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Jazz Up Your Life, Visit The Mecca for Jazz for Every Youth Globally or the Young at Heart Locally; Go Jazz Ampang 103! #CutiCutiLocal
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright May 2022
Here is a local holiday destination that will leave you enchanted for the whole year and make your other vacation spots seems deathly quiet.
It is a well-kept secret and known only to music lovers and jazz aficionados and it is right in Ampang just a short distance from Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
You have heard of the Rainforest World Music Festival where music lovers rush once a year to get an earful of great sounds around the rain forests in Kuching, Sarawak.
Incidentally, this year’s festival is also the 25th anniversary of the event and is scheduled from 17th to 19th of June. You’ll be enthralled by the music performers from all over the world once again. Hotels are offering deals and tickets are selling fast. This is one of those music events dearly missed in the last two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But if you do not want to join a huge crowd at Sarawak Cultural Village for the Rainforest Festival, outside Kuching, take a brief vacation in Kuala Lumpur instead and check out the birthplace of the World Youth Jazz Festival.
We stumbled upon this world-renowned destination through an old friend who invited us to meet the founder over dinner at the place.
Our good friend Dato’ Johari who is a singer himself on the local circuit kept apologising about having to take us through AKLEH to Sungai Besi Highway making cynical remarks along the way, as to “why anybody would want to live in Ampang.”
A “Gee U!” location indeed, an expression for “geographically undesirable” if you were to meet a girl at a party when she announced she’s from Ampang. A “bridge too far,” if you were in West KL like Mont Kiara for instance!
We told him it was unkind considering that Ampang is no longer congested and now linked by many highways and expressways to the rest of the country.
It took us hardly 15 minutes from his upmarket condominium to Taman Sri Ampang. A really smooth ride on that rainy Saturday night. On a normal day, it could take longer.
When I walked into Jazz Ampang 103 concert lounge, it brought back fond memories of various jazz spots I have been to in New York Greenwich Village or some corners of old Boston or London and even in a tiny club outside Bruges in Belgium, where musicians gathered to offer their very best for music lovers late into the night.
Nik Azmi (Dato’ but preferring to be known without) is the founder of Jazz Ampang 103. It is located at 103, Persiaran Desa Ampang 4, Taman Seri Ampang, 68000 Ampang, Selangor.
He is a well-known personality in the music world having launched the World Jazz Youth Festival that elevated Putrajaya as the Capital of the World Jazz Youth Festival.
The Facebook page of The WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL PUTRAJAYA MALAYSIA (WYJF) announced that it was successfully launched from 23 to 27 May 2012 under the auspices of the Malaysian Minister Of Youth And Sports, Jazz Community Malaysia (JAZZCOMM) and JAZZ 103 AMPANG. Overnight, Putrajaya Malaysia becomes “The Home Of World Youth Jazz” which aspires to bring together the youth of the world to showcase their talents in jazz by giving them an opportunity to collaborate, interact and network beyond music towards peace and harmony on earth.
Besides the annual festival, WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL PUTRAJAYA MALAYSIA (WYJF), other events are planned to make Putrajaya Malaysia into a unique home of World Youth Jazz.
Their Facebook page says WYJF is held annually on the first weekend in May of each year as part of UNESCO-declared International Jazz Day (30 April) and was designed to be a prelude to Youth Festival Putrajaya with National Youth Day falling on 15 May.
The venue for WYJF has since shifted to Kuala Lumpur from Putrajaya after the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and other Malaysian related Ministries became sponsors of WYJF, the most memorable being WYJF 2016 which was held at Dataran Merdeka, at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, and is regarded as the biggest and most successful jazz festival ever held in Malaysia. (Link to its preview at the bottom of this article)
The date of WYJF may soon be changed from May annually when WYJF returns after the pandemic, to suit the time when young musicians worldwide are more readily available in line with their holiday schedule.
In the last two years, the pandemic had put a stop to the festivals and a series of mini jazzfests were planned for cities in Malaysia to keep jazz alive and thriving.
But Jazz Ampang 103 keeps the spirit alive and music thriving in this little corner of Taman Sri Ampang outside Kuala Lumpur.
The founder had just completed his last evening prayers when we arrived close to 9 in the evening. We parked the car at the end of Persiaran Desa Ampang 4, an old house that had been renovated umpteenth times to suit the growing needs of youth who thronged the place to perform and find accommodation in ‘dorms’ offered gratis, by Nik Azmi, to support struggling young musicians who could hardly find cheap housing in the city.
Nik Azmi took us through the main door of the concert lounge. When we walked into the jazz lounge we saw 14 tables covered with Ferrari Red table cloths, really appropriate for such an establishment: Red to define the raging desire of youth for jazz!
On stage, a set of drums and other music equipment were waiting for performers to show up. The walls were lined with music paraphernalia and old photos that added to the ambience, giving an air of authenticity and uniqueness to the place. You will enjoy jazz here surrounded by friendly lovers of music for FREE!
Food and drinks are provided at nominal costs catered by local food stalls in the neighbourhood and musicians.
The next event is scheduled for May 28th. Olie Heavy Machine is featured as the main proponent paying tribute to the late Azmi (Sax) Hairuddin, another celebrated personality on the local jazz scene.
Nik Azmi promised to increase the number of tables to 40 on 28th May, with a seating capacity of 160. Gates open at 5 pm. The place will stay open till late.
Visit this link to find out more:
You might as well show up early to explore the house and get to know the musicians and Nik Azmi who promises to be there in person to welcome you himself.
At the last event, 1,000 showed up which led local residents to complain about seating capacity in the place, demanding more seats outside Jazz 103 for the elderly who could not stand too long to listen from afar. They are expecting more at this event on May 28th.
George Gershwin once said, “Life is a lot like jazz…it’s better when you improvise”. Make your vacation a little better this year, jazz it up at Jazz Ampang 103.
Have a jazz weekend break and stay as long as you want on 28th May. Musicians love company.
WhatsApp or email if you need help getting there:
+60187774033
nikazmi@gmail.com
Check out the WEBSITE:
WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL WEBSITE
http://www.worldyouthjazzfest.com
YOUTUBE:
WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL YOUTUBE
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvEy6LT1in8ny6w9NbAVJpw
Check out FACEBOOKS:
WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/WorldYouthJazzFestival/
JAZZ COMMUNITY MALAYSIA (JAZZCOMM) FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/jazzcomm
NIK A. AZMI FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/nik.a.azmi
JAZZ AMPANG FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/jazzampang
WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL PHOTOS
https://www.facebook.com/pg/WorldYouthJazzFestival/photos/
WORLD YOUTH JAZZ FESTIVAL 2016 PHOTOS:
http://bit.ly/wyjf2016photos
WYJF 2016 REVIEW VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37GBIw9A_oo&t=15s
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Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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