Famous music festival is ready to jazz up metropolis

　　More than 300 musicians from 20 countries and regions will jazz up the city with over 120 concerts when the 21st JZ Festival kicks off in the Qiantan area of Shanghai's Pudong New Area from Oct 16 to 26.

　　The JZ Festival was founded in 2005 and has since become one of China's largest musical fetes. "We had maybe 1,500 people who attended the festival's first installment," says Ren Yuqing, founder of JZ Music and the co-organizer of the JZ Festival. This year, with live performances across the Qiantan area, "we are expecting to welcome up to 600,000 attendees".

　　This year's festival will be co-organized by Lujiazui Group and JZ Music, as well as the World Expo management bureau, an institution under the government of the Pudong New Area, which was responsible for the planning and construction of the World Expo 2010 area.

　　Two veteran singers, Laura Fygi from the Netherlands and Lisa Ono, a Japanese-Brazilian singer nicknamed the "queen of Bossa Nova", will present their Double L Concert at Bocom New Bund 31 Performing Arts Center on Oct 24.

　　"It's double L, double love," Ren says at the recent festival lineup announcement. Fygi and Ono have both performed in Shanghai multiple times. "Lisa's soothing songs and Laura's powerful voice will be accompanied by a full orchestra comprising China's top-notch instrumentalists," Ren says.

　　The duo will perform a program consisting of classical numbers with new arrangements that will "bring back beautiful memories that sound familiar and refreshing at the same time".

　　The lineup also includes Caravan Palace, an electro-swing band from Paris that has regularly performed at some of the biggest events worldwide; Ghost-Note, a funk group led by Grammy Award-winner Robert "Sput" Searight, and his bandmates Nate Werth and Pablo Martin Caminero, a renowned double bassist, composer, and producer; as well as the Dutch Swing College Band, one of the world's oldest jazz bands.

　　A series of outdoor concerts will be held in the public areas around Qiantan, a new urban center on the east bank of the Huangpu River, which was part of the venue for the World Expo 2010. The area spans from Taikoo Li Qiantan and the Crystal Plaza to New Bund Red Lane and Qiantan Leisure Park.

　　"You can encounter a jazz flash mob in the mall or lie down on the riverside lawns to listen to romantic jazz ballads in the gentle breeze," Ren says. "It's going to be a diverse festival that everybody can enjoy: whether you are a veteran jazz fan, a music professional, or a young kid. We want to bring music close to you."

　　A jazz carnival in the center of New Bund Red Lane will take place on two consecutive weekends, according to the World Expo management bureau. The streets will be closed off to create a festive jazz avenue where bands from all over the world will take turns performing on multiple stages dotted around the area.

　　In the past two decades, the JZ Festival has been held in Luwan, which is part of today's Huangpu and Jing'an districts in Shanghai. In 2023, it was held in Qiantan for the first time. While the old city center had "the authentic flavor of old Shanghai, Qiantan brings new vitality with a young, active, and international community", Ren says. "We hope, with our continuous efforts in the next five to 10 years, the JZ Festival will become one of the largest jazz festivals in the world."

　　Shanghai possesses a great jazz music heritage, with one of the oldest jazz bands still performing regularly at Fairmont Peace Hotel on the Bund. It also has a solid fan base today, with audiences catching them at renowned jazz clubs, such as Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai and Blue Note Jazz Club in Shanghai.

　　JZ Music sent out a citywide invitation to jazz clubs, art museums, galleries, live houses, and restaurants, with a welcome that states, "as long as you are willing to voice your support for jazz, you are welcome to be part of the JZ Festival".

　　During the upcoming festival, music companies from home and abroad, industry leaders, and musicians will gather in Shanghai for a summit that covers such topics as commerce, performances, publishing, copyrights, and artist management, while focusing on other key themes, such as music industry challenges and potential solutions, urban music ecology, and the prospect of jazz.