On
Friday night we decided to go to the Dushanbe Ethnojazz Festival.
Having been assured that such events rarely fill up the theater, we decided to buy tickets just before the 6 pm concert. Uh oh! Sold out. But the buzz among those waiting in the lobby was that there were available seats inside and that maybe we'd be let in. By 6:30 they opened the doors to us hopeful ones (no tickets required now) and we snuck in during some speeches about jazz as a medium of connections, peace, and understanding and about the generosity of the various government agencies, NGOs, and embassies who'd sponsored the festival.
Once the concert started, we saw why the theater was full. The two groups we heard were outstanding. Salt Peanuts is a Kyrgyz group, equally at home with traditional American jazz (their band name comes from a Dizzy Gillespie song), Kyrgyz folk music, or a creative fusion with Kyrgyz instrucments such as the komuz (like a banjo) and temir komuz (mouth harp).
Avesta is a Tajik group with a singer who reminded us of Mama
Cass, with enthusiastic and skilled musicians, and with a huge fan base among
those in the audience. Lee especially liked their Latin jazz finale.
If
you want to hear a video Lee took of the astonishing komuz player trying
to outdo all the band members:
And
here's more from Avesta's pop sound (with hotel guests dancing to "Spring Breeze") and on local
television.
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