Tuesday, April 30 is International Jazz Day. It is organized by UNESCO in partnership with the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz. Here is an interesting bit of history quoted from the UNESCO site:
Istanbul will be the official host city for 2013. Turkey has an age-old tradition of jazz. Munir Ertegun, Turkish Republic’s first ambassador to Washington in the 1930s, opened his embassy’s parlors to African American jazz musicians, who gathered there to play freely in a socio-historical context which was deeply divided by racial segregation at the time. Inspired by this legacy, the ambassador’s sons, Ahmet and Nesuhi, went on to establish the United States’ first jazz and gospel label in 1947 - Atlantic Records - which was seminal in spreading the beauty of jazz music around the world.
The International Jazz Day Global Concert will be webcast worldwide. Check the link for details about who will be performing and when the webcast will be available in your time zone.
Here is a message from Irina Borkova, UNESCO's director general:
So take a little time on April 30 to listen to some jazz and think about who might be listening to the same music.
