The Cultured Traveller 17

MONTREAL
INTERNATIONAL
JAZZ FESTIVAL
CANADA
Montreal is a city where a
heady mix of innovation,
musical appreciation, joie de vivre
and public celebration are all
important ingredients of the civic
cocktail. It's a city that loves the
tradition and history that jazz
WORLD WIFE-CARRYING CHAMPIONSHIPS
FINLAND
Celebrating its 25 th year in
2017, this bizarre
competition has its roots in the tribal
practice of pillaging neighbouring
villages for womenfolk. Apparently a
robber by the name of
Rosvo-Ronkainen was particularly
keen on the practice of thieving other
people's wives in the late 1800's.
What started as a light-hearted
attraction in the small Finnish town
of Sonkajärvi has become a
world-recognised event, which sees
forty pairs from seven countries fight
to complete a 253.5 metre-course in
the fastest time. The track is made up
of sand, grass and various obstacles,
including two log hurdles plus a
one-metre deep-water obstacle. If
the wife weighs less than 49 kilos,
she must wear a rucksack to reach
this minimum weight. Various
techniques are employed to carry the
wife, the most popular being the
“Estonian” style, where the crash
helmet-wearing wife is dangling
upside down on the man’s back!
30 June - 1 July 2017
www.eukonkanto.fi/en/
represents, but also respects the
flexibility and improvisation implicit
within the genre. The city’s inaugural
jazz event in 1980 was headlined by
no other than the great Ray Charles.
Since then - aided by the resurgence
of jazz in the 1980s - the Montreal
International Jazz Festival has grown
into the largest jazz festival in the
world. Headliners for the 2017 edition
include Bob Dylan, Diana Krall
(pictured) and Melissa Etheridge, plus
the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir,
which has performed for Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson
Mandela, and transcends the roots of
African-American spiritual music with
its wonderfully world-class eclectic
gospel sound.
28 June - 8 July 2017
www.montrealjazzfest.com
FIESTA DE SAN FERMÍN
SPAIN
Every year thousands of
Pamploneses (people
from Pamplona), plus visitors who
flood into the pretty Spanish town
from all over the world, all dressed
from head to toe in immaculate white
clothing with red handkerchiefs tied
around their necks, fill the streets of
Pamplona to celebrate the week of
festivities in honour of San Fermín,
also known as Los Sanfermines. The
festival of San Fermín mixes a variety
of contrasts: official and popular
culture, religion and profanity, new
and old, and order and chaos.
Celebrations kick off with the launch
of a rocket (el chupinazo) in
Pamplona’s Plaza Ayuntamiento at
noon on 6 th July, and end nine days
later on 14 th July. Every day includes a
much publicised bull-run, a parade of
colourful gigantes or cabezudos (big
headed giants), a bullfight, fireworks
and non-stop partying.
6-14 July 2017
www.sanfermin.com
14 The Cultured Traveller Jun-Jul 2017