Jazz festival sets mood music to boost global exchange

MONTREUX, Switzerland — The third edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival China is set to take place in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in late October in a bid to connect East and West and foster more exchanges between international and Chinese musicians, its CEO says.

The internationally renowned Montreux Jazz Festival, created in Switzerland in 1967 by Claude Nobs and directed by Mathieu Jaton since 2013, traditionally lasts two weeks every summer. Nearly 250,000 spectators attend the festival every year, enjoying a breathtaking setting, concerts and free stages.

In 2021, the festival traveled to China for the first time, choosing the picturesque UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province as its inaugural location. This year, the festival will travel to China for the third time from Oct 25 to 27 under the theme "When West Meets East".

"Over three days, we will have three stages and almost 100 international musicians will come to Suzhou," the festival's China edition CEO Joyce Qi Peng Peng says.

"Ninety percent are international artists who will come to China and 10 percent are from China. We will represent all musical genres including jazz, rock, blues, R&B, folk, indie and electronic. We will even have meditation and sound healing courses."

Qi emphasizes the significance of fostering cultural connections between China and the global community as her primary objective.

"The festival is like a window to the world. Through it, you can see China and the Chinese people can see the world."

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the quaint Swiss town of Montreux has played host to legendary performances by some of the biggest names in music. Icons such as Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald have graced the stages of Montreux, leaving an indelible mark on the festival's illustrious legacy.

Since the late 1970s, the Montreux Jazz Festival has extended its reach beyond its Swiss origins, sharing its expertise, heritage and unique ambience with cities across the globe, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Detroit and Atlanta in the United States, as well as Singapore and Tokyo.

"We want to expand to more Chinese cities. We also want to bring as many international musicians as possible to China and bring Chinese musicians to Montreux and the rest of the world.

"China has so many good musicians but not too many people outside of China know them. It's our mission to introduce them around the globe," she says.

Xinhua