Asean Jazz Festival 2013 Jazzed Up the shoreline of Batam Island
The Groove of Jazz hit the shores of Harbour Bay, Batam City, in the Riau Archipelago as the 6th edition of the ASEAN Jazz Festival 2013 got into the swing in the evening of 20th September 2013.
As the full tropical moon lit up the sky and the cool breeze of the sea cooled the night air, the fiesta got off to a great start with Dwiki Dharmawan World Peace Band officially opening the fiesta, closely followed by Nita Artsen who took the audience at the Wonderful Indonesia stage on wild ride of Jazz. Three exceptional ‘Jazz divas’ Sierra Soetedjo, Rieka Roslan, and Naseem Nahid joined her on stage and truly wowed the audience. Nita also presented some funky groove as she jammed with Dwiki Dharmawan, Malaysian based U.S’s percussionist Steve Thornton, Singaporean Saxophonist Fabian Liem, and Indonesian Flamenco Guitarist Yopie Romero.
Following the performance of Surabaya All Star Big Band, Sierra Soetedjo again captured the hearts of the audience as she performed at the Ocean View Jazz Indonesia stage. Accompanied by renowned keyboardist Glen Dauna and his talented sonRega Dauna who played the Harmonica in the Glen Dauna Trio, Sierra brought the breeze of smooth jazz to Batam, as the Singapore city lights sparkled on the distant horizon. Steve Thornton and Dwiki Dharmawan then joined in on stage and jammed with the band.
As the moon climbed up the night skly, renowned jazz bassist Barry Likumahuwa and France’s Guitarists Jeremy Tordjmanclosed the festivity of the first night with groovy tunes and fascinating actions.
To Indonesia.travel, Dwiki Dharmawan who is also director of the festival stated that he tried to present musicians from different countries of ASEAN so that fans in their different countries of origin will join their idols to Indonesia to watch them perform here and collaborate with other ASEAN artists.. “Over the years, we have expanded our borders not just through participation of ASEAN artists but we have also invited musicians from France, Italy, Brazil, USA, Canada, Turkey, Jordania, and others”. Meanwhile, Sierra Soetedjo expressed her excitement appearing for thesecond time in the ASEAN Jazz Festival, stating : “This festival is unique,” she said, “I get to collaborate with other artists and the intimacy with the audience here is truly something wonderful”.
The Jazz Fiesta will continue Sunday for the second night at the Harbour Bay, in Batam. Promising to indulge the audience with great music, the line up that include Naseem Nahid feat Asian Burhan from Turkey, Moritza Thaher Trio from the province of Aceh, Unveiled Group and T Chepy Trio from Batam, Glen Dauna feat Mia Samira, Yuri Jo, and Dwiki Dharmawan feat. Fabian Lim and Rieka Roslan.
As in previous editions, the two days fiesta of ASEAN Jazz Festival 2013 was organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in cooperation with the Government of the Riau Archipelago and the Batam City Authority. Organized, not only to provide entertainment for Batam residents, the event is also aimed to increase international tourist arrivals to Batam, and tio Indonesia in general through Jazz. Considering Batam’s proximity tio Singapore, the enthusiastic audience was dominated not only by lthe local crowd but also by devoted lovers of Jazz from surrounding countries, Singapore and Malaysia. “There are at least over 50 Jazz festivals in Indonesia, but the ASEAN Jazz Festival is different since it is not only a music festival, but it is also a tourism event” said Rizky Handayani, Director of Convention, Incentive and Special Interest Tourism of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy at the opening ceremony of the festival.
The Deputy Governor of Riau Archipelago, H.M Suryo Respationo in his opening remarks stated that jazz is gaining more fans and is no longer a segmented musical genre. “Perhaps in years to come, the festival should grow from just a 2-3 days fiesta into a week-long festival” he added.
Source: indonesia.travel