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	Newspaper Reviews Click below for details on the performers Shawn Lane Memorial Concert with Jonas Hellborg & V Selvaganesh (Sweden, India) Rena Rama / Oriental Wind (Sweden, Turkey) Karin Krog & Her Trio (Norway) Thomas Wallisch, Oli Bott Duo (Germany) Tanmoy Bose & Taal Tantra (India, Germany) Dutch Jazz Quartet (Netherlands, Spain) Emtrio (Italy) Bangla (Bangladesh) Positive media coverage The Festival was covered by both local and national TV channels, including NDTV, and extensively by the local press. Some excerpts illustrate their tone and tenor : "… The effort of Congo Square is complemented by the support it received from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The musicians are sponsored by the Cultural Relations Institutes - The Swedish Institute, the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, Max Mueller Bhavan - of the various countries these musicians hail from, making it possible at a comparably low price of Rs. 40 per day…" The Statesman - 24 January 2004 "… It was a crash course in musical education that only music lovers could have organized. Congo Square has everything planned for this mammoth exercise…" Hindustan Times - 28 January 2004 "… If the number people who sat through, stood in awe or simply swayed to the tantalizing music of Jazz artists Palle Danielsson, Okay Temiz and others on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, was an indication, then Congo Square has achieved nothing short of a mini miracle..." Times of India - 25 January 2004 "... Hats off to Congo Square for achieving the impossible. Anybody, and there were many, who was at Dalhousie Institute in the last four days of the International Music Festival, Jazz Blues and Beyond, would tell you what they have been able to rustle up. To get together the biggest names in the world of music from more than eight countries across the globe is no easy task…" Times of India - 26 January 2004 Sponsorships Despite the short time available for organising the festival, Congo Square is grateful for the support of a number of sponsors, corporate and institutional, for their generosity and courage in supporting an event that was, for 2004, an untested ground-breaker: Major Corporate Sponsors · Vision Comptech Ltd., a fast growing Kolkata-based IT company, was the Primary Sponsor for the festival. · Dalhousie Institute provided the festival venue. · Sonodyne International provided the festival sound system. Hospitality Sponsors · The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) provided hospitality and sponsored local transportation for all the visiting musicians. Outdoor Media Partner · SelvelVantage Radio Channel Partner · 93.5 RED FM Other Corporate Sponsors · ABS Infolink Inc. · Aeicorp · Regal Services · DaimlerChrysler · C3 The Marketplace Cultural Sponsors · Government of Norway · Italian Cultural Institute, Delhi · Max Mueller Bhavan · The Swedish Institute · Calcutta School of Music	Jazz Blues & Beyond 2004 (International Festival of World Music) 22-25 January 2004, Dalhousie Institute Rena Rama Quartet & Oriental Wind on 24 Jan 2004 Festival Pictures (click on thumbnails to view larger picture) Congo Square thanks all for making this festival a resounding success. Jazz Blues & Beyond 2004 was held over four days in January 2004 at Calcutta. The event marked the return to Calcutta of an annual international festival of "world music" - the closest thing to a shorthand description of jazz as it now exists worldwide. Hosted by Dalhousie Institute and organised by Congo Square, the festival featured outstanding musicianship in contemporary jazz and fusion music : some veterans, some up-and-coming - each of them exciting, drawing daily audiences of about 1500. Going by the nationality of individual performers rather than groups, the festival featured musicians from Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Bangladesh and India. The Programme 22 January : · Taal Tantra with Tanmoy Bose (India/Germany) · Bangla (Bangladesh) 23 January : · Dutch Jazz Quartet (Netherlands/Spain) · Shawn Lane Memorial Concert with Jonas Hellborg & V. Selvaganesh (Sweden/India) 24 January : · Oli Bott & Thomas Wallisch Duo (Germany) · Rena Rama / Oriental Wind (Sweden/Turkey) 25 January : · Emtrio (Italy) · Karin Krog & her Trio (Norway) Focus on audience-building That tickets were held down to a uniform price of Rs.40 was a factor in attracting large numbers of Calcutta's music-lovers to this inaugural annual festival; especially the youth, for many of whom the festival opened new avenues of musical appreciation. The indoor-outdoor ambience of Dalhousie Institute, informal but organised, ideally complemented the music: hospitality that moved the attending glitterati and youth to spend as much as some Rs.150,000 on food and beverages. Despite the short time in which the whole event was mounted, the festival went without a hitch. Quality sound was provided by Sonodyne International with equipment manufactured with their partners, Australian Monitor. Between jazz-friendly ambience, quality music and quality sound, the festival was an inspiring success that confirmed the feasibility of annual repeats, not least on account of the mutual enthusiasm and empathy generated between performers and audience.
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