It’s pleasing that there is an Irish word for jazz. While the rest of the world has been happy to import the J-word – and let’s just park, for the moment, the apocryphal supposition that “jazz” is a corruption of the Irish word “deas” – west of the Shannon they have seen fit to coin their own term. Snagceol, from the Irish word for a hiccup, refers to the syncopated grooves of jazz and there’s something satisfying about this year’s Féile Snagcheol na nGaillimhe announcing its bilingual status without any fuss, and being both embracingly international and defiantly local.
The mix of near and far applies to the programming too, with a line-up that includes eminent visitors, respected nationals and talented locals across a spectrum of creative music that stretches the definition of snagcheol in all sorts of interesting directions.
This year’s Galway Jazz Festival rings the changes on more than one front, sounding a welcome note of inclusivity in a musical form that is slowly emerging from its monocultural silo. In particular, this year’s festival, artistically directed by composer, musician and Lyric presenter Ellen Cranitch, goes a long way to addressing the music’s stubborn gender imbalance.
Germany is one of the places where female jazz artists are beginning to get a fair hearing, and, with the support of the Goethe Institut, the festival presents three German artists who are making waves on the European scene: Julia Hülsmann is a pianist delicately poised between the muscular tradition of US post-bop and more open contemporary European approaches to the piano trio; saxophonist Anna-Lena Schnabel leads a talented quartet, including pianist Florian Weber, that scans the spreading contemporary horizon; and harpist Kathrin Pechlof’s trio with double bass and alto saxophone pushes her delicate instrument into unexpected soundscapes.
Workshops and discussions
Other visitors in a bulging programme include the Radio String Quartet from Vienna who run the gamut from Shostakovich to Joe Zawinul; deeply lyrical Welsh pianist Huw Warren, best known as one third of the internationally acclaimed Quercus; groundbreaking Dutch trumpeter Eric Vloeimans’ unusual trio Oliver’s Cinema; and ebullient UK vocalist and pianist Liane Carroll, a regular at the Sligo Jazz Project, who makes a welcome return to the west.
There’s an appetising lunchtime series at the Black Gate, curated by Galway musician Matthew Berrill, and Galway guitarist Aengus Hackett presents three spontaneous collaborations at the Salthouse bar with line-ups that include guitarist Tommy Halferty and drummer Conor Guilfoyle.
The national scene is well represented with bassist Barry Donohue’s excellent Plaza Real paying homage to Weather Report, rising Dublin quintet Shy Mascot mixing jazz and hip-hop, and Venezuelan pianist Leo Osio dueting with Dublin bassist Dave Redmond, along with performances from vocalist Susannah De Wrixon, guitarist Nigel Mooney and veteran pianist Jim Doherty.
As well as a packed four days of music – much of it free and the rest eminently affordable – there's also a pop up Snagsiopa selling Irish jazz recordings, offering masterclasses and instrumental workshops for all ages, a screening of the iconic 1958 film Jazz on a Summer's Day and a politically charged panel discussion entitled Brexit Schmexit. And further burnishing its right-on credentials, the festival is going "glas" with upcycled lanyards and artist ID tags, no superfluous merchandise or T-shirts, a programme printed with eco-friendly inks on recycled paper, and not a plastic water bottle in sight. Scaoil amach an snagceol!
Galway Jazz Festival, Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th. galwayjazz.ie
