T

he annual Yogyakarta village-to-village jazz festival Ngayogjazz 2014 will kick off in Brayut, Pendowoharjo, Sleman regency, on Saturday.

Held since 2007, the festival has been claiming success in familiarizing more people, especially in grass roots communities, with jazz, which is often seen as being high-end.

'€œOne day of Ngayogjazz in Brayut could influence the locals'€™ appetite for music,'€ Budi Utomo, the manager of Brayut tourism village, told a press briefing on Thursday.

He said it would be the second time for Brayut to host the unique festival, which features interaction between performers, the audience and locals during a combination of modern and traditional music performances.

After hosting the festival in 2012, Budi said the people of Brayut had become curious about jazz. Many had even expressed a passion for the music that they previously were not aware of.

'€œThey also asked me where to get the CDs of the music they heard in the festival,'€ Budi said.

Aji Wartana, of the festival organizer'€™s creative board, concurred, saying last year, some 14,000 people came to the free-of-charge festival. This year the organizing committee is expecting more than 15,000 spectators.

Ngayogjazz, according to Aji, was presented and packaged differently every year, but was held under the same concept of an enjoyable open-stage jazz event played by any musicians, collaborating with any genre of music, including traditional.

It seems unsurprising that Ngayogjazz opened with traditional Jathilan music or presented at the same venue other traditional music performances, thus creating a bridge for locals to get closer to jazz music.

This year'€™s festival, Aji said, took '€œTung Tak Tung Jazz'€ as its tagline, which was an oral play on the sounds made to describe joy and happiness.

'€œThe festival basically is not a music concert, more a gathering to have fun together,'€ said Aji, adding that this accounted for why interaction with the locals was an important element of the festival.

Held from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Ngayogjazz 2014 boasts nearly 30 jazz musicians and singers, including some from France and South Korea. Among noted local performers are Dewa Budjana and ESQI:EF (Syaharani and Queenfireworks).

The festival also presents other jazz communities from cities across Indonesia and local traditional art performances.

'€œWhat makes this year'€™s festival special is the domination of young jazz communities, groups and performers,'€ Aji said.

He said there was limited participation by foreign musicians because of limited funds and tight schedules.

He expressed hope that next year, the provincial administration would allocate funding from the Yogyakarta special status fund to improve the festival.

'€œWe have received funds from Sleman regency and Yogyakarta provincial administration, but not from the special status fund,'€ said Aji, adding that the festival cost Rp 500 million (US$41,000) this year.