Celebrating jazz in Dhaka

In celebration of International Jazz Day 2023, a special show was organised by Dhaka Broadcast on Sunday, April 30. The show was presented by Innovative Creations Ltd and took place at the capital's The Garage Food Court.

The line-up consisted of some of the most prominent faces of Dhaka's jazz scene, some of whom you might have already seen in Coke Studio Bangla. It included the incredible Imran Ahmed and Shuvendu Das Shuvo on guitar, Rahin Haider on saxophone, Towfiq Arifin on drums, Mohaimin Karim on the double bass, Tanveer Haque on bass, Koushik Ahmed Antar on piano, Francis Maginn on trombone and The Seasaw Quartet.

The drizzle outside mixed with the cadences of jazz, soon put the atmosphere into a soothing rhythm.
Small venue shows like these always have that inexplicable cosy aura and feeling of togetherness. Although tickets were free, it was still incredible to witness a packed house at a jazz show, as the genre is still very niche in our local scene.

Before the final performances, the crowd was swayed by a surprise performance where Grzegorz Karnas and Arnob delivered an incredible, impromptu jam over "Amay Dhore Rakho", while Imran and Mohaimin played along with them.

While Grzegorz was in a hurry to leave after the show ended, we still managed to have a short and insightful conversation with the Polish jazz artiste. The highlight of the conversation would be his thoughts on jazz music in Bangladesh.

"While genres like jazz originated in the West, it doesn't mean it should only belong to the West. 

Certain types of sounds are like lingua franca. When local artistes are playing, they should saturate their own heritage within that too."