Jazz Festival in the Mountains of Indonesia

Jazz Gunung, a jazz festival set in a mountainous area of Indonesia, will take place at Jiwa Jawa Resort Amphitheater in Wonotoro Village, Probolinggo City in East Java on 19-20 August 2016.

Those attending Jazz Gunung get to enjoy music performed on an outdoor stage more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) above sea level with views of Bromo-Tengger-Semeru mountains, swirling clouds, clear blue sky, refreshing mountain air, prominent musicians and a varied program.

For two days, Indonesian and international jazz musicians will warm the cold mountain air that can go as low as 3 degree Celsius. The performers are curated by Djaduk Ferianto, an accomplished Indonesian musician who is well known in mixing modern and traditional music in his music.

One of the goals of Jazz Gunung is to promote Indonesian ethnic music so Djaduk Ferianto has picked musicians that play a mixture of Indonesian traditional music with jazz music such as Dwiki Dharmawan Jazz Connection, SambaSunda, Penny Candarini and Ring of Fire featuring Bonita & Ricad Hutapea.

Other performers are Nial Djuliarso Trio featuring Arief Setiadi and Ian Scionti Trio that represent the traditional side of jazz.

Performers from outside of jazz have also been included such as Shaggy Dog, The Groove and Ermy Kullit to add more experience to Jazz Gunung audience.

The man behind Jazz Gunung is Sigit Pramono, an Indonesian banker, jazz lover and avid photographer. Pramono came up with the idea of a jazz festival aided by Djaduk Ferianto and Butet Kartaredjasa to promote and develop Bromo, one of the top tourist destinations in Indonesia, to become more than just a place to see the sunrise.

Generally, tourists make a short visit to Bromo to see the sunrise and then leave the area the next day. With the existence of Jazz Gunung, people are expected to stay longer to explore the area.

Local residents of Bromo can also be benefited by offering their houses to thousand of people who need places to stay since there is a limited number of hotel rooms.

Besides enjoying the music, visitors can also help giving back to the nature by joining mountain-cleaning effort with Sahabat Bromo (Friends of Bromo). Sahabat Bromo is intended to introduce the concept socio ecotourism in Bromo so that the preservation of nature is maintained and local residents can get the beneficial social and economic impact for the long run.

Jazz Gunung 2016 offers three different type of tickets, VVIP, VIP and Festival consisting of one-day and two-day passes with starting price of Rp 350,000 (approx. US$25) per day and Rp 600,000 (approx. US$44) per day respectively. For VVIP ticketholders, a dinner during the show is included.

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