Jazzmandu 2005, the 4th high altitude jazz festival is finally happening from 4th to 12th November. This news comes as a big relief to many of us, who in recent times have been waiting for some decent entertainment. Jazzmandu, the biggest jazz party of the Himalayas goes to Gokarna on 5th November, for the popular ‘Jazz Bazaar’, an open-air concert not to be missed. A jazz picnic in the ancient forests, it’s an unforgettable treat. Besides our local jazz outfit Cadenza, Jazzmandu also brings some new artists this year as well. A brief intro follows:
David Jacques has given classical concerts in USA, Europe, Latin America, Vietnam, Australia and Canada. He has played for the US President and the Canadian Prime minister as well. He also plays with early music groups like Stadacone and Ensemble Nouvelle-France and has been playing regularly with several orchestras like the famous Montreal Symphonic Orchestra.
Carmen Genest, initiator of
the Aretha Franklin tribute show ‘Du Jazz au Soul’, has given many performances as a soloist for The Quebec Opera Foundation. For the last 6 years she has been performing many times a week in the Quebec City region, onstage and on the radio in commercials or on Radio-Canada. In the last few years, her two albums “Bleu” and “Swing Manouche” took her on a tour of Poland, Chile, Mexico and Canada.
SOLID! is one of Norway’s premiere organ trios, comprising three of the country’s finest young jazz musicians. ‘SOLID!’ was voted “Young Jazz musicians of the year 2002” by the Norwegian Jazz Forum and the Norwegian Concert Institute. They won the grand prize in the Getxo International Jazz Contest in Spain in 2003, and also won both the soloist prize and the “audience favorite-prize”. Their music varies from hard swinging jazz to more open and subtle soundscapes.
Groove Suppa, a quintet from Mumbai, formed in 2001 features a mixture of rock, jazz, funk, blues and other elements of music. Currently just out with their self titled album Groovesuppa, this band has been performing all over India and has played at the Kathmandu jazz festival twice before. The sound of the band takes inspiration from Mumbai, the city they live in, and mix it all up into one big groovesuppa.
Mariano E. Abello has performed with various groups in different styles including blues, flamenco, jazz, and bossa nova. He has also performed in different jazz festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. In addition, he performed on bass clarinet and saxophones with the Merida-Miami Symphonic Orchestra in Mexico.
Soulmate has all the elements of the band you’ve always wanted to hear and watch perform. The band started out with performances at the Roots Festival in Shillong and at the Jazzmandu Music Festival last year. Since then they have gone on to become one of the most popular bands, touring frequently in Delhi, Mumbai and the North East. At the Jazzmandu festival 2004, they performed alongside Emtrio from Italy and have also played with Arjun Sen, Manas Chaudhury, and Keith Wallang, to name a few.
