Crossing cultures through rhythm, voice and light.
Jazz Brugge opened its doors with a warmth that felt both rooted and restless. Somi brought the Great Hall to life with a voice that rose like sunlight through stained glass, bright and precise, carrying Harlem, Rwanda and Uganda in every note. Her band moved with the same ease, each solo a thread in a tapestry that felt celebratory even when the themes reached deeper into memory and migration. Later op the evening the Peter Somuah Group filled the space with brass and pulse, a sound built from Ghanaian highlife and the wide breath of jazz, a rhythm that travelled straight from West Africa to the soft chairs of Bruges. What the festival promised became true in the room. Cultures met, mixed and lifted each other without effort. These images hold the glow of that first night, a crossing of voices, hearts and histories.
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“Jazz Brugge opende met Somi en de Peter Somuah Group, een avond waarin jazz, Afrikaanse ritmes en levenslust elkaar vonden. Van Harlem tot Ghana klonk overal dezelfde warme hartslag.”
— Peter De Backer, De Standaard (15 Nov 2025)
Review: “Jazz Brugge: muzikale kruisbestuiving met Afrikaanse danspasjes”
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“Voor de eerste festivaldag van Jazz Brugge werd resoluut de kaart van de diversiteit getrokken. Van het dynamische duo Désir en Fiorini tot de warme grooves van Somi en de swingende highlife van de Peter Somuah Group, elk concert kleurde de avond op een eigen manier.”
— Pablo Smet, Jazz&mo’ (14 Nov 2025)
Review: “Divers dansen op dag 1”
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Photography © Marvin Anthony.
