On March 6, 2022, “In the cellars of Kharkiv, Vera Litovchenko plays Vivaldi, Bach, Tchaikovsky in prom dress under the rubble,” quotes Denis Laborde in his editorial for the program of this 9th edition of Hayzbegi. This young woman has since become one of the symbols of Ukrainian resilience. Then: “A little over a year ago, the Taliban closed the Afghan National Institute of Music (ANIM). Musicians were threatened, and they took the paths of exile. In the winter of 2022, the Portuguese government granted asylum. Since then, ANIM has been reconstituted upon the arrival of 273 members from its difference”.
These examples show how resistant music, worn by men and women, is to the assaults of obscurantism. Calms and tightens bonds. It gives hope. In order to understand and hear the springs of these mechanisms the festival was created. It continues its journey into 2022, relying on the presence of artists committed to the same direction.
Parties and meetings
The tone will be set from Thursday, October 6, the first day of the festival, with an evening dedicated to polyphonic songs from Ukraine – performed by the vocal ensemble of the Ivan Honchar Museum in Kyiv. The ceremony will be preceded by a lecture by historian Thomas Chopard, “Ukraine, Why the War?”. These same songs will be repeated the next day in the Tardets because this year the festival is being exported to the Inner Basque Country. He will be in Saint-Etienne de Baigory on Thursday 13 October with an evening of “Music from Afghanistan”, which will be in the hot seat the next day at the Cité des Arts in Bayonne, on the debate “Making Music in Afghanistan” to be attended by Ahmed Nasir Sarmast, founder and director of the Institute Afghan National Music (ANIM) in exile in Portugal, and Prawana Baikan, Minister Counselor at the embassy of the breakaway Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in France. The debate will be followed by a concert by the orchestra of the National Conservatory of Music of Afghanistan.
The festival will also be rich with other themes, such as the theme of “Music to better understand autism,” as evidenced by Laetitia Muller’s film, “The Positive Energy of the Gods.” Or the relationship between music and mathematics, by honoring the composer, engineer and architect Iannis Ksinakis, as well as meeting the mathematician Cedric Villani, president of the association. MusicIts goal is to provide everyone with the means to improvise using innovative musical instruments.
Finally, another part of the festival will be dedicated to ‘What we do with our waste’: a conference organized in L’Atalante, as well as a photo exhibition on the Pedros dock featuring waste collectors who will resonate workshops on making music from recycled instruments, a workshop entitled ‘Art and Science’ and Climate Change”, Dances Workshop “Live Beaches”, etc.
More info> haizebegi.eu
