The Days of Axis International Jazz Festival 2011

Santana was, obviously, one of the most anticipated artists of the night, with at least half of the crowd in JJF waiting for him. The fairly steep price of Santana’s special show ticket did little to prevent his enthusiastic fans from seeing the master of acoustic electric guitars played his music. Wearing his signature fedora hat and sweater, Santana appeared at last. His energetic and attractive performance was nothing short of magical!

Santana, the musician who earned his big name in the 70s and the 80s, performed a number of hits, including Corazon Espinado, Maria Maria, Black Magic Woman, Gypsy Queen, and Oye como Va. While on stage, he often expressed his happiness because he could finally perform before his fans in Indonesia. The feeling is mutual indeed. We are happy to see one of music’s greatest legends performing live! An estimated 8000 audiences filled the Axis Hall venue to witness Santana’s stunning display of musical skills.

Moving on to other venues, Dwiki Dharmawan did an amazing collaboration with the Angklung Jazz Ensemble performed by the West Java angklung community, Mang Udjo. Their collaboration was further enhanced by Didit,a child violinist who has now come of age. The uniqueness of this combination lies in their all-traditional concept. All the music players wore batik and traditional clothes! The mix of modern and traditional instrument produced a distinct music with catchy tunes. Locals were not the only ones amazed by these artists. Some foreign audiences enjoyed the music as well, and stayed around until the show was ended.

As dawn approaches, even more musicians took to the stage. One of them is the contemporary jazz band from the United States, Fourplay. They played some very soft music, indulging the audience in the slow yet immersing atmosphere for around an hour. Aside from the older hits, Fourplay also played some songs from their latest album, Let’s Touch Up.

The night was concluded by the performance of Grammy Award nominee Corinne Bailey Rae who played around 10 songs such as I’d Like to, Like a Star, as well as I’d do It All Again and Closer from her most recent album, The Sea.