Penza, 19 May 2017. PenzaNews. First performances within the framework of the 7th international festival of jazz music "Jazz May Penza" were held in Yubileynaya square in Penza on Friday, May 19.

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The festival day that was named after performers’ geography "Penza meets Lugnask" started with the band "Dmitriev-Band" from Zarechny.

It performed such songs as "Birdland", "Funky cha-cha", "Les Champs-Elysees", "Faithful people", "Feeling good", "Mystery woman" as well as the famous jazz standard "Caravan". During the performance, many people sang along with the soloists and some of them could not stay still and began to dance.

The sunny weather that prevailed during the first day of the festival after several cold rainy days drew a lot of people to the Yubileinaya square, many of whom came by bicycle. Bicycle races became a popular attraction among young guests of the festival. It was possible to rent the vehicle.

The number of people far exceeded the number of seats in the stalls. Some people sat at specially installed wooden benches but most of the guests listened to the concert in the standing position.

Unusually, the lawn, which had become a feature of the festival during the years of its existence, was almost unoccupied. The audience started to make itself comfortable on the lawn only when one hour of the concert was behind. At the same time, the available space was actively used by the youngest guests of the festival.

During the open-air performances, without making even a one-minute break, workers assembled a so-called festival area, which will introduce partners of the festival. Organizers and their assistants assembled wooden kiosks.

"Dmitriev-Band" was followed by the pop and jazz music ensemble "Combo" from Lugansk and an official opening of the festival.

It is expected that the second day of the festival, May 20, will feature performances of students and groups of Penza musical schools, the ensemble "Jamberry" and "Edinorok". The bands "Monocle" headed by Alexei Titenko, "Moving Club Band", "OceanJazzBand", "Brilliant Corners" and Dmitry Boldyr from Samara as well as the Penza bands "Silver Foxes" and "P+Project" headed by Petr Andronow will take the stage. Performances of the band "Dock in Absolute" from Luxembourg and Mariam Merabova together with Armen Merabov's project "Miraif" were scheduled for the evening.

In addition, workshops on yoga, clay modeling and solfeggio will be conducted.