Riva Ganguly Das, director general, ICCR, says this year’s edition of Jazz Festival will be a springboard of new talent
Good news awaits music aficionados for The Delhi International Jazz Festival returns with its 7th edition to satiate your senses. The yearly festival was started in 2011 by The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The young Indian crowd is slowly showing more interest in listening to Jazz music.
The proof lies in the immense applause and overwhelming response that the festival has been getting from music lovers over the years. Riva Ganguly Das, director general ICCR revealed that the turnout has been steadily rising. “The last year saw a big turnout of around 15,000 Jazz enthusiasts grooving to the melodious tunes which motivated us to bring back the festival on a larger scale,” she says.
The festival is now a much-awaited treat for people who understand and appreciate jazz music. Talented new bands from all over the world perform at the festival every year. With time, the Jazz Festival which will commence from September 23 and go on till September 25 at Nehru Park, has steadily gained in popularity — for a reason. Each year top bands perform at the festival and this year will witness Jazz bands from countries like France, Israel, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, South Africa and India. Experimental music lovers and musicians are the ones who usually troop into the festival.
This year the festival will be travelling to nine cities in India, with the artists performing in Goa, Guwahati, Aizawl, Shillong, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Varanasi and Jaipur .
Talking about the outdoor music festival, Das said, “There will be performances by seven international and three Indian Jazz groups. The audience will have the opportunity to listen to one Indian Jazz group on each day of the three-day event.” The International artist line up of the festival– lorenzo Naccarato Trio (France), Storytelling Jazz Saxophonist (Korea), Tovalin- Mercado (Mexico), Sizhukong (Taiwan), Alaska Snack Time (Israel) and artists including Yogev Shetrit, Stav Goldberg, Meni Welt from Israel and Afronso Aroca from Spain. The Indian Jazz groups who will be performing at the festival are UNK: Radha Thomas Ensemble from Bangalore, Rattle and Hum from Nagaland, 4 on a swing from Kolkata. Das said that the festival will give the Indian artists a chance to interact with the Jazz musicians from other parts of the world and also learn from them.
Festivals like these do not just entertain but have a bigger role to play in enriching the country’s musical culture. Das said, “Festival like this helps in creating international understanding through music culture. Jazz also helps us to connect with young people. To satisfy them is a challenge in its own way.”
Das said that the festival’s USP is that Jazz lovers can listen to renowned Jazz bands from across the globe at one place.