Silvano Togneri prize 2013 winners announced

Well,  yes, finally it is over, the Barga Jazz Festival 2013 finished in style at 6 am this morning. Two weeks of constant high quality jazz through out the city.

Normally one of the most vital parts of Barga Jazz Festival was not to be found in the piazzas or as part of the concerts in the Teatro dei Differenti but during the late night jam sessions that took place each evening at the Enojazz after hours session, this year held at the Hotel  Villa Libano

The musicians who spent each day rehearsing as part of the Barga Jazz Orchestra and then performing in the evening at the concerts would at the end of the shows towards midnight, move across to the the  Hotel  Villa Libano and carry on playing until early in the morning only to rise bleary eyed later on that day and repeat the whole process all over again.

A feat of endurance that only the strongest could survive as the Barga Jazz festival moved into the second week.

The final night of the after hours session, by tradition runs on right through the night until dawn to close the festival in style.

Since 2007, to commemorate the passing of Silvano Togneri the outsider musician (articles about Silvano Togneri can be found here) who was a key member of many of the after hour sessions in the past, the Silvano Togneri prize has been awarded to the musician has has given his or her most to the jazz sessions .

The winner receives a  bottle of spumante and a 45 rpm disc from Silvano’s own collection ( an article about Silvano’s record collection here)

As we moved into the last evening, the front runner amongst the musicians playing this year  was without a doubt the sax baritono player, Rossano Emili but as we have already said (article here) with only three days left of the Barga Jazz Festival 2013, the question was  – had he the stamina to survive until dawn on Sunday or will one of the the other jazz musicians eager to win the prestigious prize pip him at the post ?

True words indeed, as the night ticked on and the clock moved towards 5 am and the coming of the dawn, the star that was Rossano Emili started to wane and two new bright stars started to shine in the enojazz sky – the pianist Andrea Garibaldi and the vocalist Greta Ciurlante.

So bright was their light that the jury were unable to separate the two into a definite winner and so when the final votes were counted up and the music was halted and the audience waited expectantly for the verdict, the  adjudicator,  J.J Carde announced that this year the prestigious Silvano Togneri prize 2013 was awarded to:

The joint winners, Andrea Garibaldi and Greta Ciurlante.

As tradition insists, they took the applause and the prize and then performed the last piece of music for the Barga Jazz Festival 2013 –  A song for Silvano Togneri

Past Winners: 2011 – Renzo Telloli |  2010 –Alessio Bianchi | 2009 – Leonardo Gnesi | 2008 – Stefano Onorati|2007 – Dimitri Grechi Espinoza