All that jazz at DSF2005

Featuring music genres as diverse as blues, funk, swing, acid, rock, contemporary, modern, and fusion the third Philips Dubai International Jazz Festival will see over 75 musicians from around the world perform at the DSF event. In keeping with its theme, "Much more than Jazz", the concerts being organized at the Dubai Media City Lake Park from February 2-4, 2005 promises a lot of fun and frolic for Jazz lovers.

Having established the previous music festivals on the UAE music scene Anthony Younes, Managing Director, Chillout Productions said, "The festival this time is bigger and around 2,000 fans from across Germany, England, Italy, Paris, and Spain have already bought season passes and will be travelling to Dubai to witness the feista. In all we are expecting around 25,000 music enthusiasts to attend the three-day festival and to accommodate them all we have expanded the venue to cover the entire area of the Dubai Media City Lake Park, extending over 300,000 sq ft."

In addition to the existing two stages, sponsored by Philips and Cadillac, the 2005 festival will be having an additional stage. Each stage will play host to some leading names reflecting the sounds of different styles of jazz. Performing on the first day i.e. February 2 from 7.30pm to midnight are the Peter King Quartet, Jazz Matrix featuring Jim Mullen, Claire Martin Quarter and Ray Gelato and his giants - all from the UK.

Olivier Collette Quintet from Belgium, Mike Stern from USA, Blues Caravan featuring Ana Popovic, Sue Foley, Candye Kane from USA, Canada and Europe and Ptah Brwon featuring Tim Fritz and Lello Panico from USA, perform modern jazz and blues on the three different stages on Day 2. The concluding day will see Rigmor Gustafsson featuring Magnus Lendgren from Sweden perform pop jazz and David Reinhartd Quintet and Anne Ducros from France perform diva and gypsy jazz. The grand finale will be brought about by Orchestra (ELO) by the original members of the Electric Light Orchestra from the USA.
"The artists are going to perform on both the Cadillac stage and the new stage in two separate sets of half hour two hours apart. This will ensure that jazz lovers will not miss out on any of the concerts," pointed out Younes.

A larger venue comes as good news for the Festival's official caterers, Hilton Jumeirah who is excited to be able to serve the fans better with their expanded food outlets. All the musicians are being accommodated at the Hilton during the festival. Each night, the festival will finish with its traditional, invitation-only Jam sessions. This gives the festivals' sponsors and partners the opportunity to interact with the musicians in a more intimate atmosphere and listen, first-hand, to Jazz improvisations by the masters.

"These sessions are our way of thanking our supporters and sponsors," said Younes. "We owe the success of our festival not just to our major sponsors but to our media partners who have helped to spread the word and promote the Jazz scene in the region."

The Dubai Shopping Festival 2005 runs between January 12 and February 12, 2005 but the Global Village is on until March 31, 2005.