Manners McDade artists at XJAZZ 2018

This weekend, XJAZZ marks its fifth anniversary with five days of exciting music.

The idea for the festival was inspired by the city of Berlin itself, which offers an incredible melting pot of music and artists from the international jazz scene. By hosting a mix of artists showcasing different styles, the festival celebrates jazz as an evolving genre with cross-overs with other styles.

Over the weekend, the programme spans improvised electronics, classical instrumentation and singer/songwriter styles side-by-side.

XJAZZ describes the philosophy behind the festival:

“XJAZZ incorporates already existing structures and hip venues, whilst bringing together musicians who collaborate and perform joint projects. Above all, one of the main focuses of XJAZZ is to highlight the local music scene; around 70% of the line-up consists of local artists, which is unique.”

Wednesday and Thursday already saw great performances from many artists, concluding with Manners McDade Creative Services artist Kai Schumacher last night, who released his first album 'Beauty In Simplicity' via Neue Meister in 2017. John Kameel Farah, who is also a Manners McDade Creative Services artist and whose video for the work 'Simple Rotation' was recently nominated for the Berlin Music Video Awards, plays at 21:30 tonight. On Sunday night, the festival closes with a highly-anticipated set by third MMCS artist Christian Loeffler, co-founder of Ki Records, who described his music as "...connected by a gloomy spirit, which is minted by a warm sincerity. I try to merge all kinds of different acoustic colors to obtain this feeling in my music.”

An amazing programme of music for anyone in Berlin this weekend.