Top line up of music stars headed by Jamiroquai for Majorca this summer

IT'S going to be a good summer for music on Majorca, with a top line up programmed across the island, starting with artists such as Jamiroquai, Bonnie Tyler and George Benson. Jay Kay and Jamiroquai have included Majorca in their six-city tour of Spain, and they will be performing here on July 27.
The tour is to promote their sixth studio album, Dynamite, their first in four years, which will be launched on June 21.
The British band have sold more than 20 million discs with their last five albums and have netted a Grammy and five MTV awards. The date is July 27 and the venue will be the bullring in Palma. The band last appeared in Majorca in 2003. Bonnie Tyler, whose hits include It's a Heartache and Holding Out for a Hero, will be appearing at the Costa Nord in Valldemossa this summer, in the Mediterranean Nights series of concerts. The Mediterranean Nights were started six years ago by Hollywood star Michael Douglas, and consisted of five or six concerts each summer, for a small audience, featuring artists such as Van Morrison and Art Garfunkel. Douglas has since sold the Costa Nord to the Balearic government, and while the Mediterranean Nights will continue, the concerts have been reduced to two, but they will also be held in Ibiza and Minorca. The dates have yet to be confirmed, but Bonnie Tyler will be giving one of them, and Brazilian star Daniela Mercury will give the other. Mercury, who is not very well known in Europe, will be presenting her latest work, Carnaval Electrónico, a sound which she describes as “tecno galope” or “samba house.” The legendary George Benson has been chosen to open the second Jazz Voyeur Festival at the Cassino on July 29, when he will present his latest album, Irreplaceable. Apart from his voice, Benson is considered one of the best jazz guitarists in the world, and the first two decades of his extensive career were dedicated to this instrument. That was until 1976, when he recorded Breezin' for Warner. It included one song, This Masquerade, which was an immediate hit. After that, singing featured more and more in his albums. The Jazz Festival will run until the end of the year, with concerts divided between the Casino (in Calvia), the Auditorium and the Conservatory in Palma. The second concert in the festival will be given by Kool and the Gang, also at the Casino, on September 10. Another of the major concerts this year will be by Brazilian percussionist Carlinhos Brown, who can be seen at the summer fiestas of Felanitx.
And at Bellver Castle, the acoustic rock of Elliott Murphy and Sid Griffin can be heard on July 9. by Irene Taylor
THERE is so much going on in Majorca during the summer that I don't know why major concerts and other events such as the village fiestas are not publicised more. At one time, big names never came to the island, the argument being that the potential audience was not large enough. This is changing, but audiences would be even bigger if people could find out about the events in advance.