NATIONALXPOS.CO.ID, GIANYAR – Sthala Ubud Portfolio Hotel will hold the 11th annual Ubud Village Jazz Festival (UVJF) on August 2-3, 2024. August 2-3, 2024. For 5 consecutive years, Sthala Ubud has been the main sponsor of this festival. Therefore, UVJF 2024 will officially become Sthala Ubud Village Jazz Festival 2024.
Beginning with a small jazz concert and jam session as part of a collaboration between musicians Yuri Mahatma and Anom Darsana, who together committed to create an International Jazz Festival. From that time until now, UVJF has grown and been organized for 11 consecutive years since its first festival held in 2013.
“One of the reasons we started UVJF was because of the anxiety of creative people, to create a quality, international standard, and respected festival that is 100% supported and run by local Balinese geniuses who also prioritize the educational, inspirational, and appreciative awareness of our audience. Our festival is not all business. Because for us, commitment to quality is always comes first,” said A.A Anom Wijaya Darsana as UVJF Co Founder at the press conference, Thursday (07/15/2024) in Ubud Gianyar.
Meanwhile, another UVJF Co Founder, Yuri Mahatma, added that what is new about this festival is that creativity is a continuous process. Every year there is always new music because music is not exhausted by discussion and creativity that has never been displayed. For example, senior musicians from Germany invite their students who are rising stars.
Yuri Mahatma also said that UVJF 2024 is a platform to express their strong commitment to ideas and concepts, which is what makes it so unique. One of the other uniqueness is that UVJF since its inception is the only Jazz festival in Indonesia that only promotes jazz music.
“We need to always educate the public and reintroduce jazz. Jazz is a form of music that requires a certain level of appreciation from the audience to enjoy it, Total in a day, there are 8 performances on 3 stages. There are 17 performances. 1 big band with 23 members, one group. There are foreigners, there are Indonesians. We have cooperation with Russia, and this year we will foster the spirit of jazz between countries and sign an MoU agreement,” said Yuri Mahatma.
Yuri added that for a jazz musician the essence of jazz is freedom through improvisation. Improvisation means interpretation. To be able to interpret, it is need to be literate about several topics. The topic, the history, the philosophy, and so on. There is no way someone can claim to be a jazz musician just because he can play some good lyrics. And this nature can be analogized to life in general.
Meanwhile, General Manager of Sthala Ubud, Lasta Arimbawa said he was proud that Sthala Ubud became the main sponsor of UVJF 2024. Moreover, Sthala Ubud does have a spirit of actively participating in buying Balinese micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) products.
“Previously, we have held charity and donated many things. Now, we work with Sungai Watch and many more activities like that. Marriott doesn’t have to consider it from a business perspective. In UVJF 2014 we worked with an amazing team,” Lasta said.
This year’s UVJF artists are filled with outstanding talents from within and outside the country such as Adien Fazmail Quinteto (Indonesia), Benny IrawTrio (Indonesia), Claude Diallo with Indra Gupta and Gustu Brahmanta (Switzerland-Indonesia), Collective Harmony (Indonesia), Eric Chong Trio together (Indonesia), New Centropezn (Russia), Noe Clerc Trio (France), Rodrigo Parejo Quartet (Spain- Indonesia), Simone Prattico (Indonesia), Rodrigo Parejo Quartet (Spain- Indonesia), Simone Prattico Trio (Italy), Uwe Plath Quartet (Germany), Zagorski-Skowronski Project feat Kajetan Galas (Poland).
A blend of great Jazz Music, superb audio quality, and an amazing venue layout is one of the aspects that makes UVJF worth the wait. The audience will be dumbfounded by the UVJF venue designed by UVJF’s team of architects Klick Swantara Putra and Diana Surya who is also the CEO of Archimetriz.
Later, in addition to enjoying a mesmerizing jazz concert, there are also several food and beverage stalls that will pamper the audience to enjoy the sound of jazz music. (Tik)
