Bahrain is set to be the first country to celebrate the International Jazz Day’s tenth anniversary with a six-day virtual music festival dedicated to enriching jazz culture in the kingdom.
Supported by the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority and organised by the Bahrain Jazz Fest in partnership with BNP Paribas, the festival will feature six shows live-streamed on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram from April 4 to 9, culminating in a celebration of International Jazz Day on April 10.
“Now in its fifth year, the Bahrain Jazz Fest has constantly endeavoured to create awareness and appreciation for jazz music not just in Bahrain but across the region and this celebration of the International Jazz Day is an extension of this pursuit,” said Jude D’Souza, managing partner of Clockwork.
Diversity
“We hope that jazz music will go beyond being an art form to becoming a platform of expressions of diversity and tolerance.”
Today at 5pm, Svetlana Shmulyian and Willerm Delisfort will showcase swing music and dance with a talk and workshop before treating Bahrain’s music lovers to a swing jazz mini-concert.
On April 5 at 8pm, Rod Blues will take jazz connoisseurs on a trip down memory lane with renditions of the most influential Delta Blues standards. The Delta Blues were key to developing traditional blues recordings while heavily influencing the rise of Chicago and electric blues.
On April 6, Bahrain’s first jazz-hip-hop collective Tribe 11 will take the virtual stage at 8pm, featuring some of Bahrain’s young up-and-comers like vocalists Ashwin Shenoy and Esra Janahi, drummer Debbi Francisco, Elton Shera on saxophone, Ronald Shera on keys and Salah Sharakhat on bass.
“Tribe 11 is a project we created to bring hip hop and soul into the jazz scene here,” explained Mr Shenoy, more popularly known by his pseudonym, Xenai.
“Personally I love and respect old school hip-hop, which had its roots in Jazz. If it wasn’t for Jazz, hip-hop wouldn’t exist. We wanted to pay homage to this storied history while blending both worlds.
“Our set fuses R&B (rhythm and blues), neo-soul and hip-hop – three very influential genres that shape a lot of music today.”
On April 7 at 8pm, all the way from Luxembourg, some of the country’s best musicians Claire Parson, Greg Lamy and the Benoit Martiny Band will perform limited sets of their exhaustive works, introducing audiophiles to music from one of Europe’s top jazz hubs.
On April 8 at 8pm, Grammy Award-winning baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian and Radam Schwartz will perform from New York with the Jazz House Organ Quartet.
On April 9, celebrated Bahraini singer Banah will serenade fans with an Arab-jazz fusion concert at 8pm.
The International Jazz Day, designated as April 30 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), aims to create global awareness, appreciation and conversation about jazz music and highlight its diplomatic role of uniting people across borders.
Jazz enthusiasts on this day celebrate and engage in intercultural dialogue, appreciate the roots of this form of music and discuss and deliberate on how to strengthen its future.
This year, to avoid an overlap with Ramadan, the organisers of Bahrain Jazz Fest are hosting the music festival ahead of the start of the holy month.
Performances from Bahraini artists will be live-streamed from the Bahraini Alumni Club premises, while Arts Council Luxembourg and the American Embassy will be co-ordinating the performances from Luxembourg and New York.
For details, follow bahrainjazzfest on Instagram or subscribe on YouTube.
naman@gulfweekly.com
The poster
Rod Blues ... influential
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