Hyderabad is tuning up for a global jam. The World Jazz Festival on April 26, at Shilpakala Vedika is set to return to the city, bringing with it a cross-continental line-up curated by Banyan Tree Events. As the festival travels across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Dehradun, its Hyderabad stop promises an evening where improvisation, tradition and contemporary sounds collide—placing the city firmly on the map of an evolving, world-spanning jazz circuit.
For Nandini Mahesh, co-founder of Banyan Tree events, that familiarity lies at the heart of why jazz works in India at all. “Jazz style is quite similar to Indian classical music. We wanted to explore this further. We wanted our audience to be exposed to the beauty of this genre as well,” she says. What began as curiosity has since evolved into a format that audiences across cities have “appreciated really well.”
This year’s lineup features Michael Varekamp Quintet feat. Alexander ‘The Hurricane’ Beets: From New Orleans to New York, Wiboud Burkens Trio: Swing is the Thing. The Art of the Trio, Georgie Aué Quintet: From Australia to Brazil, Titi Luzipho & Muneeb Hermans: Sunset in Africa: A Tribute to the Legends.
Behind the scenes, the festival is shaped through an ongoing dialogue. In Amsterdam, actor Mahesh Babu and artist Alexander Beets — working alongside knowledge partners Musicians Paradise — begin mapping each edition months in advance. “Both the directors understand the festival, the audiences really well,” Nandini notes, adding that conversations continue over time “till both are happy with the overall presentation.”
Each year, that vision shifts. “Last year the focus was promoting and encouraging young talent. This year the focus is on rich tradition as created by legendary Jazz musicians,” she explains. The idea, however, remains constant: to bring together “gems of artists from different countries to showcase Jazz around the world.” Hyderabad, she shares, “is warming up to innovative presentations… there are a lot of youngsters who seem to really like the genre.”
Meanwhile, for artist Alexander Beets, the connection with Indian listeners is already visible. “Jazz music is beautiful music. It's consumed and made everywhere in the world. And it's one family, but it's got different tastes,” he says, pointing out that improvisation — so central to jazz — is something Indian audiences instinctively understand.
Having already witnessed strong responses across cities, he is confident about Hyderabad’s reception. “We are on tour and we had a sold out show in Delhi, in Pune, in Mumbai so I believe that here in Hyderabad it will also become a beautiful success,” he says, noting that the city feels youthful and culturally engaged.
On the question of geography shaping jazz interpretation, he points to shared musical references that bind artists together. “Everyone is developed in their own unique way, but we have what we call some kind of a historical reference. The reference of musicians from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis, from John Coltrane to Jimmy Smith,” he explains. These influences, he adds, create a common ground for communication between musicians, while still allowing individual identity to emerge.
For him, the festival structure itself reflects jazz’s journey. “Before the break, we're actually presenting music from different parts of the world. After the break, we pay tribute and homage to the history of jazz,” he explains, tracing its evolution from New Orleans to New York and across styles like swing, Dixieland, hard-bop and Latin jazz.
Ultimately, his hope is to widen the audience’s musical lens. “I always see myself as a jazz ambassador. I want to positively infect as much people as possible for this music genre,” he concludes.