A totally intended pun there as the newest edition of the quaint Windcraft Music Fest approaches. Held in the usually quiet village of Katydata, the festival re-ignites creativity, playfulness and party vibes every summer, bringing together elderly villagers, musicians from Cyprus and the world and of course, festival goers.

On the weekend of July 25 to 27 – the festival’s first three-day edition – jazz, traditional and electronic sounds will be infused with wind instruments at the forefront. Weeks remain until the festival begins and the organisers have announced its full programme of performances and parallel events.

This year’s Windcraft Music Fest programme includes concerts with renowned artists from Cyprus and abroad, with special collaborations and sounds that bridge traditions and contemporary trends. French trombonist Robinson Khoury presents MŸA, a project that combines jazz with Middle Eastern scales in an electro-acoustic environment.

The Ize Trio, with members from the US, Cyprus and Palestine, teams up with flutist Eleonora Roussou to blend American jazz with sounds of the East, while Oratznitza brings an explosive combination of Bulgarian singing, kaval, hip hop and D’n’B.

Rocket Men from Germany experiment with dub and techno rhythms, synthesisers and improvisations, creating a futuristic sound universe. The festival also highlights synergies between local and foreign musicians, such as the collaboration between fusion jazz group Moca and Hungarian saxophonist Dániel Mester, the multicultural ensemble Tropes, which explores the dance oriental repertoire with a unique combination of instruments, and the Reprise Quartet, a creative collaboration of Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots and Welsh saxophonist Thomas Lumley, which explores the boundaries of jazz.

The festival’s experimental stage, the Inn, this year hosts innovative projects in a traditional mud-brick site that is transformed into a space of sonic discovery. Copper Curios create soundscapes with flutes and electronic instruments, the trio Nābu Pēra is inspired by Eastern Mediterranean music, contemporary classical and electronic music, Panayiotis Minas unites modular synthesisers, effects and live wind instruments, while Nikos Diminakis combines aerophones with elements of the vocal beatbox technique.

As part of the festival, a residency programme will take place, bringing together multi-instrumentalist Diminakis and dancer Elisavet Panayiotou. In the performance ‘her body’, the two artists will surround an ancient Greek myth with sound and movement, touching on issues of gender relations and engaging in a poetic dialogue with the present.

The last day of the festival includes free concerts with wind ensembles such as the Windcraft Band and the Quintus Ensemble, a patinada in the streets of the village with zurna and davul and a big Brass Party that brings together locals and festival-goers in a joint celebration.

In addition, the festival offers a rich parallel programme of free educational and interactive activities for all ages. Activities include music workshops on beatboxing, Bulgarian singing, global jazz, improvisation and experimentation with sounds and drawing, as well as a three-day workshop for winds and percussion preparing for participation in the Brass Party. The impressive sound and light installation ‘Σhηνες’ awaits visitors to interact with it and evening screenings will introduce viewers to different Myths of Cyprus. Experiential workshops include creative writing, needle felting and making a pithkiavli-flute, while those who want to explore the village can take part in a soundwalk or an exploration game. Finally, there will be a presentation on copyright for musicians, a thrift market and a twisted game of bingo.

11th Windcraft Music Fest

Music festival with concerts and workshops. July 25-27. Katydata village, Nicosia district. www.windcraftmusicfest.com