Jazz & Blues Fest begins today

The Jazz & Blues Festival Dhaka 2015, organised by Blues Communications, begins today at the Army Museum ground in the capital, bringing together musicians from around the world to perform one of the oldest genres of world music. 

The opening night will see the biggest name of the festival, legendary guitarist John McLaughlin perform at the Dhaka stage with his band 4th Dimension, preceded by Vasundhara Vidalur (India), Shai Maestro Trio (USA) and the Imran Ahmed Quintet (Bangladesh). The performances are set to begin at 7pm and will continue till midnight. 

Imran Ahmed Quintet, a group of five talented musicians, will open the festival this year. There lineup consists of Rahin Haider (Saxophone), Robert Russell (Piano and synthesizer) Taufiq Arefin Turjo (Drums), Muhaimin Karim (Bass) and Imran Ahmed (Guitar). They will be performing mostly their own songs, influenced by modern jazz and fusion. In a conversation with The Daily Star, Imran expressed his optimism: “The jazz scene in Dhaka didn't really exist until the last one and a half years, and within this time we have artistes like John McLaughlin, China Moses and Shai Maestro performing here. I like to believe there will be jazz and blues festivals regularly here from now on. This is the ultimate kickstart.”

Asked about his inspiration to pursue jazz music, Imran said “It began when I wanted to study music and I went to the Swarnabhumi Academy of Music in Chennai (India), I came across teachers who were practicing and teaching jazz. Just seeing them and talking to them was inspiration enough. Because once you get it, you don't want to get out, because it has so much to offer. You can listen to one song for a year and still discover something new the next day.” 

Asked about his experience of playing jazz music in front of a Dhaka audience, Imran said “So far we haven't performed to a very big crowd, but even with 500-600 people in attendance, whenever we played jazz we got pin-drop silence during our set. It's something I haven't seen when performing other genres. Whenever we have played jazz, it was a special experience.”