Ankara Jazz Festival to be held online on 24th year

On its 24th year, the International Ankara Jazz Festival will take place as an online festival due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Works are almost completed for the festival to take place between April 30 and May 10.

Meeting with its audience with a different theme every year, the festival underlines important issues within jazz.

"We think that jazz is a democratic form of art as much as it is free. Jazz musicians contribute to the music both individually and freely on the stage, and they listen to each other, open a space for each other and ensure that they can make their voices heard equally. Isn't that democracy? Art is the reflection of the society. In this respect, we chose 'Freedom and Democracy in Jazz' as our theme and we wanted to look at art from this point of view on the 24th year of the festival, accompanied by valuable orchestras," says festival curator and the Jazz Association President Özlem Oktar Varoğlu about the theme they intended on while designing the festival. 

The Jazz Association determines the theme one year in advance and announces it on the website every year, and among the applied groups, the events that will take place in the festival are selected among the projects that are suitable for the theme.

"This year, festival projects were selected, but due to the developments we experienced due to the COVID-19 virus, we need a little more time to explain the program. Our program will be announced soon on ankaracazfestivali.com and cazdernegi.org sites," festival director Tuğçe Alpaslan says. 

As scheduled, the festival will open with a concert on World Jazz Day on April 30 in cooperation with the Jazz Association, UNESCO and Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute. 

The other concerts in the festival,...