The Brooklyn hip-hop artist will perform on Friday 8th August on the atmospheric Balloon 360° Stage, which will also host jazz artists such as the U.S-based Roy Hargrove Quintet, along with Finnish groups Mopo and Antti Lötjönen Quartet East.
Mos Def, born Dante Terrell Smith, appeared in his early career on De La Soul's ‘Stakes Is High’, before cementing his name in the mainstream with hip-hop giants Black Star. Since then, he has forged a successful solo career and sold millions of albums, with his record ‘Black on Both Sides’ certified Gold in U.S. sales and latest album, 2009’s ‘The Ecstatic’, earning a Grammy Award nomination. Mos Def has also enjoyed Emmy and Golden Globe nominations from his successful acting career.
Jazz is well-represented in the Balloon 360° line-up, whose audiences can enjoy gigs in an intimate setting around the full 360 degrees of the platform. On Friday, the stage will be set for Roy Hargrove Quintet, led by Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Having started his career in the 90s, where he played a major role in crafting the sounds of the likes of D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, Hargrove’s time has been recently devoted to developing his own jazz style, which combines Afro-Cuban rhythms and hard bop.
On Saturday the stage will be graced by Mopo, the hottest trio on the Finnish jazz scene, who take their inspiration from jazz, 70s punk and the Finnish nature. Sunday’s stage will then present Antti Lötjönen Quartet East, led by double bass player Antti Lötjönen: the only person to have played every single Flow Festival from 2004 until 2014. This summer he will bring his fresh new jazz quartet to the festival to perform his own compositions along with carefully selected covers and some solo bass improvisation.