Jazz Day celebrations in Seychelles |05 March 2020

On April 30 this year, in celebration of International Jazz Day, an association for Jazz musicians in Seychelles will officially be launched, and this will take place alongside other local activities and events.

This has been said by Antoine Souris, head of music at the National Conservatoire of Performing Arts (NCPA), who adds that “the association is now becoming a reality and will be operating under the name of JazzChelles”.

Mr Souris explains that “International Jazz Day was first ‘informally’ celebrated in 2019 and it is from this that the idea came to form an association for the musicians under the umbrella of the National Conservatoire of Performing Arts”.

Speaking about the official launch ceremony of the association, Mr Souris says that there will also be a series of Jazz workshops taking place during the week of April 27, followed by a Jazz concert on April 30, which will be performed by various local Jazz bands/musicians.

He adds that prior to the day, the association has plans to conduct a Jazz music awareness programme in a few primary or secondary schools where it will be collaborating with the respective schools’ music and art teachers. This will be with the objective of organising a short performance in some of the schools, as well as a drawing competition with Jazz music as the theme.  

The celebrations of Jazz music in Seychelles and awareness-building activities will not end here as JazzChelles has plans to organise other activities for the benefit of the local population. Such activities will include Jazz concerts, workshops, Jazz evenings and an annual local or international Jazz festival.

It is felt that through these continued promotional activities for Jazz music, students will be attracted to study this art form, and this will hopefully culminate in even greater milestones for this art form.

“It will stimulate the interest for students to learn various instruments such as the saxophone, trumpet and others. With the skill that’s needed to become a competent Jazz musician, Jazz music would then become another training tool for the students.”

“We could see the creation for bigger ensembles, perhaps a new big band. As a result, we can create a well-planned Jazz training programme to benefit the NCPA students and Jazz musicians as a whole. We could then create a formal link with international Jazz musicians and musical institutions for training programmes, exchanges and Jazz music festivals,” says Mr Souris.

The accompanying photos were taken during the Jazz Festival of 2015 (Photo Credits: Pierre Joseph).

F.P.