Jazz crosses cultures at the Tokyo Manila Jazz & Arts Festival

MANILA, Philippines - When the world is divided by politics, religion, borders, and languages, love for music is the only thing left to unite everyone. That is the recurring message of the Tokyo Manila Jazz and Arts Festival, now in its third year of bridging the cultures and creative passions of the Filipinos and the Japanese. Held annually between the two capital cities, this year’s Tokyo Manila Jazz and Arts Festival will be right in the heart of the Metro, on three separate stages starting Oct. 17.  

“Music is for everyone. I think one of the main thrusts of jazz is the freedom that it enables artists and listeners to experience every time the music plays,” shared the country’s reigning Queen of Bossa Nova, Sitti Navarro. “When we did the Tokyo Manila draft in Tokyo two years ago, it was just a magical experience for me because it was my first time to play with Japanese artists. They were bringing their culture with them, their personalities with them, and the music and what it means to them with the collaboration that we had. That’s what’s exciting for me.”

Sitti, alongside seven other acclaimed jazz artists and collectives in the country, will share the spotlight with four of Japan’s leading jazz acts on four special event stages: the Raffles Long Bar on Oct. 17, Rockwell Tent on Oct. 18, the National Museum on Oct. 19, and the Greenbelt 5 Fashion Walk on Oct. 19.  

“It’s going to be one big jam with both Pinoys and the Japanese guests,” said Moy Ortiz from The Company, one of the acts expected to hit the stage during the three-day event. “It’s going to be fun, as it’s going to be a master class for both camps. We will be feeding off each other’s energies.”

“We will have many surprises that even we don’t know of yet,” promised composer and musical director Mel Villena, who, with his 18-piece AMP Band will unveil a repertoire of Filipino jazz standards and new twists on their usual sound.

“That’s how it is, everything is improvised, and everything changes on the spot.”

“We’ll be performing our original songs, and everything we can come up within an hour’s time, and there’s going to be a big jam before the night ends,” shared iconic jazz pianist and Circus Band alum Boy Katindig. “So it’s like a wait-and-see for everyone. It’s a very good lineup and we’re looking forward to a very nice jazz festival.”

Joining them are Japan’s leading names in jazz: acclaimed saxophonist Hisatsugu Suzugi, pianist and arranger Yuki Arimasa, bassist Benisuke Sakai, and percussionist Juasa Kanoh. Leading the talented pack is crossover jazz vocalist Charito Suyama, the sultry Filipina songstress who’s made a name for herself in Tokyo.

Suyama was instrumental in creating the festival back in 2011, bringing Filipino jazz musicians to the Nippon stage for nights of pure, unadulterated jazz collaborations. “The dream goes on for all of us at the Tokyo Manila Jazz and Arts Festival as we bring two countries together once again through a bridge called jazz,” she said. “We hope that more people, especially the young ones — both musicians and audiences — will experience a great sense of artistic value and continue to be a part of our global music network.”

In keeping with this, the Tokyo Manila Jazz and Arts Festival 2014 will feature rising talents in Filipino jazz, among them The Brat Pack, a group of 20-somethings headed by bassist David de Koenigswarter. The first-ever Asian and Filipino blues band to compete at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in the musical capital of Memphis, the Brat Pack is no newcomer to old-world music.

“My grandmother was a jazz patroness back in New York, so I grew up listening to jazz since my dad used to live with these jazz musicians,” explained de Koenigswarter. “As I was growing up, I didn’t really take much interest with it, but when I started to seriously get into music, it’s been more evident in my life. So, along with my band mates, we share the same passion for going out of the box. Even if we’re a blues band, we sort of take a jazz approach to it. We still want to keep the complexity of jazz because it’s really interesting.”

He continued, “The thing with jazz is that it’s a mixture of rock and roll, blues and everything, and you have the freedom to express yourself in many ways. I guess, in a way, it’s a responsibility of us younger musicians to uphold what jazz has been doing for the past years, and I believe that very soon the young market will open its doors completely, and see jazz as something very elegant, something very creative, and something hip.”

One with this hope are the more senior jazz advocates in the country, who bore witness to the rise and fall of jazz in Filipino mainstream music. At the press conference, Villena, Katindig, and Ortiz couldn’t help but wax nostalgic on jazz music’s plight in the country’s popular consciousness.

“Whether it would be small pocket concerts with Jackie Magno or Boy Katindig, or with festivals like this, it only shows that jazz never really went away,” Villena said. “From the time of your grandfathers or your aunts and uncles, jazz was the Katy Perry or the Rihanna. When you listen to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, that was the standard. They just danced to the music, and they didn’t care what label they put on that. We have jazz in our blood.”

Revealed Katindig, “But it’s different now. We used to have jazz stations before when they would play the genre in whatever form. I remembered back when we used to play at Birds of the Same Feather, there was a really, good sizable crowd that came to see us every time. That’s how aware the people were. I got most of my exposure to all these different artists through radio. Right now, we don’t have it anymore. That really triggered my migration to the States, because there was no avenue for me to create new stuff and grow as an artist.”

Ortiz was a bit more optimistic: “Jazz is cyclical. Sometimes it gets so popular, I think the last time it became popular was because of this lady here (referring to Sitti), because she brought it all back. The last time there was a big resurgence of jazz was in the late ’70s or ’80s, when everyone was playing jazz-fusion on the radio. Sometimes it goes in vogue for a certain time as far as the market is concerned. But for us here, we have always loved the genre, even when we were children. For us, it never went away. And any activity that promotes, espouses the gospel of jazz is a good thing.”

Beamed Sitti, “Opportunities like this when we get to have a dialogue and we see how we all have our passion and love for jazz enable us to plan for future jazz festivals and how our passions will trickle down to younger audiences. Maybe from here on, we could get together again and have impromptu shows in the malls or in the parks to get the audience talking, and to start this whole dialogue about jazz.”

Perhaps, like the enduring, freeform genre it has always been, jazz will make its presence felt once again in our speakers and speakeasies, and the Tokyo-Manila Jazz and Arts Festival can only turn the volume a notch louder. “Tokyo Manila Jazz is no-borders,” said festival co-producer Maja Olivares-Co, who deemed that part of the proceeds of the three-day event will benefit the Philippine Youth Symphonic Band. “It celebrates music, visual arts, food, and our boundaries are based on imagination.”

The Company’s Moy Ortiz added, “This little thing that we’re doing here is all baby steps, but it’s all happening. Any little thing that would help spread the gospel of jazz in this generation is a good thing. Any beauty that you can contribute in the world, with everything that’s happening, is a good thing, and the Tokyo Manila Jazz Festival will always be relevant because it’s all about the exchange of ideas and artistic souls.”

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Tickets for The Tokyo Manila Jazz and Arts Festival Main Event at the Rockwell Tent on Oct. 18, Saturday, 7:30-10:00 p.m., are priced at P3,000, P2,500, P1,500, P750, and P500. For inquiries and ticket reservations, call AirA at 0905-543-9457, 0920-404-8934, or email the Tokyo Manila Jazz and Arts Festival secretariat at tokyomnljazz2014@gmail.com. Tickets are also available at all Ticket World outlets.