DUSHANBE, April 29, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Dushanbe will host the Second Dushanbe Jazz Festival from April 30 through May 3.

The Festival is initiated and financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation through its Regional Art and Culture Program, and implemented in cooperation with Bactria Cultural Centre and the Sattorov Tajik National Conservatory, according to the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan.

The program of the Festival consists of three gala concerts that will take place at the Mayakovsky State Russian Drama Theatre and at the Ayni Opera and Ballet Theatre.  The Tajik National Conservatory will accommodate a Jam-session of the Festival participants, a series of workshops and a round table.

Besides Tajik musicians, the Festival will also bring together musicians from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, among which are both beginners and distinguished masters of jazz, and the guest of the festival Demetrius Spaneas from USA.

The Second Dushanbe Jazz Festival with aspirations of the First Jazz Festival held in Dushanbe last year, aims at promoting jazz music in Tajikistan in its ethno-jazz national form, through searching for original ideas, trends and styles of ethno-jazz compositions, as well as disclosing new talents who are willing to demonstrate their abilities in jazz music, which is yet to be developed in Tajikistan. The primary artistic goal of the festival to be attained by Tajik musicians lies in exploring national forms of jazz based on musical traditions of maqom and falak. Other participants of the festival have also been offered to include two compositions based on Tajik maqom and falak into their concert program.

Apart from the concert component the festival includes several sub-projects like contests, creative laboratory, master-class, film demonstration, round table, and production of the CD.

The organizers regard the Festival as a platform for the Central Asian regional cooperation from another angle – through music. It is also hoped that organization of the festival will eventually become a tradition that will promote the development of jazz and impromptu music in Tajikistan, foster exchange of creative experience and facilitate integration of Central Asian music cultures with those of other countries.