International Jazz Fest-2017, Yerevan

Yesterday the Yerevan Jazz Fest 2017, an international jazz festival, started. It is the third year that the festival has gathered together well-known jazz musicians and fans.

The festival opened with a performance by Marcus Miller and his group. Gonzalo Rubalcaba from Cuba will perform at the closing ceremony.

“Jazz is always in style. When people tell me that jazz has become popular in the past few years, I respond: jazz was popular back in the 60s, the 70s, the 80s and onwards. It’s important to retain the traditions that were founded in 1938. Artemi Ayvazyan, Konstantin Orbelyan, Martin Vardazaryan, Stepan Shakaryan, Arno Babajanyan … we’re their followers.

“We represent that next generation from the 1960s. We are different from them in that they had large groups. In the beginning of the 1960s we created the first small group in the Brusov institute. After that we started to grow like little mushrooms, a jazz movement which continues up until this day, and I am very happy because of this,” says jazz musician Levon Malkhasyan.

He feels that such jazz festivals are a real treat for Yerevan residents and for jazz musicians as it is a platform to make new connections and perform.

Every Jazz Fest held in Yerevan is held in honor of a well-known Armenian. This year’s festival was dedicated to Avedis Zildjian who lived in the 17th century. Being an alchemical scientist, he tried to create gold from other substances. In 1618, he ended up with an alloy that he turned into cymbals which made a peculiar sound when struck. Following this he created Zildjian, a company which manufactures these cymbals up until this day. They are considered to be some of the best in the world for jazz and rock groups.