Jazz’n Bruche is celebrating its tenth traveling jazz session between Mutzig and Colroy-La-Roche. In May, six weeks before the start of the festival which will be held from July 7 to 18, the volunteer team learned that a grant of 8,000 euros had been removed.
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Fanny Laemmel
The meeting is at Jazz’n Bruche HQ, at the home of one of the volunteers in Bellefosse, a small village in the heights of the Bruche valley. In mid-June, the team is in full swing, a little tired too. Because of the signs, radio and television broadcasts… The association has been working on the event since November. Before the traveling festival which will take place from July 7 to 18, 2026 in six towns, from Muztig to Colroy-La-Roche, Jazz’n Bruche is offering a series of concerts for local schools in June. The objective: to bring culture to life in this rural sector.
As with each edition, the jazz concerts will be held in emblematic places in the valley: the La Couronne verte bistro in Barembach with its frescoes, classified as a historic monument, the Oberlin Museum in Waldersbach or the Alsace-Moselle Memorial in Schirmeck. In addition to these evenings, which take place mainly outdoors, for this anniversary edition, there are two dates at the Dôme de Muztig. The organizing team is betting on filling 300 places per evening.
A club, an idea, a festival
It all started in 2017, in the village of Poutay, with Jaki Koehler, musician and president of the Indigo Moonshine association behind the festival. The artist who held a « club » private music studio at his home, decides to launch a weekend of concerts in his garden. He then calls Pat’, Didier, Gilles… childhood friends, known at Fegersheim primary school. Jaki managed to bring together a few musicians from the region, including his friend Marcel Loeffler, a famous jazz accordionist. This is the first edition of Jazz’n Bruche.
Christian Weiss, who describes himself as “L’homme de l’ombre”is the « premier of the valley is incrusté in the organization ». Besides, the HQ is his home. “I had the impression that there wasn’t much going on here apart from Jaki’s club and a brewer who organized concerts in his cellarremembers the sixty-year-old:
“We got together with Jaki’s friends, and it’s rare but they’re all nice! There is a wonderful atmosphere between us, with sharing and tolerance. We are quite versatile, we can occupy all positions, it allows us to tour and also enjoy concerts. »
2,000 festival-goers in 2025
The fifteen volunteers work so well that they have kept the festival running for nine years like this. During the event, around ten additional people joined them. Jaki would like to mention the women of the team: Karine, Isabelle, Solange… more numerous than the men, “which is rare in associations [musicales] comme ça »according to him. “The heart of the team is between 65 and 70 years old, we need to bring in young people now!”
The two friends do not doubt for a moment the interest of this festival in rural areas. Jaki congratulates himself:
“At the beginning, it was a clique that came back every year, around fifty then a hundred people from the area. This allows people from the valley to meet during the festival, a community is created and people talk about it throughout the rest of the year. Then city dwellers were added to the public.”
In 2025, Jazz’n Bruche welcomed almost 2,000 festival-goers including school audiences, with often intimate concerts: 50 seats for the La Couronne verte bistro, 80 for the Orberlin Museum, 150 at the Alsace-Moselle Memorial…
A hole worth 8,000 euros
After the first editions at Jaki, Jazz’n Bruche is gaining momentum with its itinerant format since 2022. It has formed a partnership with the Memorial and obtained subsidies. This last point particularly concerns the team in June because it learned in May, six weeks before the start of the festival, that the subsidy of 8,000 euros from the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac), which did not respond to our request, will not be renewed in 2026. “It’s a hard blow… But we’re courageous, we don’t let ourselves get discouraged.”says Christian. For Jaki, “the festival becomes militant by maintaining the same programmingâ€in order to ensure the accessibility of culture, keep free concerts, projects with schools and a home for people with disabilities, all despite “le risque financier”.
Some suppliers and municipalities have agreed to renegotiate their prices, artists have lowered their fees to support the festival which is usually 60% self-financing. « On compte sur le public ! »says Jaki. If the two evenings at the Dôme de Mutzig are full, this will make it possible to compensate for the disengagement of the State. With the Brazilian Amaro Freitas on July 10, and the American singer Liz McComb on July 12, the program has enough to attract a wider audience than the regulars keen on jazz and blues. With several free concerts and prices ranging from €10 to €35 for other evenings, the festival wanted to remain as affordable as possible.
Make the landscape shine
The arrival of Biréli Lagrène a few years ago allowed the festival to prove its credibility in the musical world. Since then, the team has been regularly contacted by agencies looking to place artists on tours. “And then Jaki has high standards in terms of musical quality, as is the case in the profession.”précise Christian. “Jazz’n Bruche has been identified by institutions as a viable event. In the future, we would like to take care of a room, a place all year round, and create jobs.”Jaki dreams out loud. Before you ask: “But are there any wishes from the territory? From the budget?
It reminds us that this corner of Alsace has long been « associé au camp de concentration du Struthof ». With Jazz’n Bruche, Jaki hopes to bring pride to the Bruchois by helping to make the valley shine in a way other than the memory of the dark years.
Culture as a social bond
The two volunteers would like more cultural events in the area. And more places that create social connections in these villages which for the most part do not have a café or place to go out in the evening. “Associations offer cultural activities such as the choir but otherwise there is nothing”se désole Jaki. Il dit à son comparse : “We have a biased look at it because we are interested in a certain type of music. There are still comedy and disco evenings… But what do our jazz enthusiasts in the valley do the rest of the year? “On va au club de Jaki!”concludes Christian.
