The Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival 2020

The Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival

The Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival was conceptualized and produced by SEHER in association with UNESCO and Rajasthan Tourism in 2020. It is the first-ever International Jazz Festival supported by UNESCO, preserving Jazz as a music genre, and is attended by over 14,000 – 15000 people over 3 days.

SEHER’s expertise with Jazz dates back to 2011 when we conceptualized and organized the first-ever world-class Jazz Festival in India set in an outdoor location by the name and style of the Delhi Jazz Festival. The Delhi Jazz Festival was attended by thousands of people in Delhi every year.

Raising the pedestal to the existing stature of Jazz in India, SEHER conceptualized and produced the Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival. It is a dynamic festival that opened the world of Jazz and Blues to a wider audience in the pink city of Jaipur. After establishing the successful Udaipur World Music Festival in the lake city of Udaipur, SEHER entered Jaipur and established the Jaipur Jazz and Blues in an open setting such as the Central Park of Jaipur, a nominated World Heritage city by UNESCO. Here people from all sections of society could come and enjoy international greats of Jazz from countries such as Latin America, Canada, Africa and Korea.

Open to all, the Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival is a three-day celebration of world-class music from Contemporary, Fusion, Latin, and Mainstream Jazz to Electric, Punk, and Soul Blues, to name a few, on one International platform. The festival brings forth the spirit of Jazz having its genesis as the music of the oppressed and expression of slavery in the U.S. that came to be known as the voice of resilience and defiance against the oppressors. Today this genre has far greater relevance and tremendous resonance with the youth of our country.

The music genre originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and has traveled across the globe and evolved as one of the beloved genres of music.

The Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival is another destination festival for music lovers from across the world.

Curator’s note:

“The Jaipur Jazz and Blues Festival aims to open the window that lets the breeze from the East and the West flow across each other harmoniously. It is a part of the democratization of Jazz in India. Jazz belongs to the common and the suppressed people and not just the elite and hosting it in the Central Park in Jaipur meant people from all sections of society could come and just find a palace and sit down and enjoy. It was hugely satisfying to see Jazz being enjoyed by the youth of Jaipur.”