With the second edition of 'Jazz & Blues Festival Dhaka' being held this year, garnering even more attraction than in the first edition, it is not unusual to ask the question: How did Dhaka, from being influenced by the vast range of music of their own roots get so caught up in the sensation of jazz all of a sudden?
Yet once we look into it, we clearly see that our inclination toward jazz should actually be a no-brainer. Dhaka is a place of diverse people with vast range of opinions, worldviews, and philosophies. And our moods shift from time to time, different emotions run at different times, we have strong emotions and we like to express and exchange those emotions with our loved ones, and what better way to do so other than through music? And when it comes to music, what other genre can convey that emotion in a finer way than jazz?
One of the earliest genres of music, the inception of jazz can be traced back to around the turn of 20th century in New Orleans, Louisiana, a major port city which acted as a meeting point of variety of cultures. People from all over the world would come to this place. As a result, they got into contact with an array of musical styles. Consequently, classical, blues, swing and other styles and grooves all got exposed to one another, music enthusiasts started experimenting with them and blended and fused them together to allow for a brand new musical style to form that we now call jazz.
And having borrowed bits and pieces from so many different musical styles, jazz has accurately gained the reputation as the most eclectic, and hence the most expressive of all musical genres. And its spontaneity and ability to evoke very diverse range of emotions merely strengthens its reputation. The purpose of jazz music is to completely open one's mind allowing for one to go with the very emotions that are running through his mind at that very moment.
Listening to jazz music can accurately be compared to having a 'musical conversation'. What is more important than the lyrics here is the nuances that it can create with different arrangements of instruments, and different styles of playing, too. Jazz is full of emotions and its spontaneity, diversity and richness allow for an even more meaningful exchange of emotion to take place. Its freedom from some rigid structure and generous permission to improvise makes it even more soulful and appeals to the audience on a deeper level.
We, Dhaka city dwellers, are emotional souls. We live a very hectic life all year, yet we are so lively and celebrative. We observe a ton of occasions every year just to make deeper connections and bondings, to communicate our feelings with our loved ones, and the sheer level of connection that we can make through soulful jazz is astounding to us. The essence of jazz deeply resonates with our inner selves and that is more than enough reason for us Dhaka people, to place jazz in our musical preference list.
And what is interesting is the fact that apart from international-level jazz festivals having attracted a huge number of listeners, new artists are flourishing too, revolving around this genre. A guitarist and composer from Dhaka, Imran Ahmed, for example, has been doing particularly good in this field. He, along with his groups 'Imran Ahmed Quintet' and 'Imran Ahmed Trio', has been actively participating in the field of jazz music for the past few years. They have been organising and playing concerts consistently throughout the country and almost single handedly promoting jazz to the current generation of Bangladeshi listeners. Armeen Musa is another such name. Having graduated from Berklee College of Music, world music enthusiast Armeen has a special place in her heart for jazz and has been working on this genre and others, too both at home and abroad since a very young age.
Considered as slave songs and religious African-American folk songs in its early days, jazz music through the course of time, started winning the hearts of people from all walks of life from all parts of the world and eventually turned into a global phenomenon. And we, too, being the welcoming people that we are, found jazz to be resonating with our thoughts and emotions and it easily got a place in our hearts.
The writer is currently studying in BBA programme at IBA, University of Dhaka. He can be reached at [email protected]
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