What's On at Clarence Jazz Festival 2021

Put on your jazzy hat and head far south, far east of Tasmania to celebrate 25 years of jazz in Clarence. Festival buzzes from Wednesday 17 February 2021 for five days. By Mallika Naguran

The Clarence Jazz Festival is one of Tasmania’s most awaited musical events, held at Hobart’s Eastern Shore during summer.

Kartanya Maynard kicks off Clarence Jazz Festival 2021 at piyura kitina with a quartet

This year and for the first time, mostly Tasmanian artistes come before the bright stage lights, due to pandemic-related travel restrictions on international, even inter-state travel (although Tasmania has been COVID-19 free for some months).

Clarence Jazz Festival 2021 amps up diversity vibes (opening ceremony on the evening of Wednesday 17 February at sacred land piyura kitina or Risdon Cove; Kartanya Maynard Quartet (Wednesday 17 February evening); Arabic fusion McEntee & Mira (Friday 19 February 2215h at the Jazz Lounge); afrobeat and very danceable, bobbable Baba Bruja (Saturday 20 February, 1900h);

It promises “boundary-pushing” jazz too with a line-up of new material and composition: Jason Whatley Quartet from Launceston (Friday 19 February 1700h at the Jazz Lounge); festival ambassador Kelly Ottoway’s Keys Supergroup (Saturday 20 February, 2030h); Konrad Park’s masterclass/showcase of the Chapman Stick—a ten-string instrument… just to mention a few.

Masterclass with StickRad (Konrad Park) at Clarence Jazz Festival 2021 features new sounds with the ‘stick’

There’s Twilight Series involving winery visit (Thursday 18 February) and seaside park (Sunday 21 February); and a Big Day at Kangaroo Bay for all day and night musical experience on Saturday 20 February. Drink and dance to your heart’s delight!

Check out a few highlights below. Detailed shows could be found within the downloadable programme. 

Ticketed Concerts

Inside the Jazz Lounge, an intimate cabaret venue within Rosny Barn, there will be a series of premium ticketed concerts for the Clarence Jazz Festival 2021 featuring a stellar line-up of Tasmanian musicians. Jazz Lounge at Rosny Barn

~ Friday Session 1:  Jason Whatley Quintet + Susannah Coleman Brown Quartet  ~ Friday Session 2: Spike Mason Quartet + McEntee & Mira ~ The Gus Leighton Quartet ~ Liam & CO ~ Jamie Pregnell Quartet

Master Classes ($25 per session)

Learn from the jazz masters. Master classes are open to musicians of any level for an intensive 90 minutes of music within the beautiful sandstone walls of Rosny Barn.

~Billy Whitton - jazz guitar styles and blues fingerpicking

~Konrad Park ‘Stickrad’ – learn more about the unique Chapman Stick, how it is played and listen to a few original compositions

~Dan Sulzberger - Focusing on rhythm, harmony and melodic concepts

~Spike Mason on jazz improvisation. Yep, bring your instrument for this.

Pick up tips at Spike Mason’s jazz improvisation masterclass.

Book tickets at Clarence Jazz Festival.

 Feel the excitement - connect to their FB to know what’s happening daily!

Jazz Meets World Fusion at Miri International Jazz Festival 2009

by Mallika Naguran

Miri, 8 May 2009. At the fourth international jazz festival in oil town Miri, Sarawak, artistes fought jetlag and hangover late morning to respond to journalists’ questions on the role of traditional instruments in their sets, and how they would define jazz. They had flown in from various quarters of the world, to play, what the media (and 6,000 audience) expects to be jazz on 8-9 May 2009.

Except that the selection of bands this year raises a sticky question mark – a few seem to border on world music with gypsy, traditional dance, folk, even Afro pop.Accompanying generic jazz musical instruments were traditional ones. The sort that you would see being played at a Buddhist temple or an Indian classical opera.

Randy Raine-Reusch, Gracie Geikie and Michael Lu plan surprises for all at the 4th Miri Int'l Jazz Fest, even for kids.

But this odd mix was done on purpose, according to the festival’s artistic director Randy Raine-Reusch who also shaped the Rainforest World Music Festival since its inception. “I’m introducing something new and am looking for excellence,” he tells the media, adding that the “balanced programme will be exciting for everybody, from straight-laced jazz to jazz funk, and more.”

Randy was appointed director of the 2009 jazz festival when his illustrious musical background became a little clearer to Sarawak Tourism Board and the organisers of the festival. He had after all dabbled with drum sets, trumpets, sax and possibly a hundred other instruments, studied with the best teachers in many countries, composed numerous scores including jazz pieces, and had recorded with some of the world's greatest crooners.

Jazz, as it appears, is hardly ceramic; instead, it is organic: wet, snaky, even quirky. Taking on forms, textures, colours and beats that arise from cultures, traditions, wisdom, peace, pain, angst, humour and quest for new horizons.

Pascal Seixas who plays double bass in Dites 34, thinks jazz is something of an enigma. “People are looking for new things, and using their music to communicate their lives,” he says. He thinks, however, that people are more open to traditional music than they are to jazz. Perhaps that’s why the band uses the cayamb, a square wooden shaker that originates from the Reunion Islands, along with the accordian, sax, drums and guitar, to express traditional dance music and French folk, along with contemporary jazz.

John Kaizan Neptune of Steps in Time isn’t too sure if his music can be classified as jazz. Having played in jazz and rock bands and the son of a jazz trombone player himself, John says he hears the sounds in his head and creates the texture. “I’m not sure if I call it jazz, but I hope people will enjoy it as much as I create it.”

He is sure of one thing though. “Jazz to jazz is like a language; musicians from other parts of the world may not understand the languages but music composition binds them together,” says John, the man who is world famous for taking a simple five-hole bamboo flute – the shakuhachi – and creating some mean notes from it, backed by a violin, percussion with Indian tabla and ghatam (claypot), and the all too familiar Western drum set. The product: quaint folklore strains at counterpoint with wispy jazz. “I think I can call my music multi-cultural,” he smiles.

South African-born Jeff Maluleke spoke of the origin of jazz as a protest by the blacks against slavery, singing soulfully as they toiled in the fields. ‘It is an expression of pain,” he says. The world touring guitarist, singer and songwriter brings across African themes with western musical instruments.

Jazz?

Maybe, maybe not. World fusion surely. But should we be worried about jazz festivals not sounding like jazz with all its wide-ranging glory from early eras of ragtime, swing, Dixieland, bebop to soul jazz, jazz fusion to free jazz? There’s of course the breakaway from mainstream jazz to subgenres and fusions, to localization. The festival’s a good place to start this discussion, and indeed, the media were rife with this thought even late into the night, and not necessarily finding a conclusion.

The artistes think we should lighten up and stop "putting music into boxes". Maybe we should. We could be a bit more free-ranging too, in our thinking, and our appreciation of musical creations. Expect the unexpected in a Sarawakan festival – World or Jazz - where the element of surprise seems to hang in the air like the magical sunset at Miri.

Bombay Baja Brass Band summed up the discussion by quoting legendary Louis Armstrong who said, “There is two kinds of music, good music and bad music. I play the good kind.”

And oh yes, there were some really good music at the fourth Miri International Jazz Festival, and just one really bad – the Bombay Baja Brass Band (UK) themselves, with the lack of invention and finesse, absence of subtlety and technique, but lots of noise matched by tacky costumes.

Performing great acts at the festival were Alamode (Australia), Dites 34 (France), Double Take (Malaysia), Jeff Maluleke (South Africa), Rumba Calzada (Canada and South America), Thomson Big Band (Singapore), and Steps in Time featuring John Kaizan Neptune (Japan).

There was a tad of jazz in all for sure, and great big chunks of fun.

Photos by Imran Ahmad of Escape Inc. 

Read preview of 4th Miri Jazz International Festival by Gaia Discovery here.

Exclusive interview with John Kaizan Neptune on Bamboo magic.

Contact Randy Raine-Reusch of ASZA.

Multi-cultural Sensations at Miri International Jazz Festival 2009

by Mallika Naguran

Singapore, 13 April 2009. Jazz lovers will appreciate Miri as the staging ground of one of the top music festivals in Asia – the Miri International Jazz Festival from 8-9 May 2009. The nature-rich destination of Sarawak is already alluring; add world-class jazz strains to rainforests and national parks, you get a mixture that is both intoxicating and unforgettable.

French dudes Dites 34.

The organisers, Sarawak Tourism Board, say that the festival, which is in its fourth year “promises to be another exciting event with wide repertoire of jazz genre”. Indeed the line up looks impressive (see below for full listing) with top bands keeling to kick up some profound blues, fusion, smooth, Latino to world. Leading artistes from around the world will blend heritage strains with musical acumen to get the audience tapping and bobbing away.

The Miri International Jazz Festival 2009 (MIJF) will feature the following performers: Dites 34 (France), Thomson Big Band (Singapore), Jeff Maluleke (South Africa), Alamode (Australia), Steps in Time featuring John Kaizan Neptune (Japan), Bombay Baja (India/England), Rumba Calzada (Canada) and Double Take (Malaysia). The festival is to be held at the Pavilion of the Park City Everly Hotel in Miri.

Miri is located in the northern part of Sarawak and attained its Resort City status in 2005. Often known as the Northern Gateway to Sarawak, the city is a popular base for visitors to explore the nearby national parks including Niah, Loagan Bunut and Lambir Hill national parks.The UNESCO World Heritage Mulu National Park is only a 45- minute flight away.

Jazz Line-up in 2009

Steps In Time featuring John Kaizan Neptune is a multi-cultural band that performs a mix of oriental, traditional and funky beats.John Kaizan Neptune has gained international reputation as the innovator on the Japanese bamboo flute, the Shakuhachi. One-sound-enlightenment shakuhachi blows with complex metre Indian drumming; cool jazz guitar glides with hot snaking Indian violin; funky wild bass grooves with rock steady drum set.  At times calm or turbulent, free or calculated, a river of rhythm flows from multi-cultural Steps in Time.

Rumba Calzada was the crowd favourite last year.

Rumba Calzada is making its second appearance at the festival after being voted in survey as the crowd favourite in MIJF 2008. Led by Raphael Geronimo, the band had the crowd going crazy dancing to their blend of their Latino jazz with Afro Cuban rhythm.

Alamode - a six-piece jazz funk powerhouse - is reputed to deliver an amazingly tight and entertaining show.Known to always bring something new to each performance, Alamode is expected to woo the audience at the upcoming MIJF with their original funky tunes.

A leading Indian brass band in Europe, Bombay Baja Brass Band will create a carnival-like atmosphere with their unique style of combining popular Indian melodies with elements of jazz.Performing top Bollywood, Bhangra and Punjabi tunes as well as Indian wedding songs, Bambay Baja Brass Band will definitely entertain MIJF revelers who are Bollywood fans.

Jeff Maluleke is an award-winning South African guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his music is very much afro-centric in character, Jeff Maluleke has also infuses a range of influences including Western tempo to create a distinct aesthetic that is sure to appeal to all music lovers.

Dites 34 performs a unique blend of traditional French folk music, contemporary jazz and pure energy.Making their Asian debut at the MIJF 2009, members of Dites 34 are no strangers to the music scene having shared the stage with some of the world’s leading artists during their tours of Europe and Mexico.

Thomson Big Band from Singapore.

A household name in Singapore jazz scene, the Thomson Big Band has also created a name for themselves outside the republic after having performed in major jazz festivals and events in Japan, Australia, India and Thailand.

Nearer to home is the Double Take duo of Roger Wang and Mia Palencia who are familiar faces in the local jazz scene in Malaysia. Combining Roger’s jazz guitar wizardry and Mia’s rich and sultry voice, the two will present their music in a pure and intimate form, performing jazz standards and original works.

More information:

Visit Miri International Jazz Festival website for further show and performer details. www.mirijazzfestival.com

Organisers Sawarak Tourism Board www.sarawaktourism.com

Tickets for adults are priced at RM60 per day and RM100 for a two-day ticket. Tickets for children between three and 12 years old are priced at RM30 per day and RM50 for two days. The two-day ticket will only be available until 25 April 2009. Following this date, only daily tickets will be on sale.

Tickets are also available online at www.ticketcharge.com.my.

Getting There:

Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia flies daily to Miri from Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.

Miri is just one hour flight away from Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak. Kuching, the main gateway to Sarawak, is also accessible via direct flight by Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Silk Air, Batavia Air, Royal Brunei Airways and MAS from Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Singapore, Jakarta, Macau, Pontianak and Brunei Darussalam.

Malaysia Boleh - Penang World Music Festival

Story by Mallika Naguran

Penang rocks!

To paraphrase, it’s “Malaysia can”. This arm-thrusting slogan was coined to reflect Malaysia’s sentiment to conquer all odds.

Politicians grunt it, and so do foreign music performers, apparently, when they feel the masses move beneath their hands.

And move they did the hearts, bodies and minds of bright-eyed Asian folks at the second annual Penang World Music Festival held at the charming quarry garden flanking the Botanical Gardens in Penang Island. Young and old bobbed and grooved to the strains, vocals and rhythm of 11 international bands from Croatia, Reunion Islands, France, Kenya, Denmark, Tibet (famed and exiled Techung), Mexico, Iran, India, Canada and US of A. See line up below and watch this section for album reviews and interviews.

Rhythmic percussion by Kumpulan Dendang Anak.

The infectious Kumpulan Dendang Anak of Trengganu, one of the four Malaysian bands to be featured, roused the crowds to their feet with their gendangs, rebanas, konpangs and more. They proved that age-old traditions and heritage still, to this day, send a tingle. “We brought back folk music that existed 600-700 years ago that would have otherwise gone extinct,” beamed leader and performer Zulkifli Ismail who blends gongs and gamelans with the acoustic guitar.

“Everybody plays for tradition,” said Gilberto Guttierez of Mexican Mono Blanco, adding that where they come from, the farm, that is, happy hour equals song, dance and music, of course.

DYA Singh passes down generations of hymns.

Tradition need not be boring or out of date, and this perhaps is the beauty of world music where a bit of experimentation

fuses myriad of tones from different sound boxes. It doesn’t matter where it comes from, what it’s made of or which century it originated in. The tabla for instance, an ethnic Indian percussion instrument, served centre stage in DYA Singh played by world-renowned Nepalese-born Dheeraj Shrestra. The group mixes beats of tabla with Greek bouzouki, harmonium and the Australian didgeridoo. “The beauty of the group is the spirit of the music, dance and rhythm,” says Dheeraj. Watch Dheeraj perform this 10 May at Nepalese Pagoda, South Bank, Brisbane.

George Achiem resurrects oruto's appeal in Kenge Kenge.

Kenge Kenge’s dynamic leader and lead vocalist George Achiem resurrected a dying string instrument he saw being played in the market when he was a little boy. The one-string oruto provides a feminine counterpoint to pounding beats, between booming drums and calls of the rustic horn of this band from sunripe Kenya. “The whole band uses traditional instruments, some with eight strings, some with one. We really love our culture,” he grinned.

And so did we. For three days, Malaysians and tourists, even invited journalists, were mesmerized by the mind-blowing cultural experience. “This is what world music should be, full of ordinary people, children and screaming teenagers appreciating the acts, most of which are of very high standard,” said Singapore writer, actor and musician Joe Ng. “I stopped going to WOMAD of Singapore few years back because it became such a soulless, yuppie thing.”

Electric and eclectic Afenginn infuse wild Nordic folk with Finnish nuances on the mandolin.

Even the absence of alcohol sale on the grounds did not deter anyone from getting a bit high during the three-day packed concert beginning May 2.

The music itself did the trick in lifting the spirits and screwing the brains (blame it on the Danish lot, Afenginn) with traditional instruments, lilting folklore, syncopated beats, surreal chants and head banging rhythms.

George Achiem best sums up the value of upholding traditions. “When we play our music overseas, we leave a bit of our culture behind and we learn new cultures from others.” This cultural exchange binds people together as they see beyond their inner worlds to understand and appreciate different perspectives.

“Music is the universal language, man,” said Brian the keyboardist of Techung as he pumped fists with Mame Khan, Badila’s Rajahstani singer at the post concert party. “I didn’t understand what you sang, man, but you know what, it didn’t matter. It’s all in the music, man.”

Music is the universal language.

I couldn’t agree more. If I were you, I’d make a date for the next Penang World Music Festival about the same time next year. Don’t forget to stay on for a few more days as Penang is lovely and harbours the best Malaysian food, like my favourite spicy sour assam laksa. Or if you can’t wait that long, head on down to the sizzling Sarawak Rainforest Festival 11-13 July. Book now to avoid disappointment - it’s a sell out I hear.

Akan Datang! Watch this space for more world music previews and reviews. View show video and more photos in Gallery.

Coming up soon: Afenginn on cheerful melancholy and rational madness. Only they can make this happen. Listen to their tracks here.

Coming up sooner: Internationally-acclaimed Techung writes the songs for Tibetan freedom

Gaia Discovery Rates the Show

Friday May 2 Day One

DYA SINGH (PENANG & AUSTRALIA) ***

TEADA (IRELAND) ****

KUMPULAN DENDANG ANAK (TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA) ***

MONO BLANCO (MEXICO) **

AFENGINN (DENMARK) ***** 

SALEM TRADITION (REUNINON ISLANDS) *****

Saturday May 3 Day Two

KUMPULAN KINABALU MERSU SOUND (SABAH) **

BADILA (IRAN, INDIA, FRANCE) ***

GALANT, TU PERDS TON TEMPS (CANADA) ***

DIPLOMATS OF DRUMS (KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA) *

KRIES (CROATIA) ***

Sunday May 4 Last Day

TECHUNG (TIBET) *****  Watch videos

BALFA TOUJOURS (USA) ***

LO COR DE LA PLANA (FRANCE) *****

AFENGINN (DENMARK) ***** 

* Loo time

** Nice, but where’s the oomph?

*** You got me

**** Yeah baby yeah

***** Call the police. Roof is falling down here!

This show was made possible by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and Penang Tourism Action Council. It was made successful with resourceful festival artistic director Yeoh Jun-Lin and brilliant sound producer Niall Macaulay of Cheer Productions.

Photos by Joe Ng, Tourism Malaysia and Mallika Naguran