Robinson Khoury Mÿa + Brian Jackson

The 23rd edition of the Festa do Jazz takes place from 19 to 21 December at the Centro Cultural de Belém, bringing together artists, agents, and jazz schools from across the country in a programme dedicated to the expansion of jazz sonorities and their most liberating oral expressions.

Robinson Khoury is an eclectic composer who has emerged as a rising star in France. With his new band, MŸA, the trombonist embarks on a musical quest for the organic origins of life, exploring ancestral rhythms and sounds through electroacoustic landscapes shaped by his modular synthesizer. Rooted in jazz and Middle Eastern scales, MŸA revolves around the wordless voices of the band’s members. In March 2025, Robinson Khoury received France’s most prestigious jazz award, the Django Reinhardt Prize, awarded to the Best Jazz Musician of the Year. He was also nominated for the 2025 Victoires du Jazz in the category of «Best Concert of the Year».

Half of the legendary duo Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, Brian Jackson composed music that reflected the social and political context of his time. Songs such as Lady Day & John Coltrane, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, and The Bottle became the soundtrack of a generational movement of Black Consciousness in the 1970s and 1980s. His repertoire has travelled through time and has been a source of samples for decades. He is considered one of the early progenitors of conscious music — music with a message — which led The New Yorker to describe him as «a musical pioneer». For this performance, he will be joined by Tatiana Lima (guitar), Razy (bass), Juninho Ibituruna (percussion), and Luís Possollo (drums).