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‘Building on the Power of the
Past:’ a political analysis of North
Sea Jazz
Bethanie Georgia Aggett
University of Amsterdam, Musicology Department
Student ID: 11102969
Date of Submission: Wednesday the 24
thof August 2016
Supervision: Prof. Dr. Walter van de Leur;
Contents
Illustrations
4
Introduction
Chapter 1:
‘We stay close to black music’: Constructing the heritage of North Sea Jazz
15
Chapter 2:
Performing Coloniality and Identity at the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival
43
Chapter 3:
‘Untouched Paradise’: producing authentic (festival) spaces
64
Conclusion
90
Bibliography
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Walter van de Leur and the rest of the CHIME team for
providing inspiration, guidance, and opportunity in this process, and of course the
UvA Musicology Department for giving me an excellent theoretical foundation for
my studies.
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Illustrations, figures
Cover image: http://www.curacaonorthseajazz.com/nl/gallery/slideshow-2015/ [26/08/2016] Figure 1:
http://www.delcampe.net/page/item/id,272411007,var,CURAÇAO-Netherlands-West-Indies-WILLEMSTAD-Queen-Emma-Pontoon-Bridge-c-1930-old-cars-and-street- [10/06/2016]
Figure 2: Source:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-81919072/stock-photo-yellow-building-in-the-old-town-in-willemstad-Curaçao.html [10/06/2016]
Figure 3: Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKgCN9UR3Ls [26/05/2016]
Figure 4: Source: http://www.northseajazz.com/en/program/2016/saturday-9-july/timetable/
[02/06/16]
Figure 5: Source: http://www.northseajazz.com/en/gallery/artiesten-feliciteren-north-sea-jazz/
[17/08/2016]
Figure 6: Source: http://www.northseajazz.com/en/gallery/artiesten-feliciteren-north-sea-jazz/
[17/08/2016]
Figure 7: Reviews below are a small selection from 2014, 2015 and 2016, and there are over 2000
reviews written, and all come https://www.facebook.com/northseajazz/reviews/from [18/08/2016]
Figure 8: Source: http://www.northseajazz.com/en/gallery/artiesten-feliciteren-north-sea-jazz/
[17/08/2016] Figure 9: http://www.examiner.com/article/north-sea-jazz-festival-displays-blackface-minstrel-show-of-al-jolson-1 [09/04/2016] Figure 10: https://twitter.com/JuL1ta[09/04/2016] Figure 11: https://twitter.com/JuL1ta [09/04/2016] Figure 12: http://www.apassion4jazz.net/NSJF.html [14/07/2016] Figure 13: https://www.facebook.com/northseajazz/ [18/08/2016] Figure 14: http://www.curacaonorthseajazz.com/nl/algemene-info/curacao/ [17/08/2016] Figure 15: http://curacaochronicle.com/social/commemoration-slave-revolt-and-the-leader-tula/ [18/08/2016] Figure 16: http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/23334514/__Ook_Curacao_klaar_voor_Sint_en_Piet__.html [27/08/2016] Figure 17: http://stopblackface.com/politie-wilt-vreedzaam-protest-tegen-sinterklaasintocht-en-zwarte-piet-verbieden-zwartepietismentalslavery/ [27/08/2016] Figure 18: [http://www.Curaçaonorthseajazz.com/nl/programma/2010/vrijdag-3-september/timetable/ 18/08/2016] Figure 19: http://www.Curaçaonorthseajazz.com/nl/programma/2013/vrijdag-3-september/timetable/ [18/08/2016]
Figure 20: http://www.Curaçaonorthseajazz.com/en/gallery/a-tidal-wave-with-music/ 18/08/2016] Figure 21: http://www.Curaçaonorthseajazz.com/nl/programma/2010/vrijdag-3-september/timetable/; http://www.Curaçaonorthseajazz.com/nl/programma/2016/vrijdag-3-september/timetable/ [27/08/2016] Figure 22: https://triunfodisablika.wordpress.com/tag/Curaçao-north-sea-jazz- [27/08/2016] Figure 23: https://triunfodisablika.wordpress.com/tag/curacao-north-sea-jazz-festival/ [27/08/2016] Figure 24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU94TVPVSzk [02/08/2016] Figure 25: http://one2entertainment.com/worlds-best-jazz-festival-makes-asian-debut-hong-kong/ [18/08/2016] Figure 26: http://www.northseajazz.com/en/news/north-sea-jazz-naar-hong-kong/ [04/06/2016] Figure 27: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVyonkPBMcg [05/06/2016] Figure 28: http://www.curacaonorthseajazz.com/nl/algemene-info/curacao/ [17/08/2016] Figure 29: Croes, Robertico, Manuel Rivera and Kelly Semrad (2015b). ‘Curacao North Sea Jazz &
Destination Convergence: A Harbinger Beckoning?’ Florida: Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications
Figure 30: http://www.fundashonbonintenshon.org [26/08/2016] Figure 31: http://www.fundashonbonintenshon.org/projects/Curaçao-blueseas-festival [18/08/2016] Figure 32: https://www.facebook.com/PundaJazzFest [18/08/2016] Figure 33: 34, 35, 36, 37, 38: http://www.pennymead.com/results.php?ct=5&sub=2&m=s [18/08/2016]
Introduction
‘What does it mean that this has taken place here, at this time, at this place, with these people?’ - Christopher Small, 19981
Aims
The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the mechanisms or relations of power that are
constructed and maintained by the North Sea Jazz brand and the production of its two festivals: North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam (NSJFR), the Netherlands, and North Sea Jazz Festival in Curaçao (CNSJF) the Caribbean. I will do this by analysing the festivals via three closely related parameters/themes: (i) heritage, (ii) identity and (iii) spatiality, in order to situate the events and the North Sea Jazz brand in their wider social, cultural and political context. My main interest here comes from the fact that the well-known North Sea Jazz organisation (NSJ) has successfully transported their brand 8000 km across the Atlantic, producing a ‘sister’ event in a former colony. I argue that the interrelated concepts of heritage, identity, and spatiality - and the constructions of authenticity that underpin them – will be reflected in both synergetic and conflicting ways through the production of the festival event.
I intend to explore four main questions:
1. Heritage: how does the festival engage with notions of cultural heritage?
2. Identity: what effects does the festival have on the performance of personal, collective and national identity?
3. Spatiality: how does the festival engage in specific constructions of space and place, and for what purposes?
4. How do the issues raised from these questions reflect relations of power?
In analysing the festival in this way, I hope to illuminate the (unequal) power relations and structures that exist between the actors involved in the production of the festival which, as I will argue, in fact relies on such structures; thus they are constructed and maintained before, during and after the festival event through marketing, promotion, practical organisation, and discourse. There are two important subthemes that will serve as a cohesive thread throughout the essay. The first is the much-debated notion of authenticity- perhaps unavoidable in the discussion of a music or ‘cultural’ festival such as the CNSJF - especially a ‘jazz’ festival. I intend to show that
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1 Small, (1998): 194.
just as the issues presented through discussion of heritage, identity, and spatiality reflect
mechanisms of power, they also rely on perceptions of what is and is not ‘authentic.’ The second concept is what I have termed globalism. I use this term in this context to refer to what is
considered ‘global’ in relation to (inevitably) what is considered ‘local’ at the festival. I posit that the production of this global-local dichotomy during the event is not only a factor in the construction of authenticity but is also a performative mechanism of power which serves to reinforce certain (colonial) relationships that are central to the continued success of the North Sea Jazz organisation and events. I focus on these ideas in order to argue that the production of the festival relies on the ‘local’ construction of Curaçao in relation to the ‘global’ identity of North Sea Jazz organisation. I will argue that these are spaces constructed in order to authenticate the festival experience; it is therefore that in this particular festival context,
constructions of authenticity surround the brand of the festival, rather than artists programmed or the festivals’ relation to space.
Methodology
I am primarily interested in how the North Sea Jazz organisation presents itself to the public, its consumers. In advertising its events, the organisation must construct the festival experience in a certain way, in order to attract their desired audiences. Engagement with ideas about ‘authentic’ cultural heritage and space are crucial here; why should I buy a ticket to a jazz festival in Rotterdam or Curaçao, for example? What will this festival offer me that others won’t? Thus I will be looking critically at the way in which I, as a potential consumer, can learn about the festival experience from a far, i.e. online, and what kind of wider political implications this has. In terms of identity, I will be focusing specifically on the Curaçao festival, and how the island’s socio-political history and the resulting identity politics are reflected through the production and presence of the festival.
The North Sea Jazz Festivals: NSJF Rotterdam
The North Sea Jazz Festival (NSJF) has been held annually in the Netherlands for over forty years. The festival was the initiative of the late Paul Acket (1922-1992), a Dutch entrepreneur and promoter who staged the first ever NSJF in 1976 in Den Haag, a city in West Holland. Taking place in the city’s large Congresgebouw (congress building), the festival featured three hundred artists programmed across six stages and over three days, with approximately 5000 visitors. Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan appeared on the line-up, along with many prominent Dutch avant-garde artists2. The festival continued to grow over the years, receiving high praise from important commentators: in 1981 the British magazine Melody Maker
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claimed it was ‘the most incredible festival anywhere on earth3’ and in 1990 and 1992 it was named the ‘The World’s Best Jazz Festival’ by the Jazz Times4. In 1992, Paul Acket – aged 70 – passed way, leaving the running of the festival to his daughter, Madelon Acket. Two years later in 1994, the Acket family business was taken over by Mojo Concerts (Mojo), a Dutch live music production company (est. 1968) that was, at the time, the main promoter for international rock and pop artists in the Netherlands.5 Mojo – which owns the North Sea Jazz brand and runs the venue with the same name in Amsterdam, was in 2006 taken over by the US conglomerate of Live Nation Entertainment, who state on their homepage that they are the ‘the global leader in live entertainment.6’ With the capacity of the NSJF’s location in Den Haag reaching its
maximum, in 2006 the organisers moved the festival 13 miles south west to the Ahoy convention centre in the city of Rotterdam. Though ‘lifelong fans’ were said to be ‘dismayed’ at first7, the NSJF continued to be a success and has taken place there ever since; now attracting
approximately 70,000 visitors over three days, with 150 performances on 13 different stages. It is frequently cited as ‘the world’s largest indoor festival8’ and The European Jazz Network
describes it as a ‘landmark in the European festival calendar.9’ Bass guitarist Stanley Clark expressed in 2014 that ‘it’s a zoo. It’s the greatest hang on the festival circuit.10’
NSJF South Africa
In 2000, through a partnership between Mojo and the South African production company espAFRIKA, the North Sea Jazz Festival was held in Cape Town. This was not the idea of the North Sea organisation, but Rashid Lombard, a well-known South African music journalist and photographer and CEO of espAFRIKA11. After four successful years of the festival (which attracted over 14,000 visitors annually) under the name of the North Sea Jazz Festival Cape Town, in 2005 espAFRIKA staged the festival under the new title of The Cape Town
International Jazz Festival. This caused a serious dispute between Mojo and espAFRIKA, and the former finally filed for liquidation of the festival’s assets, claiming that it had loaned the latter millions to finance its share of the running of the festival and the money had not been repaid.12 Though reports on this differ, many commentators express that the North Sea organisation did not want espAFRIKA to use a different name whilst the company still owed money to North Sea – in effect, the latter company still owned the festival. The festival in South Africa remains one of
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3 Bares (2015): 346.
4 http://www.apassion4jazz.net/nsjf.html [23/05/16].
5 Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, The Rolling Stones and Whitney Houston were among the many artists doing concerts produced by Mojo in 1994. Mojo organises over 200 events each year, with approximately 1 million attendees.
6 http://www.livenationentertainment.com/ [16/05/2016]. 7 http://www.allaboutjazz.com/north-sea-jazz-festival-2015-the-roller-coaster-has-taken-off-by-joan-gannij.php [23/05/16]. 8 http://www.londonjazznews.com/2015/03/preview-fact-check-40th-north-sea-jazz.html [23/05/16]. 9 http://www.europejazz.net/articles/north-sea-jazz-festival-10-11-12-july-2015#sthash.aXPQ2SMT.dpuf [23/05/16]. 10 http://www.wsj.com/video/are-early-mornings-the-secret-to-success/E21D8829-A2EF-42B7-B898-7FC289383406.html?mod=trending_now_video_1 [28/03/15]. 11 http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-04-03-maverick-interview-rashid-lombard/ [04/07/2016]. 12 http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/jazz-festival-in-jeopardy-238958 [28/03/15].
the largest in the world (attracting 34,000 visitors) though it is no longer affiliated with the North Sea Jazz organisation.
NSJF Curaçao
The Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival (CNSJF) was first held in September 2010 on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, at the World Trade Centre in the nation’s capital, Willemstad (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). It was a two-day event featuring - among others - Lionel Richie, John Legend, George Benson and Simply Red on three different stages, both indoor and
outdoor. 10,000 people attended, over 2000 of which were international tourists (37 per cent13)- the majority coming from the Netherlands, USA and Suriname. The average age of attendees was 45 years old, approximately 70 per cent earned over $50,000 a year and over 80 per cent had an undergraduate degree14. The festival was hailed as a success both from an economic perspective and from critics, its ‘diversity of musical genres unmatched15’ by previous festivals on the island and in the region.
Mojo had had the idea of bringing North Sea Jazz to Curaçao long before it materialised; negotiations with the Curaçao Tourism Board to produce the festival there began in 1999, however things moved ‘too slowly16’ and the project was abandoned. It was almost a decade later when Gregory Elias, ‘entrepreneur, business management expert and philanthropist’ (and recently named ‘richest man on Curaçao’ by the local paper17) approached Mojo with the intention of producing the event in collaboration18. Elias is founder of Fundashon Bon Intenshon (FBI), a charity organisation based in Curaçao who state that is ‘committed to social betterment on Curaçao through (inter)national music, sports, and arts projects with a focus on youth development19.’ The CNSJF is one of many events that FBI has produced in connection with the Netherlands, which often promote the island’s cultural heritage. In May 2016, for example, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw hosted a concert entitled ‘Classical and Popular Compositions from Curaçao20’ which honoured Curaçaoan composers (past and present).
NSJF Hong Kong
In 2014 - one would assume due to the success of the festival in Curaçao - plans were made to hold the festival in Hong Kong, through a collaboration between Mojo and a Dutch-owned,
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13 Croes et al (2010): 7. 14 Croes et al (2010): 7. 15 Croes et al (2010): 7. 16 Williams (2014): 24. 17 http://www.quotenet.nl/Nieuws/Koning-van-Curacao-Gregory-Elias-betaalde-5-miljoen-voor-Stones-op-Cuba-175892 [28/03/15].18 Elias has been in the mainstream new recently due to his payment of 7 million to the Rolling Stones in order for them to play in Cuba. The event was reported by news outlets around the world.
19 http://www.fundashonbonintenshon.org/ [28/03/15].
Hong-Kong-based company, One2Entertainment. However, due to poor ticket sales, and the fact that not enough artists confirmed they could perform, the Hong Kong edition of North Sea was cancelled at short notice21. Though in a press release NSJ stated they would ‘explore
possibilities for a 2015 edition,’ no further information has been published.
‘Tremendous growth potential’22: The CNSJF as (music) tourism
It is important to acknowledge the intentions behind the production of the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival; which was to boost the ‘stagnating23’ tourism industry on the island. Fundashon Bon Intenshon have stated that they have a ‘mission’ to put Curaçao tourism at the ‘forefront of the international arena,24’ and alongside producing the CNSJF, they have also launched the annual Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam (2011-2016). These events have the specific objectives of attracting tourists to Curaçao and represent FBI’s most high profile attempts in realising this ‘mission.’ Percy Pinedo, the current director of Curaçao International Career Services and ‘right hand man25’ to Elias stated that the aim of the festival was to ‘put Curaçao on the map as a holiday entertainment destination in the Caribbean:’
Elias has commissioned research of the festival each year since it began, assessing its economic contribution to island and the demographics and experience of attendees. He chose to use researchers from the USA rather than Curaçao: the research was carried out by the Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies (DPITS) of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida26. Data collection for the reports at all years of the festival involved asking attendees to complete a short survey about their demographics and feelings towards the event. This was conducted at different positions on the festival’s site and on both days of the event. Six reports have thus been produced so far (2010-2015), which highlight the successes and failings of each festival, and offer recommendations to the organisers for subsequent years. The reports constitute an important source of research for this essay, not simply for their wealth of primary data, but because they highlight the specific (and stringent) economic focus of the festival and its surrounding network, which is geared dutifully to the international tourist, thus reflecting a very specific type of relationship. Despite their confusing use of language,
contradictions and poor analysis, they are highly useful. They illuminate some interesting synergies and tensions between the people, the festival and its location, and the many problematic issues that come with the tourism industry.
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21 http://www.northseajazz.com/en/news/north-sea-jazz-hong-kong-2014/#.V3qPWhIrLMU [4/7/16]. 22 Croes et al (2010): 1. 23 Croes et al (2010): 2. 24 Croes et al (2013): 6. 25 Williams (2014): 24. 26 Croes et al (2013): 1.Tourism as a subtheme to this thesis is all the more important due to the fact that tourism relies on reductionist constructions of heritage, identity, authenticity and place. Thus I will be
considering this festival a fundamental part of the Curaçao tourism industry (the 2015 event attracted an audience of 12,000, over 7000 of which were international tourists27), and will argue that it is mediated as such. Furthermore, as the Caribbean is one of the most, if not the most tourism-dependent region in the world,28 it is beneficial to try and situate the festival in its wider international context and see how the event figures within the discourse and politics of ‘global cultural tourism29’ !
‘A rare accomplishment in the global music festival landscape’30
Some important data published by the 2015 DPITS report is worth mentioning in order to give an outline of the festival’s impact so far. The 2015 edition of the CNSJF contributed a ‘direct impact’ of $8.7 million and an ‘indirect impact’ of $7.2 million, creating a total economic impact of $15.9 million. The total, accumulative, contribution to the Curaçao economy since the festival began is estimated at over $80 million31. According to the DPITS researchers, the CNSJF ‘has clearly become a significant powerhouse for the local economy32.’ The festival creates jobs in the service and hospitality industry due to the sharp increase in visitors; in 2011 it was reported that every hotel in the capital of Willemstad was full during the festival, and for every 22 festival attendees, a job was created in the local economy.33 Approximately 12,000 people attended the festival, 7,216 of which were international tourists, whose daily average expenditure was over three times higher than the ‘typical’ tourists visiting Curaçao.34 Of the former, 56 per cent earned over $50,000 a year and 80.5 per cent had at least an undergraduate degree, and the average age was 50 years old- described by the reports as the ‘prime income-earning age.’ These figures are significantly higher compared to data collected from residents and the ‘average tourist’ visiting Curaçao, suggesting an older, educated, and wealthy audience. This demographic has changed very little since the festival began. Tickets for this year’s festival (2-3 September) cost $195 per day; however there is an entirely free concert that is open to the public on the Thursday before the festival (a tradition that began in 2014 and has continued in subsequent years).
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27 Croes et al (2015): 1. 28 http://www.greenhotelier.org/destinations/the-caribbean/ [05/07/2016]. 29 Meethan (2001): 10. 30 Croes et al (2013): 4. 31 Croes et al (2015): 1. 32 Croes et al (2011): 13. 33 Croes et al (2011): 13. 34 Croes et al (2015): 1.A Short History of Curaçao!
Understanding the history of imperialism and colonisation concerning the Netherlands and Curaçao will be crucial later on, thus a brief history is necessary here. The Dutch Caribbean comprises of six islands: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The first three - known as the ‘ABC islands’ in many tourist brochures - lie just north of the Venezuelan coast, the latter three - the ‘SSS’ islands - about 800 km away, close to the British Virgin Isles. The islands, along with the European ‘motherland’ comprise the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curaçao is the largest of the Dutch Caribbean islands and home to 158,986 people (January 201635) of over 60 nationalities36. Curaçao played a crucial role in European imperialism and the transatlantic slave trade; ‘discovered’ by the Spanish in 1527, but largely ignored until the Dutch West India Company (WIC37) claimed possession of it in 1634. The native population were soon replaced by African slaves, forcibly removed from their home countries (in this case mostly Ghana and Angola) and brought by boat, in horrendous conditions, to Curaçao in 164138. Due to the island’s terrain, which was not suitable for the establishment of cash-crop plantations, and paired with its central strategic location with a natural and free harbour,the WIC developed Curaçao into the main slave ‘depot’ in the region.39 By the 1650s it had become a busy (and extremely wealthy) trading hub, supplying human labour and other cargo to the rest of the Caribbean40. It is estimated that throughout the transatlantic slave trade some 500,000 to a million Africans passed through Curaçao41, with around 2,300 remaining on the island42 to perform any manual labour that was required in the construction of the island’s capital city of Willemstad, the architecture of which remains an important tourist attraction.
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35 http://www.cbs.cw/ [10/06/2016]. 36 UNICEF, 2013.37 The Dutch West India Company was chartered in 1621, and provided with a monopoly on the African slave trade that lasted until 1730.
38 Blakeley (1998): 475.
39 Blakeley (1998): 475. One lucrative harvesting on the island was that of salt, in high demand for its use in preserving herring. 40 Blakeley (1998): 475.
41 De Jong (2010): 202. 42 De Jong (2010): 202.
Figure 2: Willemstad today! !
Figure 1: Postcard from Willemstad, 1905, showing colonial architecture!
This was a time of rapid expansion and growth of the Dutch Empire (which included parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, and South Africa), in which the Dutch were considered an economic superpower – ‘the pinnacle of European commercial success43’ - dominating trade in Europe and elsewhere. As Salius (2016) explains: ‘despite their small size and relative lack of natural
resources, the fledging Dutch Republic [of the seventeenth century] was so economically powerful and politically relevant that the time period is often referred to a the Dutch Golden Age44.’ By the 1670s, there was a small population of approximately 600 colonists and 2000 slaves45 residing on Curaçao, as well as a prominent community of Sephardic Jews46 who had migrated from the Netherlands47 in the 1650s with many becoming successful merchants in Willemstad48. The Jewish Mikvé Israel synagogue that was established by the community in 1651 is the oldest in the western hemisphere and today houses the Jewish Historical Cultural Museum and regularly hosts weddings and batmitzvah celebrations which are, interestingly, extremely popular with North American and Canadian visitors49.
Though no cash crops were farmed for export on Curaçao, there were many plantations; used for cattle breeding or for crops which fed the local population, or salt. As Klooster (1994) notes, while the type and significance of slavery ‘may have been atypical by regional standards’ [i.e. a small slave population serving only local labour needs] the treatment of slaves was as abhorrent as it was in most colonies, and furthermore, ‘resistance was as engrained in Curaçaoan slavery as it was elsewhere50.’ In the historic slave revolt of 1795, a slave named Tula marched from Kenepa plantation in the north west of Curaçao to the capital of Willemstad, with over 2000 (out of a slave population of 1200051) joining him along the way. They were violently restrained by the Dutch military. Tula and his followers were brutally murdered and their bodies put on display ‘to show the consequences of their defiance52.’ Wiel (2007) notes that since it was entirely legal to treat slaves in this way, these deaths - and many other heinous acts performed by the military - are documented in great detail.53 The Dutch involvement in the slave trade, similarly to other European powers, continued until the late nineteenth century; on the 1st of July 1863, 67 people enslaved by the government and 6,958 privately owned slaves gained their freedom54.
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43 https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-dutch-economy-in-the-golden-age-16th-17th-centuries/ [10/06/2016].
44 http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-rise-of-the-dutch-republic-their-golden-age.html#transcriptHeader [10/06/2016]. 45 Blakeley (1998): 475.
46 Sephardic Jews is the term for Jewish people who came from the Iberian Peninsular.
47 Amsterdam had become home to many Portuguese Jews following the Spanish inquisition http://www.snoa.com/snoa.html [10/06/2016].
48About 12 families came over in 1951. http://www.snoa.com/snoa.html [10/06/2016].
49 http://www.jewishjournal.com/bar_and_bat_mitzvahs/article/Curaçao_shul_offers_venue_with_caribbean_flavor_20080314 [10/06/2016]. 50 Klooster (1994): 283. 51 Klooster (1994): 152. 52 Wiel (2007): 4. 53 Wiel, (2007): 4. 54 Allen (2014): 319.
A world-renowned brand, the North Sea Jazz Festival of the Netherlands55
We will return to this history later; for now we will focus on the North Sea Jazz organisation (NSJ) and how it deals with notions of cultural heritage. At present, the NSJ brand consists of three parts: the North Sea Jazz Club in Amsterdam, hosting year round live music events, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam (NSJF), held annually in July, and the ‘sister’ festival in Curaçao (CNSJF); all of which are facilitated by the funding and infrastructure provided by Mojo Concerts and Live Nation (thus ultimately they are American-owned). As these events are termed ‘jazz’ festivals, it is important to discover exactly how the events fit within jazz histiography, discourse and practice. I will therefore begin the essay by outlining some of the important issues that surround the ‘genre’ today.
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55 Croes et al (2010): 5.Chapter 1
‘We stay close to black music’: Jazz,
Festivals, and Cultural heritage
‘Although jazz likes a sheen of modernism, it seeks regularly to rebirth the cool or claim futurity, in fact its selling point today may primarily be its heritage.’ - George McKay (2016)
Introduction
The concept of ‘cultural heritage’ has long been a subject of great interest and importance to charity organisations, governments and scholars in many regions of the world. The designation of UNESCO World Heritage sites (Willemstad, Curaçao is one of them) and their subsequent advertisement in tourism brochures and guidebooks serves to configure heritage as an issue of ‘global’ popular concern. It can also be seen as a somewhat Eurocentric phenomenon;
constructed in order to preserve the historical ‘greatness’ of the Old World through its architecture, stories and traditions that were developed through imperialism. The ability to provide funding for the preservation of cultural heritage is certainly a privilege of wealthy nations, and as Greer (2010) contends, certain forms of honouring the past can provide ‘legitimacy for social elites.56’ Funding for heritage preservation is an important concern of international organisations such as the European Union; in May this year (2016) the EU held their annual ‘Prize for Cultural Heritage Ceremony’ in Madrid, celebrating ‘the best achievements in the care of Europe’s precious cultural heritage.’ 28 winners from 16 countries were awarded certificates, and seven of these a special price of €10,00057. For the EU, cultural heritage ‘enriches the individual lives of citizens, is a driving force for the cultural and creative sectors, and plays a role in creating and enhancing Europe’s social capital58.’ A research project launched in 2008 by the European Commission titled ‘Cultural Heritage: A Challenge for Europe’ states on its home page, that:
Europe’s cultural heritage is exposed to many threats such as climate change and pollution, increasing urbanization, mass tourism, human negligence, vandalism and even terrorism. Protection of cultural heritage in the face of global change is thus becoming a major concern for decision-makers, stakeholders and citizens in Europe. Research into strategies, methodologies and tools is needed to safeguard cultural heritage against continuous decay.
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56 Greer (2010): 68.57 https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/events/20160524-cultural-heritage-prize-ceremony_en [09/07/2016]. 58 http://ec.europa.eu/culture/policy/culture-policies/cultural-heritage_en.htm [09/07/2016].
Aside from being under threat of loss and destruction, European cultural heritage is also of ‘exceptional economic importance59’ for the tourism industry, generating an estimated €335 billion annually. Such is the concern of another EU funded project, ‘Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe,’ which ‘aims to raise greater awareness on the social, economic, cultural as well as environmental impact of cultural heritage and the multiple benefits of investing in it60.’
But how should we define cultural heritage? Tony Whyton (2016) describes it as ‘a contested subject, bound up with concepts of memory, belonging, cultural value and the politics of power, history and ownership.61’ Indeed it is highly complex, with numerous definitions and distinctions. UNESCO lists on its website 1031 heritage sites around the world62, designated as either ‘natural,’ ‘cultural’ or ‘mixed,’ ranging from mountains, to jungles, to islands, to cathedrals. The organisation furthermore distinguishes between ‘tangible’ heritage - objects such as
sculptures, monuments, and historical cities - and ‘intangible’ heritage, referring to oral traditions and cultural rituals63. This separation, however, although useful for the kind of funding
operations managed by large organisations such as UNESCO, has been questioned by scholars in recent years. Heritage is beginning to be seen not as an object or idea that represents or reflects the past, but rather a process – the ‘communication of meaning in the present64’ (Smith, 2006). Notions of cultural heritage are therefore socially constructed; we assign meaning and importance – often sacred, nostalgic, emotive - to objects, places, and behaviour, which are passed on through generations. All heritage is thus, as Whyton suggests, ‘intangible by
definition65.’ This interpretation is useful when thinking about the ways in which music festivals negotiate ideas about heritage; not only because music is somewhat overtly intangible, but also because festivals, in their presentation of music around a particular theme or genre – whether it be folk, pop, jazz, or rock - rely on the socially constructed histories and traditions that uphold those genres. Engagement with some form of heritage at music festivals is thus inevitable. Festivals are, furthermore, single events in a specifically defined space, in which ‘culture’ is effectively ‘sold’ to an audience. The ability to view heritage as a ‘communicative act that
encourages people to make meaning for the present day66,’ is thus somewhat intensified. Studying festivals may therefore allow us to more clearly acknowledge the ways in which ideas from the past are renegotiated in the present, and crucially, for what (commercial) purposes. This chapter will attempt to do this with regard to the North Sea Jazz organisation and its events. I hope to show the ways in which the organisation negotiates complex ideas about cultural heritage – of the
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59 https://epthinktank.eu/2014/12/16/cultural-heritage-policy-in-the-european-union/ [09/07/2016]. 60 https://epthinktank.eu/2014/12/16/cultural-heritage-policy-in-the-european-union/ [09/07/2016]. 61 Whyton (2016). 62 http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/ [09/07/2016]. 63 http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/illicit-trafficking-of-cultural-property/unesco-database-of-national-cultural-heritage-laws/frequently-asked-questions/definition-of-the-cultural-heritage/ [09/07/2016]. 64 Smith (2006): 1-2. 65 Whyton (2016). 66 Whyton (2016).jazz tradition, of the Netherlands, and of Curaçao - both consciously and incidentally. In doing this I want to shed light on how jazz is perceived, mediated and utilised in todays ‘globalised’ world. I will also show how the production of heritage occurs through discourse, as a continuous process, and how it is an inherently political act.
Jazz as heritage
Dancer (2009) states that jazz music is ‘synonymous with heritage.’67 Indeed, although the umbrella term that is ‘jazz’ is known and means differently to different people,68 in the contemporary popular imagination the music (or perhaps just the word) is often perceived as some kind of ‘vintage’ artefact, equated with a nostalgic yearning for a richer and more
‘authentic’ time, free of our technology-ridden lives. The jazz past is often sensationalised in the mainstream; the recent Hollywood film Miles Ahead (2015) is a recent example, in which jazz’s leading hero/villain takes the tropes of black masculinity, sex and violence to the extreme. Even in the more sophisticated and ‘alternative’ contexts, some kind of honouring of the history of jazz – and its iconic ‘masters’ – is likely; at the Bimhuis69, Amsterdam for example, large black and white photographs of Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane line the walls of the dimly lit bar, immediately placing the contemporary music that is played there in relation to its ‘roots.’ This heritage focus is due, in part, to the construction of jazz - over almost a century of discourse – as ‘America’s Classical Music70:’ a historical tradition with clearly defined stylistic periods that follow a neat evolutionary path with, as Scott DeVeaux (1991) writes, ‘substantive agreement on the defining features of each style, the pantheon of great innovators, and the canon of recorded masterpieces71.’ The treatment of jazz as living history is – in my view – also due to the music’s violent past; the connection with the African slave trade remains paramount in any history of jazz, with the folk music made by slaves in eighteenth and
nineteenth century North America representing its roots. And as many scholars have argued (see DeVeaux 1991, Monson 2003, Hersch 2007) this music was not produced in spite of the
abhorrent treatment of blacks in America during the 19th and 20th centuries, with its artistry overcoming the obstacle of racism; rather it was the direct result of complex race and class relations, and the long fight for freedom and equality in the United States. A sobering political and racialised history is thus embedded in jazz, urging players, listeners, and commentators to appreciate both the struggle of the early makers of this music and the progress of the American society from violent and barbaric to (supposedly) civilised.
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67 Dancer (2009): i.68 Prouty (2011).
69 The Bimhuis is a live improvised music venue. 70 Taylor (1986): 21.
Yet, at the same time being inseparable from the social context out of which it grew, jazz is, paradoxically, also often treated as an autonomous, transcendent art form with a language - based on improvisation – that can be studied and mastered by anyone, anywhere. The music has certainly covered a remarkable distance since its ‘birth’ in New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century; ‘official’ histories often suggest that the music then drifted up the Mississippi river from Louisiana to Chicago before making New York its new home in the 1930s. In the twenty-first century, as argued by Stuart Nicolson (2005), jazz then relocated to Europe,
deserting the USA and setting up shop in the apparently more progressive, innovative European scene. While such narratives are somewhat grossly oversimplified, they nonetheless indicate that jazz music has travelled; its ‘ability to cross borders’ contributing to, as George E Lewis writes, the perception of jazz ‘an international symbol of freedom and mobility72.’ Jazz can be found all over the world; with ‘African American musical subjectivities and cultural topics [being]
articulated far beyond America’s shores73’ and, as we shall see, the CNSJF represents an important example of this.
Jazz and ‘globalisation’
In the hope of releasing jazz from the ‘stronghold’ of American historical narratives, Taylor Atkins (2003) argued that ‘practically from its inception, jazz was a harbinger of what we now call “globalisation.” In no one’s mind have the music’s ties to its country of origin been severed, yet the historical record proves that it has for some time had global significance74.’ However, as Prouty (2011) remarks, trying to counter American ownership in jazz by celebrating its ‘truly global75’ character may be futile, for globalisation arguably ‘heralds not a challenge to American hegemony but an extension of it76.’ And, moreover, as George E. Lewis (2016) observes, ‘the debates surrounding the ontologies of jazz have often been cast in binary terms: black/white, popular/serious, art/entertainment, and now the final binary: United States/world.77’ This is certainly a contentious issue; are the jazz scenes that have grown up in cities in, say, India, Japan, Australia, and the Middle East a threat to USA cultural forms, or do they reflect the country’s powerful reach throughout the world? Such a polemical, politically charged view of the music may seem a little contrived; we have certainly come a long way from Fables of Faubus, NAACP benefit concerts and the anti-Soviet U.S. State Department Jazz Tours, when jazz was an almost aggressively political tool both in the USA an outside of it. As I will argue however, jazz remains highly politicised; though perhaps in far more subtle ways.
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72 Lewis (2016): x. 73 Lewis (2016): xxi. 74 Atkins: (2003): xiii. 75 Atkins (2003): xi. 76 Prouty (2011): 152. 77 Lewis (2016): iv.An indication of the ‘globalisation’ of jazz is its recognition as global heritage; in 2011 UNESCO designated April 30th as International Jazz Day, in order to highlight the music’s ‘diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe78.’ With Herbie Hancock as ‘Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue,’ the initiative hopes to:
Bring together communities, schools, artists, historians, academics, and jazz enthusiasts all over the world to celebrate and learn about jazz and its roots, future and impact; raise awareness of the need for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding; and reinforce international cooperation and communication. Each year on April 30, this international art form is recognized for promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and human dignity; eradicating discrimination; promoting freedom of expression; fostering gender equality; and reinforcing the role of youth in enacting social change79.
Indeed a kind of universalism is celebrated here that we see time and again in representations of the music. Wynton Marsalis, whilst well known for his American bias,80 stated at the Jazz Day celebrations in 2014 that ‘jazz in particular has the ability to make you a better citizen of the world. It helps you expand your worldview and gives you confidence in your cultural
achievements81.’ And just this year in 2016, the heritage of jazz was presented in full splendour during the Jazz Day celebrations on April 30th, which took place at the White House in Washington D.C. The concert featured Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Hugh Masekela, Christian McBride, Kurt Elling, Pat Metheney, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Jamie Cullum, Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, and Sting (among many others). The speech that Barack Obama made to introduce the evening is interesting, and an excerpt is given below. It shows just how relevant (and political) the heritage of jazz remains, and how it is perceived in the
mainstream today. Indeed all the usual jazz tropes are found here, with the universalism and global importance of the genre elevated most. !
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78 http://jazzday.com/about/ [26/05/2016]. 79 http://jazzday.com/about/ [26/05/2016]. 80 Bares (2015): 348.Is jazz ‘global’?
George E. Lewis (2016) argues that ‘myths about jazz as “America’s popular music” have been replaced by those celebrating jazz’s universality… its presence everywhere in the world82.’ Indeed the idea of jazz as a ‘global’ is no more ‘true’ than jazz belonging only to North America, and for some, the term global is endlessly problematic; a kind of buzzword used in mass media and politics that is overused to the point where it loses all meaning. Thomas Turino argues (2003) for example that the term can be used to ‘gloss over’ complex economic-power relations, and that this ‘globalist discourse’ is a tool for increased capitalist expansion and control throughout the world. He states that
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Global [is] commonly used to designate the spread of something to a number of non-contiguous
sites in different parts of the world, without indicating who and how many people are involved in these different places...the term sometimes simply implies “not local,” and this usage is both a product and illustration of the growing acceptance of a “local-global” dichotomy that enlists the terms as cultural categories83.!
As we will see, this vague and problematic ‘local-global dichotomy’ can be identified in the production of the North Sea Jazz festivals and is involved in complex relations of power. In dealing with these terms, then, I do not want to simply accept or discard this binary. Rather, I hope to acknowledge it critically; how are these ‘cultural categories’ constructed and maintained in relation to this festival? Perhaps I will be contributing to what Turino calls the ‘naturalising’ process of globalist discourse by using both global and local in this thesis. But I am interested in why we so easily use these terms, and I contend that my perceptions of what is global and local – as a musician, music fan and festivalgoer living in Western Europe– are just as important as my academically informed writing, and are likely to reflect the views of others living in the so-called ‘developed’ world. By using these based on my own perception, I hope to comment on the ‘imperialist process of capitalist globalisation84,’ which, as I will show, this festival actively engages with. Thus Turino’s reservation of the term global to describe only ‘phenomena that literally encompass the geography and populations of the globe85’ is unhelpful to me here. This would mean of course that jazz is not a global phenomenon; yet the idea of a ‘global presence’ of jazz is essential for the way in which it is utilised to in commercial spheres. Acknowledging how much the music has taken root around the world - acknowledging it, however mythical it may be, as ‘global’ - is crucial for the purpose of this essay, principally because it is often marketed as such. It therefore matters little whether jazz is literally everywhere; what matters is our belief that it might be, and how this affects jazz practice.
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82 Lewis (2016): xi.83 Turino (2003): 53. 84 Turino (2003): 51, 85 Turino (2003): 52.
‘Why jazz (and not, say, rock or folk) music for thinking about festivals and cultural heritage?86’
George Mckay (2016) asked the important question above in an article written for the on-going research project titled Cultural Heritage and Improvised Music in European Festivals (CHIME), which hopes to examine ‘how changing relationships between music, festivals and cultural heritage sites renegotiate established understandings and uses of heritage87.’ But of course all genres have a history and heritage of some sort; why focus on jazz? CHIME’s reasoning is the ‘unique and complex relationship to concepts of high and low culture, tradition, innovation, authenticity, and (non) – European identity88.’ Indeed I would argue these somewhat paradoxical facets of jazz mean that it immediately occupies a more overtly political position on the ‘global stage.89’ Thus by focusing on jazz, we will be able to see how constructions of cultural heritage and authenticity are related to colonial legacies and imbalances of power, which is a principal aim of this thesis. Specifically in regard to the North Sea Jazz organisation, what do the festivals’ engagement with heritage and these jazz ‘tropes’ tell us about the meaning and perception of jazz today, and the way this can be utilised for commercial gain?
North Sea Jazz: ‘Postpolitical?’
The jazz festival industry has grown significantly in recent years, with 1300 held worldwide in 2015 generating an estimated $200 million.90 It is big business. Very simply, it could be said that the North Sea Jazz organisation, with its ‘world-renowned’ Rotterdam festival and hugely successful move to the Caribbean (both of which attract thousands of international visitors) demonstrates this commercial growth, and supposed ‘globalisation’ of jazz (or perhaps the belief in it). And again, very simply, the literal transportation of a Dutch festival 8000km across the Atlantic (by boat) to a former colony could be viewed as both a ‘globalising’ and overtly political act. The complexities of this move will be discussed later; but what about the Rotterdam festival? Does the production of this event reveal any sensitive political issues? William Kirk Bares would answer ‘yes;’ stating in his article ‘Transatlantacism as Dutch National Spectacle,’ (2015) that the purpose of the ‘thoroughly capitalist91’ and ‘endlessly diversifying92’ North Sea Jazz Festival is:
To renounce existing jazz hierarchies in order to announce a universalist, postpolitical European jazz culture, that cloaks ideology in the very way its commitment to jazz pluralism minimises dialogue between musicians of different ideological persuasions…the festival presents its own
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86 McKay (2016). 87 http://chimeproject.eu/about/ [28/03/2016]. 88 http://chimeproject.eu/about/ [28/03/2016]. 89 Harris (2005). 90 http://jazzfestivalsworldwide.com/festival-directory [28/03/2016]. 91 Bares (2015): 349. 92 Bares (2015): 349.European universalist “color-blindness” – with all of the same problems that bedevil age-old American discourses of colour-blindness93.
Bares refers here to the ‘hundreds of visions of jazz’94, on offer at the 13-stages comprising the festival, which in his view promotes an inclusive, universal ethos in the hope of masking the kinds of contentious issues discussed above. For Bares, in actively trying to assert itself as ‘beyond’ such politics, North Sea Jazz makes a rather Eurocentric political statement. I might argue that what Bares calls a growing ‘European universalism’ is akin to a kind of Western liberal ‘cosmopolitanism,’ defined by Appiah (1997) as valuing ‘the variety of human forms of social and cultural life.95’ Robbins (1998) furthermore contends that cosmopolitanism is:
The fundamental devotion to the interests of humanity as a whole… detachment from the bonds, commitments and affiliations that constrain ordinary nation-bound lives…a luxuriously free-floating view from above.96
Indeed luxuriously is the operative word here; for the freedom and ability to participate in and feel the effects of globalisation, thus becoming a ‘citizen of the world’ is ultimately a privilege of the middle classes. Indeed the word cosmopolitan now belongs to the names of cocktails and
magazines that promote designer clothing; it is the self-assigned label of well-educated people who wish to respect plurality, even seek it to enrich their lives, while also being able to return to their safe and comfortable lifestyle. This cosmopolitanism - which celebrates diversity and multiculturalism - has also been viewed as a rather dangerous ideology, with some arguing that its obsession with equality actually serves to uphold white supremacy. As Kyra (2014) argues, this egalitarianism ‘works to ignore and erase difference rather than to undo oppression…[and] strives [for a] post-racial or racially color-blind world97.’ It is a kind of bourgeoisie, carefree attitude that has informed jazz festivals for decades; this quote from Jimmy Lyons, director of the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1973, portrays a similar ethos:
What we really try to do is throw a big, happy party…since the beginning we have tried to stress the European ideas and aspects and this is where the concept of jazz and festival mould together. Things are dressed up and people are dressed up…we keep the jazz image while mixing in other types of music. A little something for everyone is the idea98.
We will see throughout this essay that this idea of this liberal cosmopolitanism is something the North Sea Jazz organisation promotes and benefits from. Looking at the programming of both the Curaçao and Rotterdam festivals and the range of artists and styles highlights some key issues
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93 Bares (2015): 368. 94 Bares (2015): 367. 95 Appiah (1997): 61. 96 Robbins (1998): 1. 97 https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/how-to-uphold-white-supremacy-by-focusing-on-diversity-and-inclusion [08/08/2016]. 98 Lyons, Jimmy (1973). Billboard. 23 June: 48.regarding the perception jazz and African American music today, the question of ‘influence;’ particularly which artists seem to be able ‘get away’ with being programmed at a jazz festival; is there some sort of imaginary-but-real line between what is acceptably ‘hip’ or ‘cool’ and what’s not?
‘A musical universe under one roof99’: The North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam
Whether or not we agree with Bares’s contention above, the NSJF’s famed (and pioneering) ‘multi-stage’ formula is a direct engagement with certain tropes associated with the heritage of jazz, specifically the aforementioned binary of old/new. Below is an example of Saturday’s line-up for the 2016 festival:
Figure 4: NSJ Programming Saturday 2016
As we can see, the festival exhibits self-proclaimed ‘real’ jazz artists such as Pat Metheney and Branford Marsalis, ‘legends’ such as Ron Carter and Charlie Wilson, and more progressive artists such as Jacob Collier and Hiatus Kayote. Popular artists such as Earth, Wind and Fire are seen on the largest stage, the ‘Nile’ – with a capacity of 15,000 – which is interestingly recommended on one website as the appropriate stage to ‘check out’ if you are a ‘beginner in Jazz.100’ The NSJF makes this eclecticism its unique selling point; there is, as Lyons put it, ‘something for everyone.’ North Sea Jazz Rotterdam director Jan Willem Luyken says of the festival (2016):
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99 http://thisisjazzstandard.com/1004-2/ [18/08/2016].We try to create a jazz planet inside, with thirteen stages, ranging from a 15,000 standing arena to a 200-seating jazz club…[we’re] able to present the whole spectrum from pop music headliners …to the very small artistic improv music, and everything in between…That’s a unique feature of the festival to do it all at the same time and people can walk around and create their own festivals101…We're still following the original concept of the founder, the late Paul Acket, who
believed in having the right balance between art and entertainment…If you want to stay alive as a festival, you have to be on top of the new trends in music, to attract young crowds who connect with hip hop and electronic music and are not tied to any musical boundaries, certainly less than before the 60s and 70s. It's one of the advantages of these times to offer the diversity, and the crowds and the musicians are very eclectic these days. It's about introducing new artists to an older public, and older cats to the new generation102.
Luyken must be ‘in the know’ about what is perceived by the public as real, ‘authentic,’ jazz in order to please the ‘serious’ fans, but also what is perceived as the progressive, cutting edge forms. Thus we can say that the festival, like jazz, ‘performs the dialogue between old and new.103’ By presenting the ‘whole spectrum,’ Luyken directly connects popular music as a descendent of jazz music, eschewing the dichotomy between mainstream and art music by celebrating the wide influence of jazz in popular culture. Much of the online marketing, reviews and promotional material for the NSJF make a point of emphasising the wide range of genres available at the festival; the standard tagline states that it presents ‘the past, present and future’ of jazz.104 As one review states:
World-renowned North Sea Jazz Festival is famous for coverage of a wide-range of genres, from sub-genres such as traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop, free-jazz, fusion, avant-garde jazz and electronic jazz, to blues, gospel, funk, soul, R&B, hip hop, world-beat and Latin105. What’s
great about the festival is the mixture of the old and the new, with well-established names joining those just starting out106.!
Similar descriptions are found in all online promotional material, and interestingly they almost always leave out the word ‘pop,’ despite a fair amount of mainstream popular artists appearing at the festival in the past107. A review by the Huffington Post stated in regard to Sting’s appearance at the festival in 2013 that ‘the benefit for the jazz lover is that these acts [such as Sting] attract big crowds, making it possible to enjoy the more experimental artists in more intimate settings108.’ This is effectively suggesting that the festival keeps ‘the masses’ safely away from the
sophisticated listening required of the ‘jazz community,’ highlighting the elitism surrounding the genre. This speaks to issue that has been debated since the birth of modern European festival culture; the pop content on the line-up versus ‘real’ jazz. During the 1970s, both the Monterey
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101 http://www.soulandjazzandfunk.com/interviews/3952-behind-the-north-sea-jazz-festival-its-director-jan-willem-luyen-talks-to-sjf-about-this-years-exciting-line-up.html [03/05/2016].
102 http://www.allaboutjazz.com/north-sea-jazz-festival-2015-the-roller-coaster-has-taken-off-by-joan-gannij.php [03/05/2016] 103 McKay (2016).
104 http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/nieuws/geschiedenis-van-t-north-sea-jazz-festival/ and http://www.northseajazzrecordings.com/ [03/05/2016].
105 http://www.northseajazzrecordings.com [03/05/2016].
106 http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/rupert-parker/north-sea-jazz-festival-rotterdam-netherlands_b_3623505.html [06/05/2016]. 107 James Morrison, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray, Adele, Seal, Jamiroquai, have all played at the festival in the last 10 years, and there are dozens more.
and Newport Jazz festivals (USA109) were heavily criticised for being ‘too mainstream,110’ and in 1988, Wynton Marsalis (who has frequently been called a ‘neo-traditionalist111’) was quoted in the New York Times saying: ‘I recently completed a tour of jazz festivals in Europe in which only two out of 10 bands were jazz bands. The promoters of these festivals readily admit most of the music isn’t jazz, but refuse to rename these events ‘music festivals’ seeking the esthetic elevation that jazz offers112.’ In 2001, furthermore, American saxophonist David Liebman claimed that jazz was going through a ‘midlife crisis,’ and that this was exemplified in the pop-oriented programming of jazz festivals. In his view, festival organisers had ‘given in to the simple and easy pull of society’s more base instincts, which have and always will be the desire for power and prestige through making money113.’ He continues:
But is jazz a money making machine? Was this ever part of the equation? Those who love the music do so because of the need for reasons that have to do with any great and subtle art-the quest for beauty and honesty of emotions combined with sublime thought. Jazz artists themselves are a very unpretentious group of human beings-almost always self-effacing and humbled by the music and its legacy. Why are we competing with a completely different life form- that is the mass appeal entertainer?114
Indeed this apparently ‘un-pretentious’ perspective for some might scream pretention; but it is interesting that Liebman draws on the ‘jazz-as-heritage’ connotation in order to authenticate jazz above popular music (which perhaps, in his view, does not have a legitimate legacy or heritage?). Again this speaks to the trope of jazz as being an autonomous art, as Liebman implies that jazz musicians are exogenous to the commercialism of the music industry. The distance with which Liebman wishes to establish between himself and ‘different life forms,’ is quite surprising, and this perhaps represents an extreme view. But it is not uncommon; more recently in 2014
American musician Thomas Cunniffe wrote an article for Jazz History Online criticising the line-up for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The event featured – to Cunniffe’s dismay - Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Boz Skaggs, and Eric Clapton. He insisted these artists had ‘nothing to do with the musical heritage of New Orleans and their presence was an
‘embarrassment to both the city and the festival presenters115.’ Cunniffe was particularly annoyed that the ‘real’ jazz artists would end up being the support acts to the big names:
Pharoah Sanders and Christina Aguilera are performing on the same night. Obviously, these two performers have very different fan bases, and should Aguilera’s fans turn up during Sanders’ set, they are likely to be noisy or otherwise disrespectful while he plays (Sanders’ fans would probably just leave before Aguilera takes the stage). Sanders may be a polarizing figure—even in jazz circles—but he deserves to be heard, and he should have a better fate than being Aguilera’s warm-up act…Thankfully, several of the major US festivals are still committed to presenting jazz,
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109 Monterey, is California (West Coast) Newport in Rhode Island (East Coast). 110 http://thisisjazzstandard.com/1004-2/ [18/08/2016]. 111 Whyton (2010): 72. 112 http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/31/arts/music-what-jazz-is-and-isn-t.html?pagewanted=all [18/08/2016]. 113 http://davidliebman.com/home/ed_articles/is-more-better-programming-pop-music-at-jazz-festivals/ [03/05/2016]. 114 http://davidliebman.com/home/ed_articles/is-more-better-programming-pop-music-at-jazz-festivals/ [03/05/2016]. 115 http://www.jazzhistoryonline.com/Jazz_Festivals.html [03/06/2016].
in genres from Dixieland to free. New Orleans used to be in that company as well, but the desire for larger crowds and bigger ticket grosses has steered them astray…We need to stand up for this music, shunning the in-name-only jazz festivals, and supporting those that present the music we love. We’re small, but mighty116.
This idea that Christina Aguilera has ‘nothing to do’ with jazz heritage highlights this subjective ‘line’ between what is and isn’t acceptably associated with the idiom- where does ‘influence’ of jazz end? Perhaps record sales and chart positions are a defining factor.
Interestingly, criticism of the North Sea Jazz festival’s programming, to such an extreme degree, is difficult to find. Reading online reviews on jazz forums and on the Facebook page of the festivals (of which there are over 2000), remarkably there are only positive comments regarding the line-up (of course it is possible that negative ones have been removed). This could be due to its location; a ‘cosmopolitan’ European city is perhaps granted more freedom - metaphorically speaking - with programming in comparison to the ‘birthplace of jazz.’ However, there has been some criticism of the ‘modern’ NSJ administration (i.e. after the death of founder Paul Acket). Hans Zirkzee (2015) author of Jazz in Rotterdam117, for example, claims that the festival became far more ‘mainstream’ when Mojo Concerts took over in 1994, and that Acket had always been ‘reluctant to book big names, reasoning that ‘the real jazz lover would lose out.118’ When asked about the pop content at the NSJF in an interview by a Rotterdam-based journal, Zirkzee responded:
[its] way too high. This is because the pressure of Live Nation on Mojo119 which organizes the festival… I miss the Acket initiative… He pushed new jazz musicians to show what they could do, offering them a platform. North Sea Jazz is being run by a different kind of power now. In this way, Acket is positioned nostalgically in a ‘simpler time’ or more ‘authentic’ past, before the NSJF was ‘tainted’ by commercialism. There is thus a distinctly human, or personal heritage constructed here, through the grassroots, romantic notion of one man realising his ‘dream’ of presenting jazz to a wide audience. Zirkzee’s statement is wrapped up in ideas about jazz as an autonomous art; Acket’s programming was driven by his love for music, which is no longer possible due to the to involvement of a corporate brand. In short, Zirkzee mourns the ‘commodification’ of the North Sea Jazz Festival, as if it only became commercial following Acket’s death. Indeed the memory of Paul Acket and his ‘original philosophy120’ is often referred to in promotional material, serving to construct a more ‘authentic’ (and less corporate) heritage of the brand. When asked about his festival ‘philosophy,’ director Luyken responds:
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116 http://www.jazzhistoryonline.com/Jazz_Festivals.html [03/06/2016]. 117 A history of the music in Rotterdam published in 2015 by DATO. 118 https://versbeton.nl/2015/07/jazz-was-jazz-is-jazz-blijft/ [17/04/2016]. 119 Mojo is the company that owns North Sea Jazz; see introduction for more on this.
120 http://www.soulandjazzandfunk.com/interviews/3952-behind-the-north-sea-jazz-festival-its-director-jan-willem-luyen-talks-to-sjf-about-this-years-exciting-line-up.html [03/06/2016].
Luyken: The founder, Mr Paul Acket was a jazz fan and thought that jazz wasn't getting enough
attention and thought to himself, ‘what I'll do, I'll create a jazz festival but alongside the jazz line-up I'll create a more popular line-line-up to attract more people and the audience can then get acquainted with jazz music.’ That was his philosophy, [and] that's what the concept is all about; to create a commercial line-up and an artistic line-up and we glue that together. And that's what our audiences like, I think. You can go with your whole family and with your children. It's really from ages 8 to 80. It's not only for older people or younger people: it's a festival for everybody and that's what we're really trying to do. And we always stay true to our roots, which is jazz music121.!!
The heritage of jazz is performed through this discourse; Luyken successfully creates a kind of ethos or ideology which is distinctly cosmopolitan, modern and
inclusive, but also stays ‘true to the roots’ of the music, ultimately giving the festival the freedom to program whoever they like. The fact that there is actually a face of the festival who gives interviews, makes its more human than if it was simply Live Nation running the show; the corporate ownership is actively distanced
from the festival network in order to make it seem more independent. The way in which Luyken and others discuss Acket, furthermore, positions him as an important part of not only the heritage of the NSJF, but also of jazz in the
Netherlands. The festival seems to constitute something of a national treasure, a fundamental part of the modern artistic and cultural history of the country – much like Glastonbury in the United Kingdom. In celebration of the 40th edition of NSJF, the website published an article entitled ‘Addicted To The Festival,’ which contained contributions from fans of the event – from Europe and the US - explaining why the NSJF is ‘special’ to them122. Many expressed that they are ‘loyal fans’ and that it’s the ‘event of the year.’ One man wrote that he’d
often been to ‘New York, Berlin, Montreux and
Montréal…but the [NSJF] is unique, without competition123.’ People added pictures of signatures they had gotten of their favourite artists, and photos, and one contributor had kept all her tickets since 1987. Many expressed the fact it was an important family event or that they had been going with the same friends for years. On the official North Sea Jazz Facebook page, furthermore, it has become a trend of sorts to post how many times one has been to the event124:!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
121 http://www.soulandjazzandfunk.com/interviews/3952-behind-the-north-sea-jazz-festival-its-director-jan-willem-luyen-talks-to-sjf-about-this-years-exciting-line-up.html [03/06/2016].
122 Images above from: http://www.northseajazz.com/nl/gallery/bezoekers [04/06/2016]. 123 http://www.northseajazz.com/nl/gallery/bezoekers [04/06/2016].
124 Reviews below are a small selection from 2014, 2015 and 2016, and there are over 2000 reviews written, and all come https://www.facebook.com/northseajazz/reviews/from [checked on 18/08/2016].
Figure 5: Signed festival ticket
