The press conference on the fifth International Jazz Festival in Uzbekistan took place in Tashkent on April 3, 2019 at the Palace of Arts "Turkiston".

This year, the International Jazz Festival in Uzbekistan will be held from April 14 to 30, 2019 in several cities of Uzbekistan - Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Kokand. International and national jazz performers will take part in the jazz festival. There will be concerts, a series of master classes for local jazz performers and students of music schools, as well as jam sessions (joint improvisations) and creative meetings with local and foreign musicians.

The festival is organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the State Philharmonic of Uzbekistan, the Art and Culture Foundation Development of Uzbekistan, the jazz club of the “Ilkhom Theatre”, the UNESCO Office in Tashkent, the Municipality of Tashkent City, as well as with the support and participation of the embassies: France, Israel, India, Indonesia, Hungary, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Czech Republic in Uzbekistan.

Welcoming remarks at the opening of the event were provided by the Representative of UNESCO in Uzbekistan, Mrs. Pilar Alvarez-Laso, who noted that the purpose of the festival is a cultural exchange between jazz performers of Uzbekistan and abroad, as well as promoting jazz as a form of cultural expression and building bridges between peoples. “The history of jazz is inextricably linked with the history of the struggle for human dignity, democracy and civil rights. UNESCO believes in the power of jazz, which helps to ensure peace, dialogue and mutual understanding between people and nations”, - she said.

The Minister of Culture of Uzbekistan, Mr. Bakhtior Sayfullaev, noted that this style of musical art has long been living in Uzbekistan. In the State Jazz Orchestra named after B. Zakirov, created in 1995, play the best musicians of the country. The artistic director and lead soloist of the jazz orchestra is the singer and composer Mansur Tashmatov, People's Artist of Uzbekistan, laureate of international competitions and festivals. “We hope that this year the guests of the festival will have even more impressions. We invite everyone to listen to jazz music of the festival participants”, - said the Minister.

During the press conference, representatives of the embassies told about jazz musicians who will come to Tashkent to perform in front of the jazz music lovers in Uzbekistan.

Omri Mora, pianist and composer from Israel, Turkish duo Turumtai-Zarich, Hungarian jazz-rock singer and guitarist Barna Peli, singer Shefali Alvarez from India, a duet from Switzerland Malcolm Braf and Claire Jugenen, Czech jazz band "The Abs" and many other jazz musicians will perform for the guests of the International Jazz Festival.

In the near future, the festival program and information on tickets and invitations will be posted on the websites and official Facebook pages of the festival organizers, UNESCO and the embassies participating.

Note that the International Day of Jazz was proclaimed at the UNESCO conference in November 2011. In December 2012, the UN General Assembly officially approved the proclamation of April 30 as International Jazz Day. Since then, April is the generally accepted month of recognition of this type of musical art. The capital of the International Day of Jazz in 2019 is Melbourne. The events on International Jazz Day itself will culminate in an All-Star Global Concert at the Melbourne Arts Centre’s renowned Hamer Hall.  It will be webcast via YouTube, Facebook, the United Nations and UNESCO to millions of viewers worldwide.

Reference: Nina Simon (Eunice Kathleen Waymon) is a famous American singer, pianist, composer and arranger. She adhered to the jazz tradition; however, she used a variety of performed material, combined jazz, soul, pop, gospel and blues. Years of life: February 21, 1933 - April 21, 2003.