Four days of jazz festivities take over Jara Island

GAPYEONG, Gyeonggi Province -- South Korea’s biggest jazz festival completed its four-day run on Monday with a total of 42 acts from around the world.

The Jarasum International Jazz Festival, which started in 2004, takes place in October every year on Jara Island, a river island in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province -- some 40 minutes from Seoul by the ITX Cheongchun High Speed Train.

This year, more than 30,000 music lovers attended the paid areas of the festival, the event organizer said. The 2023 JIJF offered both paid and free stages throughout the festivities.

The first day was greeted by Kingston Rudieska and the Ju Hyun Mi Jazz Project. Kingston Rudieska is an eight-piece session band performing ska, dedicated to Jamaican-derived music in Korean-nuanced interpretation, and Ju Hyun Mi Jazz Project is a jazz duo made up of diva Ju Hyun-mi and jazz drummer Yoon Phil, who strive to transform traditional trot music into jazz rhythms.

On the second day, Vladimir Cetkar, a Macedonian artist based in New York, and Julian Lage, a California-born, New York-based musician took to the stage.