Kazakhstan International Jazz and Blues Festival 2003

After the first Jazz from A-Z events in April 2002, the thirst for the continuation of an international festival in Kazakhstan was resoundingly expressed by faculty and students, the local and international jazz community, the media and through the attendance by the general public at concerts and jam sessions.

Those benefiting from the projects’ educational aspects in 2003 were the young jazz musicians of Almaty Jazz School directed by Tagir Zaripov and the Jazz faculty at the National Music Academy in Astana. Particularly rewarding for the visiting musicians were the educational workshops given in Astana. The enthusiasm, appreciation and progress in such a short time was exciting and it became clearly evident a return visit is necessary and requested. The Mississippi Blues concert in Astana required crowd control as a large crowd was turned away due to fire regulations. The hall was packed with an additional hundred people who stood or sat in the aisles.

All three concerts at the State Philharmonic Hall in Almaty were well attended ranging from 750 for the Big Band night, 850 for the Kazakh Jazz Night and full capacity of 930 people with standing room only for the Mississippi Blues concert by Coco York and Mike Del Ferro Trio. The opening night of the festival featured the Almaty Youth Jazz Orchestra with German Big Band Director and Saxophonist, Werner Englert. The audienced revelled in the variety of the program involving dance, singing and funk-jazz music. Werner Englert proved popular not only with the musicians but quickly won the admiration of the audience who followed his guidance when their participation was required.

The Kazakh Jazz Fusion project brought Norwegian Multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen to Almaty working with Kazakh traditional instumentalists and resulted in a truely magical evening to close the festival events. This unique concert was reflected in an unusual Kazakh audience demand for an ‘encore’ which was given twice. In addition to the programmed events there were jam sessions at the Cuba Club where international and local musicians performed together every night for a public ranging from 100 – 300 people, depending on the week night.

Sponsors:

The Festival was organized by American Voices and the US Embassy to Kazakhstan.

Funding came from the following sources:
US Embassy
Lufthansa
Okan Intercontinental Hotel Astana
Premier Alatau Hotal Almaty
ChevronTexaco
Panalpina
ExxonMobil
Samsung
PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Sponsor logos were shown on the printed materials of posters and postcards distributed in and around Almaty and Astana. 250 Posters were hung on the offical publicity boards in Almaty the week of November 5th and November 16th. They were also hung in some bars and restaurants and postcards were distributed in cafes, bars, schools and universities.

At the concert venues sponsor banners were hung in the halls and Samsung displayed their products in the Foyer on their presenting evening, November 8th. There were four presenting sponsors of the festival whose banners were hung on the stage at the respective concerts and logos printed on the cover for the individual concerts:
- Samsung - November 8th Almaty Youth Jaz Orchestra & Werner Englert
- ChevronTexaco – November 21s t Mississippi Blues in Astana
- Premier Alatau Hotel – November 22 Mississippi Blues in Almaty
- Panalpina – November 22nd Kazakh Jazz Fusion Night

Two receptions were held by the US Embassy for sponsors and invited guests at which a private performance given by some of the visiting musicians. One hosted in Astana by James Kenney, (Deputy Chief of Mission) and one in Almaty by Stephen Guice (the Cultural Affairs Officer’s). Attandance at both these receptions was ca. 50 people. Interviews were given with Nation TV news stations before and after concerts – sponsors were mentioned during the interview but obviously we have no influence over the editing aspects. Several newspapers reported on the festival and we have received numerous
emails of thanks since.

Evaluation:

The talent and interest in Jazz and Blues is enormous in Kazakhstan and reflected in the high standard of local musicianship and audience atttendance at the festival concerts. The clear message we received from this year’s events is that much attention is focused in general on events Almaty and very little attention is given to other cities such as Astana and Atyrau. The future of American Voices activities in Kazakhstan will be to address the growing need for international educational and cultural events the growing cities of Kazakhstan – e.g. Astana, Osh, Kurmagansk, Atyrau and Aktau – but at the
same time not neglect Almaty audiences either.

One of the unique aspects of American Voices activities is the educational element in Masterclasses with visiting musicians. Our attention to education has always been equally as important as the gala performances at the festival concerts and the international musicians were surprised by the level of musicianship the students demonstrated. The warm reception we received from the National Music Academy in Astana was extremely pleasant and satisfying for everyone. The students were well prepared and eager to learn. The faculty and students had prepared a concert for the visiting musicians involving students of all ages and levels of musicianship. Our only regret was that we did not have more time to spend with the students in Astana. The continued working relationship with the Almaty Youth Jazz Orchestra reached new levels with Werner Englert’s expertise and guidance as saxophonist and Big Band Director. New inspiration was given through Werner’s arrangements of pieces for big band, teaching methods and jazz choir improvisation techniques - of which the audience also had the chance to learn at the November 8th concert.

As such the objectives of the this years festival were achieved and the goals of the projects exceeded in many ways. With multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen from Norway, those who observed and participated in the development of Stian Carstensen’s work with traditional instrumentalists were thrilled at a new treatment of their national music. The applause clearly indicated the desire to see more inter-active programs of this kind and we hope to bring Stian back to Kazakhstan for a similar project in Astana and work with these musicians for a week in 2004.