DjangoFest is a series of music festivals celebrating the music of

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

and other forms of gypsy jazz and traditional gypsy music. There are three annual festivals: ''DjangoFestNW'', a 5-day festival produced by Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, ''DjangoFest San Francisco'', a three-day festival held at the Throckmorton Theater in

Mill Valley, California Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

, ''DjangoFest Los Angeles'' a one-day festival held in

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and a ...

, and ''DjangoFest Colorado'' held in Mt. Crested Butte This blend of Eastern European melodies, Parisian

Bal-musette Bal-musette is a style of French instrumental music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1880s. Although it began with bagpipes as the main instrument, this instrument was replaced with accordion, on which a variety of waltzes, polkas ...

, Spanish

Flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

and American

Swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

was created by Reinhardt and his fellow Gypsy musicians in the cafes of Paris during the 1930s and 1940s. There are related festivals in other parts of the world such as

Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival The Festival Django Reinhardt is a Gypsy jazz music festival held during late June or early July at Samois-sur-Seine, France. It began as a single evening festival in 1968, but in 1983, became an annual week-long event commemorating Django Reinhard ...

Samois-sur-Seine Samois-sur-Seine (, ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located near Fontainebleau. Culture It is famous for being the town to which Django Reinhardt retired, and hosts an ...

, France and another in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

, Germany.

Notes and references

External links

DjangoFest Gypsy Jazz Swing Guitar Music Festivals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Djangofest Gypsy jazz Tourist attractions in Island County, Washington Folk festivals in the United States Festivals in Washington (state) Romani in the United States Romani music Jazz festivals in the United States