Brazilian jazz in Valletta this weekend

An exceptional quartet of Paris-based musicians will be strumming out an evening of Brazilian jazz in Valletta over the weekend.

Fringe! Productions will present Café Brazil, its first autumn event in a series of jazz events scheduled for the coming season.

Botafogo is led by French bass player Jacques Figueras, who lives in Sao Paulo. Their music is a tribute to the great composer and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal and to other major figures of Brazilian music from the likes of Pixinguinha to Tom Jobim.

The special guest for this Malta concert is Brazilian singer Catia Werneck, one of the most prominent Brazilian singers in Paris at the moment. She will join Botafogo band members after having performed extensively in Europe, Japan and Brazil.

Botafogo will be delighting the crowd with sambas and bossa novas, including original songs by Catia and Brazilian standards by Dorival Caymmi, Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento.

Band members include Malta's Sandro Zerafa who is the leader of Paris-based White Russian Quintet, drummer Christophe Bras and samba percussion extraordinaire Jean Christophe Dorville.

Fringe! Productions aim to provide regular jazz performances, responding to the need to fill the niche of a local and international contemporary jazz scene. It also strives to showcase non-mainstream, European-jazz acts to local audiences, otherwise absent in the local cultural calendar.

The musicians will perform at MITP, St Christopher Street, Valletta on Saturday and Sunday. The event is being held in association with Cisk Export. Tickets at Lm4 [€9.32] are available from St James Cavalier, Valletta, or at the door.

www.myspace.com/jazzfringe