Marmoucha Orchestra & Maripepa Contreras present Sexi Firmum Iulium

On Sunday 7 June, Amare Den Haag will premiere Sexi Firmum Iulium, the new production by Marmoucha Orchestra led by jazz hobo, arranger and artistic coordinator Maripepa Contreras. In this performance, Contreras explores the cultural stratification of her southern Spanish birthplace Almuñécar through a contemporary musical language merging Mediterranean influences, flamenco, jazz and improvisation.

Maripepa Contreras is among the few jazz hobos in the world. With both a classical and jazz education, a DownBeat award to her name and a strong fascination for Mediterranean and Brazilian music, she developed a distinct signature of her own in recent years. As one of the musicians who founded Marmoucha Orchestra, she played an important role in the development of the Amsterdam-based ensemble, which has been bringing together jazz, global and composed music in its own productions since 2019.

The title Sexi Firmum Iulium refers to the Phoenician trading town on the southern Spanish coast that bore the same name under the Romans: present-day Almuñécar, where Contreras grew up. From Amsterdam, she reflects on the layered history of her native land. This region was shaped over the centuries by an interweaving of Phoenician, Roman, Jewish, Christian, Amazigh and Arab-Muslim influences. Maripepa Contreras translates this cultural stratification into a musical world where Andalusian rhythms, Mediterranean melodies, orchestral timbres and free imporivisation come together in a dynamic and contemporary dialogue.

The performance is given an extra dimension by Lebanese artist Toni Geitani's cinematic visuals. Historically linked to Phoenicia, the same civilisation that founded Sexi, his imagery blurs past, present and future, while the music is carried by a poetic form of historiography.

Sexi Firmum Iulium is made possible in part by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts) and the Performing Arts Fund.