The 5 Continents Jazz Festival will be held in Marseille in five different places.

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Gérard Traquandi

  • Thomas Dutronc, Ayo, Stacey Kent, Deluxe, Ibrahim Maalouf, Morcheeba, Avishai Cohen are among the concerts announced between July 8 and 25 in Marseille.

  • Venues, ticket office, seated gauge, bar: the Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents festival adapts its organization and prepares for different scenarios.

The poster is beautiful and the evenings promising.

The Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents festival unveiled its programming on Thursday, while other summer festivals have dropped the case or are still hesitating.

Once again, there is no question of postponing the 20 years of the festival.

“Even if the current situation is not very reassuring, we believe in it,” slips Régis Guerbois, its president, before the festivities unfold.

Opening on July 8, with a tribute to Louis Armstrong entitled "What a wonderful world", quite a symbol.

In total, fourteen open-air evenings where we find regulars and headliners: Thomas de Pourquery, Thomas Dutronc, Ayo, Stacey Kent, Deluxe, Ibrahim Maalouf, Morcheeba, Avishai Cohen, Harold López-Nussa, Bojan Z, the Belmondo brothers, Marion Rampal… This year, the courtyard of the Old Charity and the patio of the Cantini museum join the Longchamp park, the ancient Sylvain theater and the place of arms of Fort Saint-Jean in Mucem.

All concerts will be in a seated configuration, with a limited gauge for the moment unknown, in terms of percentage.

But in any case, the festival will be under the chopping bar of 5,000 places: in a seated formation, the garden of the Palais Longchamp can only accommodate a maximum of 2,000 places, instead of the usual 3,600.

Online ticketing only

"We are working on all scenarios, there are still a lot of uncertainties but we tend to go with confidence", smiles Hugues Kieffer, director of the Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents festival, who recognizes that "this edition will not be similar. to no other, neither from an organizational point of view, neither from an economic point of view, nor from an artistic point of view ”.

"It just needs to be able to unfold," he adds, placing himself in "a positive perspective of recovery".

It has already been noted that ticketing will only be done online, and no longer also at concert venues.

No purchase or withdrawal can be made on site.

"We are considering catering and bar areas, but whether or not we will have the right to do so, we do not yet know", also says Hugues Kieffer.

But unlike other festivals, the economic balance of the Five Continents is not linked to the revenue from sales of drinks and catering.

Surprise concert

"The city of Marseille will do everything in its power to ensure that these meetings are held in the best conditions", affirms for his part Jean-Marc Coppola, deputy for culture, who welcomes this meeting fixed because "the most hard is the lack of perspective.

"Other financial support for the festival, the department, through the voice of Sabine Bernasconi, abounds:" With the vaccination, the efforts made, we have great optimism that this summer concerts can be played.

"

The circulation of artists is also a major stake and an equation still with many unknowns.

For once, the Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents festival announced, at the end of July 25, a surprise concert.

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