loss.
Everything that happened in this event was, at least for for us, 100% within the framework of Kostas' ideas and life. Devotion to music, refusal of competition, exhaustive playing, or to express it in a different manner: a long for life and creation. This is the reason that we felt him so close to us during the course of this event.
What happened in this’ years event, which is what we would like to happen every year, is best described by the words of Charles Haynes “…it felt more that this was a celebration of live after death…”. An artistic event that goes beyond the notion of a music or art gathering, but is much more like a head to head combat with death (in both life and art) and the culture of nothingness.
The 1st International Jazz Meeting “Kostas Kouvidis 2008” took place:
-without any funding from a government, public or private body
-without any artistic agencies
-without an artistic director
-with the voluntary work of tens of persons
-with direct contact with the musicians themselves
-with the collectiveness and support of all the artists
It was for these reasons that every night and although the performances started as early as 9:30, the musicians kept playing until 5 to 5:30 in the morning. For the same reasons, jamming was not confined to the secondary stage in the club of the venue but extended to the main stage during the main concerts. And finally it was for this reason that, as Ms Jo Ann Pickens accurately pointed out "... this did not feel at all like a music festival...but much more like a family gathering...".
We believe also that the city of Heraklion must feel proud both for the artistic potential that it has and for the quality and sensitivity of its citizens. Not withstanding the painters, the graphic artists and the street performers that participated, there was a crowd of people that approached us and voluntary assisted in this effort, demonstrating an incredible "hidden" potential in a city that otherwise appears oppressed due to its everyday outward image.
From our part we feel proud for bringing to Heraklion a breed of word class jazz artists; musicians with a deep devotion to their music who demonstrated how utmost artistic skill and deep emotion can be combined to produce wonderful music and generate very strong feelings to the people that attended.
The 1st International Jazz Meeting " Kostas Kouvidis 2008" has already set a very high standard against which all our future events will be compared.
It would probably thus be more appropriate to say that "the 1st International Jazz Meeting - Kostas Kouvidis 2008 - belongs to the future"...
You Are What U Do Not What U think U Are / Kostas Kouvidis
