It's jazz time; the legendary Istanbul Jazz Festival!

Are you looking for a reason to visit İstanbul? Cool. Are you into jazz? If yes, fabulous! I have great news for you! What if I told you, you can listen to glorious jazz music, while gazing through Istanbul’s historical sites, streets, avenues, trams, and ferries? Well, it is possible because there is a festival called Istanbul Jazz Festival, which is organised every year in July since 1994 by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). This festival creates opportunities for musicians from Turkey to engage in special projects with artists from around the world! Even if you are not into jazz music, you will probably find your “vibe” here, since this amazing festival features classical and modern jazz, Latin and Nordic jazz, electronic music, as well as other music categories, such as; rock, pop, reggae, funk, and world music. Thanks to this great diversity, Istanbul Jazz Festival provides new opportunities for everyone to discover new types of music. So, if you want to get to know more about this festival, here is your guide!

The jazz music has been chosen for this great festival because IKSV believes that jazz is one of the most innovative musical genres. With its many opportunities, such as being open to new ideas, being inclusive and of course being accessible, this festival brings together music lovers and musicians, while supporting the work of jazz in Turkey and encouraging new productions. İstanbul Jazz festival also gives amateur jazz musicians a new platform, with the aim of promoting Turkey’s vibrant music scene and its key players to international music professionals.

During the previous years, this amazing festival was held in many historical venues of Istanbul, such as Hagia Eirene Museum, Istanbul Archaeological Museums, and Esma Sultan Mansion! Considered to be a leading jazz festival in Europe, Istanbul Jazz Festival is also one of the first members of the International Jazz Festivals Organisations (IJFO) which assembles the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world such as Montreux, Umbria, Montreal, and London. Starting in 1994, this festival has hosted many musicians in rock, pop, blues, reggae and New-age music, such as Jane Birkin, Björk,  Nick Cave, Eric Clapton, Lenny Kravitz, Massive Attack, Modern Jazz Quartet, Lou Reed, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carlos Santana, Patti Smith,  Sting, and many more!