Introduction

The Buta Arts Centre was founded in 2004 with the aim to support and promote Azerbaijani culture as well as to create and develop new exciting international projects. The Centre was established not only to acquaint people with the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, but also to showcase the great wealth of contemporary art in the ''Land of Fire''. Buta’s uniqueness lies in its ability to combine the traditional with what is current, while always maintaining originality. The Centre has several types of activities – from festival organization and exhibition management to promoting artists and filmmaking. The Buta team has a healthy mix of seasoned, experienced professionals, as well as young energetic talents. Our people are not indifferent to the future and are impassioned about preserving and promoting the cultural values of the World’s nations. In 2009 Buta celebrated its five year anniversary with the launch of the new International Buta Festival of Azerbaijani Arts. From 25 November 2009 until 7 March 2010 a 100-day arts festival took place in London’s most prestigious venues. The Buta Festival of Azerbaijani Arts is the first large Azerbaijani festival at an international level, to be organized and hosted in Europe. It’s an unprecedented event in the history of the dialogue between the civilizations of East and West, which enriches the cultural heritage of the nation. Also in 2009 Buta became a laureate of

the British Council’s prestigious annual award for the International Young Performing Arts Entrepreneur. The Centre is the official partner and one of the organizers of the ''Art-November'' international art festival in Moscow. The annual programme of this festival includes dozens of events, includign concerts, movies and theatre performances showcasing outstanding artists.The Buta Arts Centre organizes events of varied complexity, including the development of concepts and structures. The Centre has great experience in publishing, as well as producing musical works and promoting artists and musicians who have been winners of prestigious jazz festivals, and many other young talents. The main driving force behind Buta is Nasib Piriyev – Buta’s founder – and together with his teams’ passion for the arts, they have propelled the organization to the position of leading Azerbaijani Arts Centre, strongly contributing to the development of Azerbaijani folk culture and international arts. In 2010 Buta is planning to launch a series of new and ambitious projects with the aim of attracting even more attention to the culture and issues of Azerbaijan – the ''Land of Fire''.

www.buta.ruwww.butafestival.com

Buta ProjectThe winner of jazz

solo piano competition of Montreux Jazz

Festival 2007

Shahin Novrasli - piano, khananda*.

Involving:Nathan Peck (double bass)Alexander Mashin (drums)

Arslan Novrasli (tar)Nurlan Novrasli (kamancheh)

* Khananda is a name generally given to singers of mugham, an Azeri folk music genre.

Biography

Rising star of the jazz world Shahin Novrasli has quickly been hailed as the natural heir to creator of Mugham jazz, Vagif Mustafa-zadeh. His dazzling technique on the piano and his intelligent musicianship combine two great musical cultures from the east and the west.

His music blends curling, exotic melodies with capricious eastern rhythms, punctuated by sharp harmony and a dash of lightning-quick American jazz which has thrilled audiences across Europe.

His performances have won acclaim from his peers. World-renowned Russian pianist Daniel Kramer describes Novrasli as “a brilliant musician who dazzlingly expresses his own approach”, while Turkish star Fazil Say rates him as “one of the best currently performing pianists in the world”.

Novrasli was born in Baku in 1977, growing up in a Soviet city where mugham-jazz had overcome official disapproval and been taken to the hearts of the Azerbaijani people. He began learning music as a child, and had performed as a soloist with the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra by the time he was 11. A committed student of classical music and jazz at the Bulbul Music School and later the Baku Music Academy, he earned top marks for his performances of Rachmaninov.

Despite a rigourous touring schedule, Novrasli has continued to pursue new and interesting projects – most notably the “Eternal Way” ensemble, which combines a jazz trio with folk

instruments performed by his brothers Arslan and Nurlan. He is also involved with a solo jazz project, “Clajamu” and still performs classical music, especially Mozart and Bach.

Novrasli has performed and recorded with Kenny Wheeler,Udai Mazumdar, Allison Miller, Nathan Peck, Alex Peck, Matt Zebrosky, Jeff Lederer, Jon Wikan, Sasha Mashin and other famous musicians. Shahin Novrasli gives lessons and masterclasses at universities and high schools in Turkey, France, Russia, Azerbaijan and in the countries where he plays concerts.

Brilliant jazz pianist Shahin Novrasli’s unique new project with Buta also showcases his hitherto little-known skills as a khananda, a singer of traditional Azeri mugham. His take on this time-honoured folk style takes centre stage along with jazz standards and Shahin’s own compositions. November 2009 saw the successful conclusion of a prestigious Buta-backed tour, which took in celebrated venues such as Moscow’s Dom Muzyki (House of Music), the great hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, the Bozar Art Centre in Brussels, the Strasbourg Conservatoire and Paris’s popular Sunset Sunside jazz club. The tour reached a climax in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, where a packed house on the South Bank gave him a rapturous reception at the start of Buta’s 100-day festival of Azerbaijan’s music and culture in the British capital. And London audiences were treated to a second show as the exclusive 606 Club gave Novrasli the stage for a jam-session, with the welcome support of Iain Bellamy on sax and Malcolm Creese on bass.

Foundation Montreux Jazz 22007

Eternal Way2006

Shahin Novrasli trio2005

Discography

J’z Mu2003

1. Concert: 2 hour (approx) or two 50-minute sets with one 15 minute intermission. A minimum period of 3 hrs. is required prior to performance for setup, sound system evaluation and sound check.

2. Dressing room: must be clean prior to the start of the load-in; floors, make-up tables, mirrors, sinks, and five (5) clean white hand towels. They should have hot and cold running water, mirrors and at least six (6) chairs. All dressing rooms should be in close proximity as well as to the stage.

3. Food & Drinks: Promoter will provide coffe, milk, sugar, tea, boiled water, twelve (12) 0.5 liter bottles of Evian water, non-carbonated at room temperature. A light supper will be provided to the Artists and their manager after set-up and sound check and at the start of the concert. Dinner options should include five (5) meat and one (1) vegetarian meals, no pork please.

4. Running Crew: Promoter will provide one (1) sound engineer (front of house mix & monitor mix), one (1) light board programmer / operator, two (2) loaders.

5. Set Up Crew: Promoter will also need to supply crew as needed for the load-in and set-up of: stage platforms, lighting, sound equipment and dressing rooms.

6. Rooms: four (4) singles and one (1) double (All non-smoking, free wi-fi rooms) in a 3 or 4 four ***/* hotel.

7. Ground & Air Transportation: Buta Project require that promoters provide air and ground transportation to and from the venue to the hotel and back to the airport. It is important that you check for tour routing. In the event the band might be in your area during the time of festival or event.

Promoter shall notify and confirm all press interviews by e-mail. Interviews will be scheduled pending the Artist’s availability. Interviews cannot be scheduled within 3 hour of the start of the performance.

Artist shall have the right to sell records and tapes at all performances.

The following requirements are minimum requirements and must be satisfied to ensure safe and comfortable preparedness for performance.

General Terms and Conditions

Steinway concert grand (tuned up) Double-bass 3/4 or 4/4, with pick-up, 4-string (Old and hopefully carved-wood,not ply-wood, please); 1 (one) bass combo;Drums (jazz set) 18* bass drum, 14* floor-tom, 12* tom-tom, 14* snare drum, hi-hat stand, 3 (three) cymbals stand, snare drum stand, pedal, drum throne. 3 (three) microphones for drums: overhead

AKG-451/Bass Drum 112 or Shure. Carpet for drums5 (five) separated monitor lines;4 (four) microphones with stands;2 pedestals (1m x 1m, height 15-30 sm) for ethnic musicans;Several oriental carpets and pillows for 2 musicans, who will sit on the pedestals during the performance.Directed stage lights

Buta Arts Centre Katya SedlyarovaManagement & bookingkatya@buta.ruMob. + 7 926 5390205

Technical Rider

Previous tour 2009

Buta project tour 2009 Moscow-St.Petersbourg-Brusseles-Paris-Strasbourg-London

Publications

www.dna.com

www.sunset-sunside.com

www.nytimes.com

http://butafestival.com/

www.tsfjazz.com

www.parisjazzclub.com

www.butafestival.com