Source: Speak Up
Language level: Advanced
Standard: British accent
IRELAND, THE CORK GUINnESS FESTIVAL
All that Jazz!
Ireland tends to be famous for its traditional folk music, but the country also hosts an important jazz event. This takes place at the end of this month in the Republic’s “Second City,’ Cork, on the South coast. Indeed such is the success of the Cork Guinness Jazz Festival that the city’s population will increase by almost a third, thanks to the arrival of up to 40.000 music fans from all over the world.
About 1.000 musicians from more than 30 countries will play in 80 venues around the city over the course of the five-day festival. This year’s acts will include the Branford Marsalis Quartet, the Kurt Elling Quartet, the Lou Donaldson Quartet Featuring Dr. Lonnie Smith, the Joe Lovano Nonet and Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio.
Bill Johnson is the chairman of the Cork Jazz Festival Committee. He explains the reasons for the festival’s growing popularity:
Bill Johnson
(Standard: Irish/corn accent):
Cork is one the reasons for the success of the festival. I’ll explain that by saying that the size of the city – it’s a relatively small city of about 150.000 people – and it means that, number one, everything is very accessible and there’s a tremendous friendliness about it and I certainly, as a totally unbiased Cork man, would say that I suspect that the festival wouldn’t have worked as well in a bigger centre because it would become too fragmented, you know, whereas the whole city become involved and it’s great in that sense. For many, many years we have had the tag of “the friendly festival” and I like to think that, again, that still exists because most of us who are involved are fans of the music and of the people who make it. And therefore there is a definite welcome.
In actual fact Ireland is itself an attraction for many of the festival’s performers, as Bill Johns explains:
Bill Jonhson:
Quite often, which is nice, too, some of the American musicians who will be contracted to play here will bring friends with them and make a sort of a holiday of it, you know, and perhaps stay on and, you know, go on and have a look at some of Ireland. And, of course, naturally enough, our history being what it is, a number of them will have Irish connections somewhere along the line, you know, so they welcome the choice, but I think one of the great things about the festival is that we find that we can sometimes get major stars to come to Ireland because they have heard from some of their fellow musicians what a good time they’ve had in Cork, so they say, “Yeah, we’d like to do Cork.”
You know, and I can think of instances where big names have come to Cork for less money than they would normally charge, which we probably couldn’t afford, just because of the reports that they got back from some of their fellow musicians.
The second City (no audio)
Cork is the second city in the Republic of Ireland. Built around the River Lee, the city got its name from the Irish word “corcach,” which means “marshy place.”
During its 1.400-year history, Cork has survived battles, fires and invasions from Vikings and Norsemen. Today about 120.000 people live in Cork city and another 50.000 in its suburbs. The city was the European Capital of Culture for 2005 and many include a 400-year-old food market (called the English Market), the City Jail Museum, St Finbarre’s Cathedral, the Cork Opera House and the church tower of Shandon, where you can ring the church bells.
The county of Cork is the biggest county in Ireland. People who live there often call themselves Corkonians. Their county is known as the Rebel County, probably because it played such an important role in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.
The 30th Cork Jazz Festival will take place from October 26th to 29th. For more information on musicians, tickets, planning your visit etc., go to http//:www.corkjazzfestival.com .
