Festival promotes South Caucasus Jazz scene

The 2011 Kavkaz Jazz festival will be conducted from June 6 to June 9 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia at Kote Marjanishvili theatre. The festival will be opened by the Tbilisi Big Band and continued by bands and musicians from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Headline acts of the event include Tbilisi Big Band Georgia, Ulvia Rakhimova (Azerbaijan), The Crossroad Band (Armenia) and Artak Nersesyan (Armenia) Dini Virsaladze Trio (Georgia).

The Kavkaz Jazz festival is non-commercial festival, which is aimed at the popularization of Jazz music in the South Caucasus region. It will also provide an intercultural dialog among participating bands and musicians finding jazz as a symbol of peace, tolerance and freedom. Simultaneously within the framework of the festival workshops, discussions, and master classes for younger musicians will also be conducted.

“More bands and musicians were supposed to participate, however, due to unstable political situations some of them refused to arrive. The festivals involve the bands of older generation as well as your musicians in order to exchange the experience and popularize Jazz in youth. The festival includes the educational activity which is also important for young jazz players”, stated the organizer of the Jazz festival Helen Mechitova.

She also added that next year's festival will be even more interesting as musicians from Georgian, Armenian and Azeri Diasporas will be invited.

The festival will last 4 days and will close with an open air concert in Dedaenis Bagi.