Jazz, piano and poetry: Clasijazz
Clasijazz is a centre of excellence for music and jazz training in Almería, Andalucía (Spain). It was founded in 1998 as a musical association by piano player and teacher Pablo Mazuecos, in collaboration with a number of musicians and friends. Their activities include musical training and numerous top class concerts with internationally renowned artists such as Eric Alexander, Ignacio Berroa, Enrico Pieranunzi, Jim Rotondi, Joe Magnarelli and many more. Clasijazz also works as a social experiment, as a project in collective economical self-sustainability.
The Instituto Cervantes in Leeds and Manchester will bring a taste of Clasijazz to the UK with this special online event with Pablo Mazuecos and poets J. J. García Rodríguez, Laura Pelegrina, Germán Guirado and María Lago. Antonio Martínez Arboleda (University of Leeds) will be in conversation with them as an introduction to showcasing of 4 different musical pieces recorded exclusively for this session, in which they recite their verses over the base of the piano music improvised by Mazuecos.
Laura Pelegrina (1986, Mecina Bombarón, Granada). Some of her poems have appeared in literary magazines (La Bolsa de Pipas) and anthologies (Y lo demás es silencio, Editorial Chiado). She published her first book De la realidad nacieron estrellas enanas with La Oficina Ediciones Culturales. Some of her stories have been published in the newspaper La Voz de Almería. In 2019 she was awarded an honourable mention in the XX Young Creators Contest, in Salamanca, for her micro-story Desapariciones de ella. She has recently published her latest poems in the anthology Retomar la palabra published by Amargord Ediciones.
J. J. García Rodríguez (Almería, 1975), author of the poems Flor de almadraba (2017) and Detrás de la furia (2020). He is a self-taught poet, in 2005 he was an award winner in the VIII Epistolary Literature Contest organized by Correos. He is included in the Andalusian Poetry special issue of the En sentido figurado magazine (2011), and mentioned in the 1st Poetry for Getafe micropoem contest (2021).
María Lago, from Madrid, has been the lead at her own poetry recitals such as Malaletra's. She has published in anthologies such as Mujeres sin edén (a tribute to Carmen Conde), Más allá del sur, Ángel de nieve, Cinco a las ocho, Poetas almerienses en el Museo and in issue #1 of the magazine Con luz y poesía, published in Murcia. She has also collaborated in various editions of the tribute to Las Sinsombrero (the Poets of 27), held in Clasijazz, and has conducted several literary presentations.
Germán Guirado (Almería, 1975) has published in the collections of poems Ni una palabra de esto (La Oficina Ediciones Culturales, 2015), Escritos de lápiz de labios (Ediciones Vitruvio, 2012) and Menos tú (El Gaviero Ediciones, 2007). In 2019 he published his first novel: Contable (Editorial Universidad de Almería). His works have appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies such as Poetas Españoles del Nuevo Milenio (La Raíz Invertida, 2013) or Especial de Poesía Andaluza (In figurative sense, 2011), among others. As for awards, the more more significants are the VIII City of Almería Young Creation Contest with the work Canción póstuma para un poeta urgente.
