Beijing's jazz scene seems to work much like its politics. Zhang Fan, dean of the Midi School of Music and organiser of the school's annual rock festival, explains how he and a group of musicians organised this weekend's Midi Jazz Festival: 'We put together a committee.'
Now five years old, the music festival has become an institution, although there was a hiccup last May, when authorities denied the school a permit (a scaled-down version was held in October).
But with the decision to go with jazz this year, the festival has a lot more to offer. 'Beijing hasn't had a jazz festival for three years, so we thought we needed to do something,' Zhang says. 'You don't need a huge sponsor or to invite a lot of overseas artists. Beijing has a lot of talent.'
The two-day, 16-band festival will mainly feature locally based performers, many of whom are current and former teachers at the school. Coming from furthest afield is Saadet Turkoz, a Kazakh singer born in Turkey and now based in Zurich. Turkoz will perform with Beijing-based folk band Iz, who are led by Kazakh-Chinese Mamuer Rayeskan. The festival marks the collaboration's fourth performance in China, after shows in Beijing and Shanghai.
Iz have attracted attention with their take on traditional Kazakh music. Turkoz has been having a similar effect in Europe with her combination of Turkish and Kazakh folk traditions, incorporating improvised and jazz music.
'I like [Iz] very much,' Turkoz says. 'When I got their CD I listened to it over and over again. It was like being out on the steppes. It's meditative music; trance music. I was surprised that Chinese people could play this music. It's beautiful.'
