Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan took part in the ‘Jazzahead’, the 12th edition of the international exhibition in Bremen, Germany.

With its unique concept combining showcase festival, conference, exhibition and the clubnight - all revolving around the central topic "jazz" - marvelous event has become the must-go networking event for the global jazz scene.

The exhibition has recorded a growth in participant numbers from Central Europe and increase in overall participant figures.

The partner country of the jazzahead! 2017 was Finland and the exhibition therefore focused on Finnish jazz. For the first time, the European Jazz Meeting was held as part of the event and 16 European bands were introduced.

The exhibition also offered numerous new features in the expanded specialist programme: With the Symposium on Improvisation and Jazz for Children on April 27.

With the support of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the magazine "Jazz Dunyasi" became regular participant of the event, Trend Life reported.

“Azerbaijani jazz became recognizable in Europe and other countries, thanks to the annual participation in this forum. I would like to mention that in March this year, Baku Jazz Festival become a member of the European Association of Jazz (EJN), as one of the best jazz festivals in the world," said Leyla Efendiyeva, chief editor of the magazine.

Rain Sultanov, famous jazz musician and saxophonist also attended the trade show.

The revival of jazz in the Land of Fire started in 1960s, thanks to the active efforts of great national composers such as Gara Garayev, Tofig Guliyev, Rauf Hajiyev and Niyazi.

The “flowering” of Azerbaijani jazz is associated with the names of giants such as Rafig Babayev and Vagif Mustafazade, who experimented creating unrepeatable compositions, becoming the founders of a new jazz trend jazz-mugham. This unique genre assembles both a traditional Azerbaijan music and a classic American jazz.

Today, Azerbaijani jazz performers are winners of many international jazz festivals and competitions.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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