Interview. It’s definitely the jazz time in Romania | Alin Vaida, Jazz in the Park

In Cluj-Napoca, for four years now, a new jazz setup has arrived. The concept was firstly born in New York in the 80s, where small scenes, dance floors, vintage fairs were settled, while in the evening, a big concert scene was placed for the music lovers. Long story short, we are talking about jazz in the park. How does this jazz concept work in the heart of Romania? Business Review talked with Alin Vaida, the festival’s director, to find out more about the hustle and bustle of organizing such an event.

From my point of view, the jazz scene is blooming in Romania. We have more jazz festivals & special jazz concerts than ever before and the jazz events continue to grow. Does the Romanian public start to listen more jazz? Is the same public who travels from Bucharest to Timisoara’s JazzTM to Garana Jazz festival, to Sibiu’s Jazz Festival or to Cluj’s Jazz in the Park?

First of all, I agree with the statement: the Jazz scene is growing in Romania. I would dare to add that it’s mostly because of the events and because of the passionate people that are behind them. Jazz festivals, as other music festival, aren’t just about music, it’s the whole atmosphere that a festival can create: great big venues, many bands, a lot of things to do. If you do them properly, you will have more people going. Also, if others see that your event is doing good, they will also try to replicate it or do something in the same field.

About the events you mentioned above, they all are pretty different in concept and philosophy, so they address different types of public. For instance, Jazz in the Park aims to be very friendly to the audience and attract more people. We don’t scare the people with our jazz, we have a line-up in which everybody can find something that they like. Also we bring so many creative projects in the festival that people are curious to see.

Of course, there are also a number of people that travel to each festival. You say that there are more jazz events than ever and it is true, but there aren’t so many jazz festival as there are electronic, or rock. There is a lot of room to improve them.

Jazz festivals don’t just address jazz fans, but people who want to have fun but are a bit moderate. People that don’t want to stay up too late, or to expose themselves to the stress that a very big event can bring (high security, a lot of drinking etc.)

I would like to end the answer by saying that although the jazz scene is blooming, we can do so much more. The music we bring (we, as in jazz festivals) isn’t at all promoted by the media: you don’t see jazz on TV, you don’t hear jazz at the radio not even one bit. So the only place you can actually hear it is at these live events. If this would change, then we would have a real blooming of the jazz scene.

Interview. It’s definitely the jazz time in Romania | Oltea Zambori, JazzTM

How about the local scene of jazz? Are new artists/bands coming on stage with jazz music? Is there a place for them while more and more great names from the jazz world are arriving to our country and offer absolutely amazing gigs?

I like and support local acts. It is daring for an artist to do jazz, because, like I said above, there aren’t many ways to get your music heard, so it’s harder to earn a living out of it. But the new wave of young jazz bands is pretty cool. Bands like Jazzybit of Sebastian Spanache Trio are trying modern approaches to music that give jazz a good name. They are also starting to perform abroad, which is good to improve their vision. Also, we have built a jazz competition in the festival, which aims in discovering young new jazz bands. The competition has its own outdoor venue, on the riverside, where 15 finalists will perform in front of 3,000 people. This is pretty good for up and coming bands.

As for Cluj, we are starting to bring more and more big names of the jazz scene in the city. It is important for people to see what’s the new trend in Jazz. It helps building the audience. For instance, we brought last year Robert Glasper Experiment which is a trend setter in what jazz music has become. Also, this year we will develop a ticket-access component in the festival, where we have three big names in Jazz: Dhafer Youssef, Susana Baca and Barcelona Gypsy Balkan Orchestra. All three projects are pretty different, but all three are very representative to their musical genre.

As an advice for Romanian Jazz bands that want to bloom, I’d say start looking at what is happening in the world. And infuse your music with other styles as well. For instance, now it’s a trend to have hip-hop influence in jazz. It’s because big hip hop artists, that win Grammys (such as Kendrick Lamar) are starting to collaborate with jazz players to write their music. Robert Glasper worked on such an album. So did Kamasi Washington of Thundercat (huge names in the jazz scene).

But I am an optimist and I see that this will happen. The thing is, if modern Romanian jazz bands can produce something that the public can understand and relate to, they will have only to win because, being virtuous musicians (you can’t play jazz unless you are really good), they will amaze the crowd once they get them into a venue.

Interview. It’s definitely the jazz time in Romania | Marius Giura, Garana Jazz Festival

You have the experience of organising a jazz festival. It’s been a while now since you are doing it. Did jazz music become a trend within the cultural organisations that provide this type of entertainment? Is jazz trendy in Romania nowadays?

I think that what we did best in these four years we’ve been doing Jazz in the Park is to make a balance between cultural and cool, between useful and popular. This is the key to our success. Jazz is trendy because of the compromise it brings to the table. It’s cultural enough so that the elite cultural people will value and approve it, but it can also be presented in a cool and popular manner, so that many people will come.

Until Jazz in the Park, the Jazz festivals used to gather 2,000-3,000 people tops. I think we were among the first to have a mass crowd at concerts.

When we talk about entertainment, it needs to be cool. Because people want to relax when they come to your festival. And if you can balance that while also promoting culture and good quality music, you hit the home run.

There is also the dimension of the project that helps in the coolness. For instance, our festival lasts for 7 days, in which we will have two big open air venues, one closed venue with ticket access, four street scenes in the city centre, three parties in different venues and a couple of pubs that will host events. It is truly a city festival and you can feel it. And each venue has its signature atmosphere and vibe. The one that got us famous is in the main venue, the Central Park. You can find here a décor and a vibe worthy of the world from „Alice in Wonderland”. You can see everywhere, hammocks, bean bags, lots of colours, lights, blankets, all kinds of happy people, willing to be united. And to complete the atmosphere, there are three stages were people can discover and enjoy good quality bands from around the world.

Jazz in the Park will take place in Cluj Napoca, from June 26 to July 2. Dhafer Youssef, Susana Baca, Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra are just a few artists who will be on stage for this festival. The organizers announced more than 100 artists, so stay tuned!

Photo courtesy of Jazz in the Park Facebook page

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