As part of the mini Asian tour, Dusha Connection has been invited to participate in two renowned international festivals in China and Hong Kong.
9th Beishan Jazz Music Festival
Founded in 2010, the Jazz Festival is a private enterprise-funded local musical and cultural brand. It has invited more than 200 musicians from over 50 countries and regions to perform in Zhuhai over the past nine years and is now hailed as one of the top three jazz music festivals in China.
With the theme of “Amour”, during the period from 12th till 14th October Beishan Jazz Festival shows have hosted 17 jazz musicians comprising five bands from six countries including the Canadian quartet “B’s Bees”, Norwegian jazz group “Espen Berg”, Finnish “The Kari Ikonen Trio”, as headliner “Jerry Bergonzi Quartet” and of course Austrian trio “Dusha Connection”.
The Beishan Music Festival is the brainchild of artist and educator, Simone Xue, and his music-loving French friend, Jean-Jacques Verdun.
From an artistic point of view, the BJF set the bar high from the get-go, with an ambitious program that refused to underestimate a young audience largely unfamiliar with jazz. In its previous editions, BJF brought bands from America, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Ghana, Guinea France, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nepal, Norway, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and all wowed the crowds.
BJF strikes a balance between tradition and experimentation. Jazz was represented in many of its guises, from big band swing to a set of jazz standards, from bebop and hard-bop to jazz-funk, and from beat-box to experimental rock.
Dusha Connection on Beishan Jazz Music Festival
Through their performance Jazz trio Dusha Connection from Vienna has intertwine the language of modern jazz with archetypical Balkan folk songs. In June last year, they released their new album Merak, which is a brilliantly daring, new interpretation of classic jazz.
11th Hong Kong International Jazz Festival
The tour started by participating at the 11th Hong Kong International Jazz Festival. Festival which this year is being held from October 7 & 11-13. After years of effort, Hong Kong International Jazz Festival had become one of the significant international events. The production, size and line up of the Hong Kong International Jazz Festival made a breakthrough in history in Hong Kong.
The trio executed their modern-ish originals — generally roomy, undemanding minor key dirges — with more flair and conviction than the obligatory smatters of standards — including a troublingly brisk “Milestones”—yet most compelling were two deconstructed Slavic folksongs, “Mujo Kuje” and “Ajde Jano”, flitting between Old World meditations and traditional post-Bill Evans bop.
Rob Garratt, All About Jazz
October:
11th Hongkong International Jazz Festival, Hong Kong City Hall Theatre
13th Beishan Jazz Festival, Zhuhai China
15th Beishan Jazz Festival, Beishan Theater, China
http://www.beishan.org.cn/en/2018jazz/class/?94.html
http://hengqinrecord.com/experience/beishan-jazz-festival-2018-to-begin-in-hengqin-this-week/
http://www.hkijf.com/en/
https://www.musicvalley.com.hk/2018/10/09/hong-kong-international-jazz-festival-2018
