The festival that pays tributes to Jazz and its musicians, Kathmandu saw the first Jazzmandu take place in 2002 with a handful of artistes recreating different airs of Jazz. The pillars behind this initiative were Chhedup Bozman and Navin Chettri who worked day and night to make the first Jazzmandu a grand event.
However, it is an interesting story to know how these two friends never planned of coming up with any such events on annual basis. While playing for their own band Cadenza, Bozman and Chettri had gone to participate in the Palmer Street Festival in Australia. When they became part of the festival, they got clicked by an idea that such an event could equally attract many to jazz music in Nepal, too. Upon returning to Kathmandu, they started working on their plan to host a jazz festival, and in no more than three months, they succeeded organizing Jazzmandu 2002. Since then, there has been no looking back.
As the years progressed, they gathered more international artistes and expanded their horizons by reaching to the world outside.
Navin Chettri, the lead vocalist and drummer of the band Cadenza, proudly stands today and makes it loud that that this festival has grown by the year.
“By now, Jazz has been a part of my life through which I express myself honestly. I hope people take it the same way and with our annual event, I aim to expand this genre of music globally,” he said.
Organized annually by Upstairs Ideas Private Limited, the Kathmandu Jazz Festival, better known as Jazzmandu, has been successful in promoting Jazz in Nepal and bringing world-class musicians to audiences in Kathmandu and Pokhara over the past five years. In this venture, Jazzmandu has already had musicians participating from countries like Australia, UAE, the Netherlands, the USA, the UK, India, Norway, France, Indonesia, Africa, Canada, Israel, Germany, and Nepal.
Apart from promoting Jazz, Jazzmandu has also remained responsible for organizing various social activities like Jazzmandu Peace Parade, music workshops for students and children, strengthening healthy relationships with international musicians to tie up with tourism projects and boost the economy of Nepal, and by organizing cultural interaction programs during the festival with international players.
For this year’s Surya Nepal Jazzmandu 2009, there are altogether ten different bands performing at different venues with their guitars, drums, pianos, and saxophones. Out of the 10, two are Nepali bands representing the Nepali way of understanding Jazz.
MEET THE MUSICIANS
YURI HONING TRIO: These three musicians from one of the most successful Dutch Jazz groups of today, centered around not only one of the best saxophone player and compose, but also one of the leading Dutch artists in jazz since the nineties. They played with international artistes such as Pat Metheny, Paul Bley, Charlie Haden and Vince Mendoza. The trio of the band is Yuri Honing, Tony Overwater and Joost Lijbart.
VATCHAPUJ: Vatchapuj was born out of the meeting between saxophonist Pharadon Phonamnuai and flutist Vincent Martial. The trio strikes a delicate balance between improvisation and written-composition. All three musicians play multiple musicians.
TRIO URBANO: Jamie Baum, Dario Eskenazi and Susan Pereira are the backbones of Trio Urbano. Jamie is a flutist, composer and clinician. She was nominated as “Flutist of the Year” by Jazz Journalists Association in 2005, 2006 and 2009 in New York. Dario is been a pianist, arranger and a composer and Susan is a vocalist, pianist, percussionist, composer and an arranger.
SHEYLA COSTA LA-BRASILERIA: Sheyla Costa was born in Olinda in Brazil. She began her singing career at the age of nine. She is the lead vocalist and guitarist. Other band members are Rodrigo Viana on guitar, Valerie Benzaquine on piano, Therese Henry on bass and Julie Saury on drums.
CADENZA: Cadenza has explored new elements and energies and demonstration of the vast possibilities in skilled musical improvisation. Their music ranges from jazz to afrobeat, funk and Indian classical. Rajat Rai is the lead guitar, Navin Chettri is a drummer and vocalist, Samir Chhetri is the bassist and Bastian plays keyboard.
SOULMATE: SOULMATE is inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-rock, Soul, Rock-n-Roll, Funk and R&B, came together in Shillong in 2003. Since then the band has performed all over in North East as well as in different parts of India.
SIMON FISK AND AARON YOUNG: Simon Fisk is a jazz bassist who has recorded and performed extensively since 1990s. He has worked primarily in the piano trio format with pianist Chris Gestrin and most recently Jerry Granelli on drums.Aarong young is a guitarist. At a young age of 23, he had already produced, arranged and performed on over 15 albums.
JCS TRIO: JCS Trio was performed in 2004, with the sole purpose of learning, experiencing and gigging around the Kathmandu Valley. The group has been playing together for more than a year regularly at the upstairs Jazz bar in Lazimpat on every Saturdays.
TREBEKA: Trebeka is an international recording artist born and raised in France in a multi-ethnic family rooted in Afria, Asia and Europe. After building an astonishing reputation as an artist comfortable in all styles and genres, whether singing jazz, neo-soul, or African music, she has proved herself the choice of demanding audiences and established stars alike.
KUTUMBA: As their name suggests, Kutumba is all about bringing together traditional folk tunes and instruments with new and improvised sounds and ideas. Kutumba is a folk instrumental ensemble, an amateur group of six friends from Kathmandu. Self motivated and self driven, Kutumba is a group with their own unique sound and vision. This band is the harmony of traditional roots, culture and new sounds.
JAZZMANDU CALENDAR
JAZZ FOR SCHOOL STUDENTSDate: Thursday, October 8
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Venue: St Xavier’s School
Free entry, by invitation only
VALLEY JAMS
Date: Thursday, October 8
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Venue: House of Music: Thamel
Featuring: Vatchapuj
Venue; Rox Bar, Hyatt Regency
Featuring: Yuri Honing Trio
Ticket: Rs 350
JAZZMANDU HEADLINER
Date: Friday, October 9
Time: 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Venue: Regency Ballroom, Hyatt Regency
Featuring: Trio Urbano and Shelya Costa La-Brasileria. Ticket: Rs 599
GOKARNA JAZZ BAZAAR
Date: Saturday, October 10
Time: 5:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Venue: Gokarna Forest Resort and Spa
Feat. Trio Urbano, Shelya Costa La Brasileria, Yuri Honing Trio, Vatchapuj, Soulmate, Trebeka, Simon Fisk & Kutumba
Ticket: Rs 599
JAZZMANDU MASTER CLASS
Date: Sunday, October 11
Time: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Venue: Kathmandu jazz Conservatory, Jhamsikhel
Free entry
UPSTAIRS JAM
Date; Sunday, October 11
Time: 7:30 pm onwards
Venue: Upstairs Jazz Bar, Lazimpat
Featuring: Various artistes of Jazzmandu
Ticket: Rs 350
JAZZ AT PATAN
Date: Monday, October 12
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Patan Museum Square
Featuring: International musicians and Cadenza
Ticket: Rs 999
ALL-STAR FEVER
Date: Tuesday, October 13
Time: 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Venue: Shambala Garden, Hotel Shangri-La
Featuring: All participating musicians
Ticket: Rs 699
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