LAHORE: Monday night saw some rocking and exciting musical activity at Alhamra Art Centre, as the first ever International Jazz Music Festival got under way.

The festival was organised by the Foundation for Arts, Culture and Education (FACE), Islamabad and the Lahore Jazz Club, supported by the US embassy. The event saw a frenzied fusion of bhangra, hip-hop, jazz, rock by two jazz bands, the Sunny Jain Wild Wild East from Brooklyn, New York and the VIP music band from Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, Hena Johnson from the US embassy lauded the FACE for organising the first ever jazz festival. She told the audience that Sunny hailed from New York, but his ancestral roots were in Sialkot.

Zee Jah Fazli, the founder of the FACE, said the festival had been previously held in Islamabad, and after Lahore it would be organised in Karachi as well. He said this was the first International Jazz Festival in Lahore, and thanked the American embassy for their support in putting up the event.

The Sunny Jain Wild Wild East Band enthralled a jam-packed hall and opened the jazz evening. The group has drawn worldwide recognition for its music that incorporates Punjabi bhangra with elements of hip-hop and jazz, particularly produced for live festival acts. Sunny’s work also resonates to reclaim the identity of a minority community that emphasises American values of pluralism and diversity.

He gave a good desi twist to his amazing performance by rendering Faiz’s poem, ‘Subh-i-Azadi’, on jazz music. ‘Aye Meray Dil Khain Aur Chal’ was also a heart-touching composition played by the band. The last item got the band a standing ovation, which was a dhamal on ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’.

Sunny told the audience that he and his friend, musician Ali Sethi, liked the song ‘Gora Mukhra’ by Iqbal Bano, but he didn’t like the lyrics so they changed them. Now, they had composed new lyrics and music for the song, and renamed it ‘Kala Mukhra’. He also said he was extremely excited about visiting his ancestral city of Sialkot for the first time on Tuesday (today).

Up next was the VIP Band -- an electronic/nu jazz group comprising musicians from Islamabad and Lahore. The band’s exhilarating performance earned it a lot of praise from the audience.

Talking to Dawn, Zee Jah Fazli said the mission of the FACE was to strengthen and empower communities through the universal language of arts and through cultural interactions.

Hassan Mian of the Lahore Jazz Club said the only entertainment the city had was food, and people needed to strive for more recreational activities. The Lahore Jazz Club would try to introduce more jazz evenings to the people of the city, he added.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2022