The Embassy of the United States in Bolivia is sponsoring a concert in celebration of 2023 International Jazz Day on Sunday, April 30, at 17:00 at Plaza Abaroa in La Paz. The concert will be free and open to the public.
Jazz Day Bolivia and the Illa Culturas organization are organizing the event, which is being co-sponsored by Bolivia FestiJazz Internacional and the Municipality of La Paz Secretariat of Cultures. The concert will feature seven Bolivian jazz bands: Big Band, Raschid Ale, Carlos Fischer Band, Gustavo Orihuela and Saya Afroboliviana Tambor Mayor, Gatos del Agro, Altiplano Fusion Band, and Proyecto Tributo a Marcus Miller.
This year, Jazz Day Bolivia celebrates the spontaneity of jazz music, a genre born in the United States and adopted around the world, by offering a series of live concerts in open air public venues and non-traditional spaces, such as streets, squares, balconies, public transport facilities, and other iconic places in major Bolivian cities.
In La Paz, the International Jazz Day celebration will include a culinary component thanks to a partnership with the Thelonious Cultural Center, which will organize a food fair called Jazztronómica, in Sopocachi, the neighborhood surrounding Plaza Abaroa and one of most culture-driven bohemian districts in the city.
International Jazz Day aims to raise international awareness about the virtues of jazz music as an educational tool and a force for peace, unity, dialogue, and greater cooperation among people. The international community proclaimed April 30 as International Jazz Day during the 2011 General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Since then, 190 countries celebrate the International Jazz Day it every year.