When asked, music enthusiasts world over struggle to define Jazz.
Those in India falter likewise when describing the music that now boasts of a strong loyal following and can be heard in certain Bollywood oldies like "Eena Meena Deeka" or "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu".
An exciting line-up of artists from across the world are now set to participate in the 30th anniversary celebrations of a festival of Jazz, a form of music famously described by author John Fordham as the "sound of the skipped heart-beat, the caught breath, the sudden smile."
At the three-day festival "Jazz Utsav" beginning here October 31, giants of jazz from countries like Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Germany, US, Poland among others are set to participate.
This year's lineup features Diego Amador Trio from Spain, Deborah J Carter Quartet from Netherlands, Francesco Cafiso Duo from Italy, Helge Lien and Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer from Norway, Arne Jansen Trio from Germany, Steve Davis Quartet and David Hazeltine Trio from US, High Definition Quartet from Poland. The Goa Collective is a participant from India.
"In India we have a huge pool of very gifted jazz artists and lots of festivals all over the country in Kolkata Bangalore Pune Delhi Goa etc," says festival director Astri Ghosh.
Musicians from all over the word, including veterans like Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, Stephane Grapelli, Abdullah Ibrahim, Trilok Gurtu, Larry Carlton, Jan Garbarek, EberhardWeber, Wayne Krantz and Freddie Hubbard have performed at the festival in the previous years.
