29/07/2008 00:00:00
The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival was marked in style over the weekend as its annual Mardis Gras celebrations carried on despite the rain in the capital.
The Jazz and Blues Festival, which began on Friday July 25 and will run for a week, is now in its thirtieth year and has been awarded a £49,370 grant from the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund, according to the Scotsman.
Using the funds, festival officials will organise the first Scottish Jazz Expo: a series of concerts that will showcase the best of Scottish jazz.
The chairman of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, Brian Fallon, told the newspaper, "As we move into our fourth decade, we wanted to increase our commitment. Thanks to the Scottish Government we have been able to do it."
The advent of the Jazz and Blues Festival marks the beginning of Edinburgh's August festival season. Its main attraction is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - the world's largest arts festival - which is scheduled to start on Sunday August 2.
The Fringe began in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival. Together, the festivals now attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to Edinburgh each August.
Other popular festivals taking place during the month include the Military Tattoo and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, at which Sean Connery will launch his memoirs this year.
Until 2007, the Edinburgh International Film Festival was also a fixture during the month's celebrations. However, this year, it was held in June for the first time in its 62 year history, as organisers hoped to differentiate the event from "the vast cultural offering in Edinburgh in August".
