| Jazz festival back with a bang 
MIRI: The Miri International Jazz Festival is back with a bang for the second year running in this northern city of Sarawak.
It will feature the much sought-after world famous Dirty Dozen brass band coming from the jazz capital of the world - New Orleans. Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) beat Singapore and Bangkok to signing up this red-hot jazz group. Tickets to the Miri International Jazz Festival are selling online like hot cakes. Miri International Jazz Festival was firmly imprinted on the international jazz map after its debut last year with 15 percent of the crowd being outsiders excluding those from Brunei. This number of outsiders is expected to hit 25 percent of the crowd this year. STB chief executive officer Gracie Giekie revealed that over 1,200 tickets were already snapped up five months before the performance date. She was confident that the remaining 2,800 tickets would be sold out soon as those from outside Sarawak, particularly Brunei, can purchase them online at www.mirijazzfestival.com. This was to overcome the hassle of having to pick the tickets up physically in Miri since they can be printed from the internet. STB is also collaborating with a Korean tour operator to fly in a planeload of Koreans who would be swinging gold clubs by day and jazz by night. Jazz lovers this time around can look forward to an exhilarating and exuberant brass band in the rich tradition of New Orleans in Dirty Dozen - an icon in the jazz world and cities of the world. Six other reputable bands are the Habana Sax of Cuba, a quintet of energetic Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, Brazilian and Latino jazz rhythms. KCP4 (India-Germany) brings a world of jazz and fusion of contemporary music and Indian percussion. Next up the list is a group calling themselves George Washingmachine Quartet with musicians from Australia, UK and France after their leader’s namesake, who would be dishing out swing jazz, humour and great style. Another interesting act would be the Morocco-Germany connection, Orak Naa Naa, which would be coming out with a dazzling mix of oriental music combined with European jazz. The exciting Lluis Coloma from Spain will be bringing back his boogie woogie wizardry on keyboard to remind returning festival goers of the exciting and fun atmosphere of the inaugural event. The festival this year emulates the successful formula of 2006 by assembling an array of internationally and regionally renowned musicians playing contrasting genres of jazz music. In 2006, eight groups of performers came from United Kingdom, Spain, China, Holland, Benin, Korea, France, Singapore and Sarawak. “The 2007 edition is special to us as it is listed as one of the 50 events to celebrate Visit Malaysia Year 2007: Celebrating 50 years of Nationhood campaign,” said festival chairman Michael Lu. He said the venue would still be the Pavilion, ParkCity Everly Hotel while Gracie said a baby stage would be set up for other bands to perform to the crowd during interludes. Tickets will be available at the Visitors’ Information Centre in Kuching, Sibu and Miri at RM50 for a one-night pass and RM90 for a two-night pass. Children below 12 years will be charged RM25 and RM45 respectively. Miri International Jazz Festival 2007 is organised by STB in collaboration with a group of individuals from private and public institutions.
Written By:
The Borneo Post
23.01.2007 | 
