Windcraft Music Fest: The celebration of wind instruments in Cyprus offered a musical feast

The Windcraft Music Fest, the celebration of wind instruments, took place for the eleventh time in Katydata, the beautiful village on Mount Troodos in Cyprus.

The event marries tradition with jazz and contemporary sound, bringing together musicians and bands not only from Cyprus but also from the rest of Europe. There were many foreign musical acts participating in this year's 11th Windcraft Music Fest.

30-year-old Robinson Khoury is one of the most interesting young voices in French jazz. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Django Reinhardt Prize as the best jazz musician in France.

Renowned for his virtuosity on the trombone and his comfort with improvisation, Khoury has collaborated with great artists such as Ibrahim Maalouf, Natacha Atlas, and Quincy Jones.

His latest project, titled "MŸA," explores his Lebanese roots. He combines jazz with Middle Eastern scales, ancient musical traditions, wordless vocals, and electronic soundscapes.

At Windcraft Music Fest, he came to present it with his trio, consisting of Anisha Neari and Leo Zashef.

"I wanted it to be something really special. with musical instruments that we had never seen together before. So I wanted there to be a musical trio because the chemistry is really unique.

This project is about ancient musical traditions, but also about electronic music, which represents the timbres we don't know, which are perhaps forgotten," the French musician tells euronews.

The Oratnitza group is made up of five young Bulgarian musicians who share a love for both Bulgarian tradition and contemporary music genres, with an emphasis on bass. For this reason, they call their unique sound "ETHNOBASS."

The band members met 16 years ago in a park, jamming. Soon they took to the stage, impressing with their danceable sounds. In Cyprus, they presented compositions from their fourth album, which will be released soon and is titled "The Guardian."

"We play Bulgarian traditional music, which we combine with some other contemporary music styles, such as drum and bass, dubstep, and even jazz.

Honestly, these are the kinds of music we like and listen to; we like to mix them with Bulgarian traditional music," says Georgi "Jorge" Simeonov, and Christian Georgiev adds, "We have the djediridou, which is an ancient woodwind instrument that has a bass, and we add more bass from synthesizers, and we mix it with acoustic instruments and traditional singing."

Windcraft Music Fest is more than just a concert series. It's a living testament to the richness that comes from collaborations between people who have never worked together before. It reveals the talents of both local and international artists, with a special emphasis on wind instruments.

At the same time, through workshops, activities, and other activities, participants of all ages are invited to take part in the process of musical creation and explore the rich cultural heritage of the village and the surrounding area.