KUCHING: Kuching Jazz 2022 will take place on Oct 28 and 29 at the Waterfront here.
Among the artistes invited are Afgan (Indonesia), Hendri Rotinsulu and Jazmint Band (Indonesia), Noryn Aziz (Malaysia), Phum Viphurit (Thailand), Freyja Garbett (Australia), Dawn Wong & The Ark Royal (Singapore), Leon Sapphire (Malaysia), Ta’Dan (Malaysia), Ushera (Malaysia) and Ky Den (Malaysia)
“Afgansyah Reza is a singer, songwriter, actor born in Jakarta who is now only known as Afgan, undoubtedly one of the most famous artistes in Asia, with a unique voice and style that combines pop and jazz,” said Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Sebastian Ting during the press conference on yesterday (Oct 18).
“Award-winning Noryn Aziz is one of Malaysia’s leading jazz singers with a career spanning nearly three decades.
“Phum Viphurit gained international recognition in 2018 from her singles, ‘Lover Boy,’ and ‘Long Gone’ in 2017. The Thai singer-songwriter writes music that is undeniably catchy, reaching an international audience and garnering a record-breaking 44.6 million streams on Spotify in 173 countries last year.”
According to Ting, the artistic director of the festival is local talent Nisa Addina, who has performed in previous editions of Kuching Jazz.
“We should all feel proud that we can benefit from the talents of someone so young and fresh, and someone classically trained in jazz from the Berklee College of Music in the United States.
“This year, we are able to produce an eclectic line-up of musical performers that will create more awareness of the various genres under jazz.
“This will make people realise that jazz is not a boring or slow music. Jazz can be soulful, cheerful and even make you want to go down to the front of the stage and dance to your heart’s content,” Ting said.
Meanwhile, Hemisphere Corporation Sdn Bhd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEDC) chief executive officer and festival organiser Mark Ferguson said his side now owned and operated a mobile app for customers known as the Insiders Club, the first of its kind in Malaysia.
“The tools in this app are to maximise the experience for our customers. This year’s room package with Kuching Jazz is available on the app in addition to kuchingjazz.com which is our official website.”
Organizers are expecting 4,000 festival-goers this year.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.kuchingjazz.com or download the Insiders Club app from Hemisphere.
