European Jazz Festival in Katara Village

Had I not indulged into a friendly chat with Mr. Rolf, I would not have known of this musical (magical)night taking place in Katara. Well done, Doha Time Out, you have disappointed me once again!

The 3rd European Jazz festival took place in the Cultural Village on Monday evening. Essentially, it was a five day event, where six countries brought their own jazz artists to the stage. Given my current occupation and that I had only heard of it on Saturday, I wasn’t able to attend the whole program but I am sure it was nothing short of extraordinary.

I am a fan of music but not particularly of Jazz music. I mean, yes I love Westlife’s “Allow us to be frank” and “Fly me to the moon” by Frank Sinatra is one of my favorites but the songs on my playlist are of a different genre. And I only listen to instrumental music when I am working/writing. No lyrics = No chances of singing along = No distraction. However, this event may have changed my preferred genre of music.

The event had already started by the time I reached there. This was a polite way of saying that I was late, thanks to the crazy traffic on my way from Wakrah to Doha. Katara Village is huge so I had to take one of those small cars to the actual building 5 where the event was held. Contrary to what I had imagined, there was no hall; it was all open air. I saw three artists, one of them extremely tall with a cello and the other two with violins. One of them  (the only one who seemed to speak in English) introduced all of the members. Apparently they are a famous Jazz group in Poland.

I wasn’t a fan of the big projector screen behind the artists. During songs, the cello guy would get so into playing the instrument that his facial expressions would change and resemble that of a guy having an orgasm. And because the screen was so huge it felt like I was there witnessing him having one. Needless to say, this was strangely disturbing but maybe it’s me who’s sick in the head. Anyway….

I did not take pictures because that’s what half of the audience was doing. I think in such events people are too busy taking pictures or making videos and because of that, they are unable to enjoy such events to the fullest. I wanted to soak it all in and if it was really good, I knew I would never forget it.

But here’s a link to one of the songs that they played:

 

It’s fair to say the audience was a collection of different European nationalities, one Japanese couple, two Indian guys and me. It’s also fair to say that I was the only person who was there on her own.

But I really had no choice you see; the people I know here would never agree to take part in such shenanigan, and the people who would are not here.

All in all it was an evening I really enjoyed. Finally, live music in Doha! Didn’t I mention something about wanting to watch live music in my last post? Damn, should have wished for something else…