JAZZMANDU:Kathmandu jazz festival 2010

KATHMANDU, Oct 21: The hills are alive with the sound of jazz music...

The nation’s capital is about to resonate to the sound of music, as the 8th Kathmandu Jazz Festival – Jazzmandu – kicks off from October 29. Hailed as the biggest jazz party in the Himalaya, the music gala is organized by Upstairs Ideas Pvt. Ltd.[break]

The festival has been successful in promoting Jazz and bringing world-class musicians to audiences in Nepal. The music gala features six foreign bands and several local groups, according to the organizers.

Navin Chettri, drummer and vocalist of Cadenza Collective and one of the founders of the festival says, “All the performing foreign bands are new to Jazzmandu. Kathmanduites will be able to enjoy an assortment of world music.”

A catalyst for tourism promotion in the country, the annual event seeks to promote peace and compassion through music.

Ari Hoeing, Alukomarai, Saksri Pang Vongdharadon Quintet, and Adrian D Souza Quartet are some of the key acts scheduled to jam during the six-day event.

“Although the festival doesn’t have any female acts in this edition, the music won’tt be devoid of diversity,” mentions Chhetri.

The event aims to promote creativity, the blending of international sounds and the talents of Nepali musicians, thus pushing the limits and boundaries of what is already known and experienced as Jazz.

Get up close and personal with this year’s performers.

ARI HOEING

Born on November 13, 1973 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, jazz drummer Ari Hoenig is known for his unusual and intense approach to drumming, emphasizing complex rhythms in direct harmony with other group members.

With a unique ability to modify the pitch of a drum by using drumsticks, mallets, and even parts of his hands and elbows, Hoenig has been much admired by jazz connoisseurs for using drums not just to keep the tempo but to making it an indispensable part of the performance.

Being born into a family of classically trained musicians, where his father was a choral conductor and mother a violinist, he was exposed to classical and folk music at an early age.

He used to play both piano and violin as a child, and then moved to rock and metal drums as a teen before settling into jazz and improvised music.Ari has recorded six CDs as a leader, including two solo drums CDs, and is currently a Dreyfus Records performing artist. Currently, his group Ari Hoenig and Punk Bop tours worldwide and performs weekly at the legendary New York jazz club, Smalls.

KUTUMBA

Kutumba is a folk instrumental ensemble from Nepal, committed to the research, preservation and celebration of the diversity that exists in indigenous Nepali music.

Kutumba firmly believes that the richness in Nepali music is directly significant of the rich diversity that exists in the Nepali people.

PRABHU RAJ DHAKAL & FRIENDS

An A-grade artist from Radio Nepal, Dhakal currently teaches at Kathmandu University. He has worked as a classical vocalist for eight years and is also the former general secretary of the Classical Music Association of Nepal.

The artist has recorded more than 50 ragas and been awarded the Kalanidhi Sangeet Puraskar and Pandit Rangarav Kadambari Puraskar. He has also won a gold medal from the Narayan Sangeet Pratisthan, a silver medal from Radio Nepal, and a bronze medal from Radio Nepal.

Dhakal will be supported by Prabhu Raj Dhakal on vocals, Bina Shrestha on sitar, and Rabin Lal Shrestha on tabla.

SIMAKDAILOG

simakDialog (to listen carefully to the dialog) was formed in 1993 by pianist/composer Riza Arshad together with drummer Arie Ayunir. They started the band together with guitarist Tohpati and bassist Indro as the group of a few most prominent young Indonesian musicians.

Their music could be categorized as jazz adult contemporary which was influenced mostly by the European jazz style with a mixture of Indonesian environment. The instrumentation of its music is a blend of acoustic and electric idioms.

This formation has released three albums called “Lukisan”, “Baur” and “Trance/Mission”. The group has participated in many jazz events in Indonesia, especially in Java, and had also performed in JakJazz (the Jakarta Jazz Festival) from 1994 to 1997. In February 2002, this band, with the formation of Riza Arshad, Tohpati, Adhitya Pratama and Jalu G. Pratidina, performed in Dewan Filharmonik, Malaysia.

THE SAKSRI PANG: VONGDHARDON QUINTET

Saksri Pang Vongdharadon chooses to do it differently, starting from earning a Master’s in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas after finishing his Bachelor’s in Economics from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

From falling in love with piano playing to a career change, and instead of being an economist, he decided to take on an endless journey on the musical road by being a professional pianist and a faculty member at the jazz department of Silpakorn University.

THE ADRIAN D’SOUZA QUARTET

The band is a collective of top jazz artists and session musicians in Mumbai, India. Their eclectic sound is a mix of jazz, funk, and world music.

Adrian d’ Souza became the proud possessor of his drums at the age of five. When he was seven years old, he took part in the All Bombay Talent Contest and won it for four years in succession. At seventeen, he was gigging with various Jazz and fusion bands in Bombay. In 1997, Adrian was offered the drummer’s seat in the Roseanna Vitro’s trio. Since then, there has been no looking back. New York offered him a chance to study and play with some of the best musicians in the NYC/Jersey City area. In 1999, while gigging in Memphis, he met Peter Erskine at the University of Memphis and was quick to study with him.

Adrian has shared the bandstand with Roseanna Vitro, Eddie Gomez, Art Davis, Joe Temperly, Gary Bartz, Mark Soskin, Dave Kikoski, Ken Werner, John Hicks, Chieli Minucci, Don Braden, Allen Farnham, Bob Albanese, David Budway, Dean Johnson, Fred Hamilton, Bob Bowen, Paul Keller, Carl Clements, and Ratzo Harris, to name a few.

CADENZA COLLECTIVE

Cadenza will be back home in Nepal, bringing musicians living in the US, Germany, Mumbai and Nepal together to create a unique and refreshing brand of high-energy music.

Cadenza’s sound is comprised of elements from a wide array of world musical styles, such as Nepali classical and folk, with a blend of Afrobeat, Funk, and experimental music for both the mind and soul, delighting audiences from all walks of life.

BUG

The Miley Brothers, pianist James and guitarist Jeff, showcase their driving rhythms and unique melodic sense in a quintet that includes saxophonist Peter Epstein, bassist Roger Shew and drummer Brian Hamada.

This modern jazz chamber ensemble crafts a sound filled with “long, loping melodic lines, intuitive ensemble interaction, striking soloing, and gorgeous colorations.” (Audiophile Audition). The complex and the simple, the dense and the sparse, the yin and the yang – it’s a balancing act in their music that they pull off with aplomb.

In Bug’s world, melody is king, which is why these five gentlemen are able to consistently present music that is both challenging and attainable, allowing them to “pull the listener along by creating a moment of curiosity at each turn” (All Music Guide).

Influences on the Bug sound range far and wide (the band owes as much to Bela Bartok and Steve Reich as it does to Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman, and Thelonious Monk).

Infectious grooves laid down by the rhythm section draw equally from their jazz, rock, and funk influences, and are played with the deepest sense of groove and swing.

ALUKOMARAI

Alukomarai is a play on words in Thai that roughly translates as “I don’t know” or “whatever.” When asked what kind of music the group plays, people often get that same answer.

Formed in Chiang Mai in 2009, Alukomarai is an evolving conversation between five musicians with diverse backgrounds (Thailand, Japan, Germany, USA, and Norway) and varied influences (jazz, rock, experimental, funk, metal, classical).

In early 2010, Alukomarai made its first South-east Asia tour, performing in 30 different venues from northern Thailand to Kuala Lumpur with the support of Alliance Française Chiang Rai.

Alukomarai takes their audience on a journey into a high-energy world of progressive jazz, centered upon spontaneous improvisational dialogue, but anchored in intuitive harmonic structures.

Along with melodies ranging from lyrical to angular, Alukomarai offers up a fresh mix of the old and the new, the familiar and the unfamiliar, providing a sonic experience that aims to please, surprise and inspire.

GANDHARVA

Formed in 2000, the group performs with instruments like Sarangi, Bansuri, Madal, and Kartal. Also recognized as the musician caste in Nepali society, Gandharvas travel around villages playing music and spreading news. They have played a significant role in the preservation of Nepali culture.