The famous NJP begins Saturday October 7 with 36 hours of free concerts and will host more shows until October 21, 2023. Among the headliners, American bassist Marcus Miller, Hubert-Felix Thiéfaine but also Chassol and Emilie Simon
Jazz but not only! To celebrate its 50th anniversary in style, the Nancy Jazz Pulsations festival invites all current music from October 7 to 21. Nearly 100,000 fans in total are expected for the 150 concerts on the program.
Party all over the city
For 50 years, “we wanted to bring together emblematic artists of the festival, like Marcus Miller, who is coming for the sixth time, but without making an outdated program, and remaining eclectic”, confided the director-programmer of Nancy Jazz Pulsations, Thibaud Rolland. To start, festival-goers will be able to get their feet wet with 36 hours of music and concerts throughout the city, and organizers have planned an immersive exhibition, special programming for young audiences… and even a beer brewed to the sound Nancy Jazz Pulsation playlists.
Among the main artists who will perform on one of the six stages of the festival, we note the Polish pianist Hania Rani, the leader of Snarky Puppy, Michael League, and the Israeli composer Asaf Avidan. Zaho de Sagazan, revelation of French song 2023, who will perform at the Olympia in Paris on November 4, will also be there, as will American rapper Yasiin Bey (better known by his first stage name, Mos Def) , surrounded by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, or the Thomas Dutronc Trio.
The singer Emilie Simon, who is celebrating her 20th career, is also on the bill, as well as the poet-rocker Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine, and Pedro Winter, one of the ambassadors of French Touch electro, and his label Ed Banger. Acid Arab, a Franco-Algerian collective which provokes a beautiful collision between Western techno and Eastern trance, is also eagerly awaited.“I wanted us to create an event that the people of Nancy could remember for 10 years, at least,” warned Thibaud Rolland.
A festival that has been celebrating for 50 years
The first edition of Nacy Jazz Pulsations (NJP for short) saw the light of day in 1973. An ambitious challenge launched by a handful of young Nancy residents wishing to structure a major jazz event in Lorraine. The festival has now established itself as a major autumn event in the Grand Est region.
Its avant-garde daring in jazz quickly elevated it to a pioneering figure, the festival acquired its letters of nobility thanks to the eclecticism of its programming. An exceptional duration for a simple festival, the desire to extend the concerts to the entire region and the maintenance of affordable prices allowed it to quickly benefit from the status of a popular event and to be honored with the arrival, each year, of a few 100,000 festival-goers.
Nancy Jazz Pulsations from October 7 to 21, 2023