THE MEDIA and COMMUNICATION TEAM

The first Media and Communication Team was set up for the Jazzmandu 2011 edition. The previous year the first Jazzmandu Reporter came on board. The benefit of a person dedicated to writing material for the media resulted in a frequent and positive media coverage of the festival. Jazzmandu was gaining recognition. In 2011 with a media team of four, Jazzmandu can resume, and increase its production of media and communication materials to spread the Jazzmandu word not only in Nepal but worldwide.

Roman loves music and loves writing so he has taken over the writing of articles with brio. His natural talents as an MC have been used at the Jazz Bazzar

Sonia who was the first (and only) Jazzmandu Reporter in 2010, is now leading a real team and could finally focus this year on the Press Page of the Jazzmandu website and go on with numerous new ideas to promote the festival and Jazz music through communication material.

Bobby just back from Singapore happily took the video camera for hours and hours of footage to be used next year... but hushhush... it's a surprise. He also filmed all the interviews we conducted with the visiting artists.

Shikhar jumped in the team at the last minute as our photographer and was shooting both onstage and backstage for our photo albums.

THE MARKETING TEAM

The Marketing Team gets busy before the festival starts. Its members run around town to stick up posters and distribute leaflets. During the festival they are seen at the ticket counters, but also at the merchandise counter.

Rajeev, Siddhant, Atish, and Nikesh handle promotion activities.

This is what Atish (second from the left) says about his experience: "I am a music student at the KJC so I joined as a jazzmandu volunteer first for musical reasons! The overall experience is wonderful. Jazzmandu has provided me with valuable insights into jazz musicians' life and also the functionning of a Jazz festival. Being a jazzmandu volunteer is well worth the time and efforts! I can definitely see myself volunteering again next year! It's fun! really!"

THE BAND SUPERVISING TEAM

The Band Supervisors are each assigned to a band. Their role is to facilitate and assit the band they are in charge of, from their arrival to their departure. This includes picking the band at the airport, bringing them too the various venues, ensuring they are on time for the sound checks, and millions of other things including shopping in Asan, or getting the odd Paracetamol if someone is sick. They are almost like baby-sitters or "band-sitters" for their band.

Yanik (missing on the photo) with The Cuban League, Sarthak with Neighbourhood, Shishir with Bconnected, Sujen with Nick Aggs, Isu with Window Seat.

All band supervisors are old timers as volunteers with Jazzmandu. They keep coming back because they love it! It was however, Sujen's first time. This is what he says: "I am a big music fan and I applied to be a Jazzmandu volunteer because i wanted to meet with International bands, to know how to manage all the tasks Band Supervisors have to do, and to gain experience. It was really good to work with a band, be at their service for everything they needed, hang out with them, show them Kathmandu... It was great! Hopefully I can be there again next year!"

THE SOUND ENGINEERING TEAM

The Sound Engineering Team has an immense technical responsibility. They run all the sound checks with each band and musician, and have to tune their equipment for each venue: a huge and time consuming work!

Sound Engineer Daniel has joined us again this year and we found him a Sound Assistant he was grateful for: Isaline.

THE ORGANISERS

The Organisers Team with Navin Chettri as Jazzmandu brainchild, Sameer Chettri as Media Coordinator, Tery Choden as Marketing Coordinator, Pravin Chettri as Website Designer, Meenakshi Chettri for the Admin and Sylvie Cassiulis as Volunteers Coordinator have a lot on their respective plate starting months before the festival kicks off.

Of course while all the volunteers are working their butt off, guess who is relaxing and enjoying a cigar, a beer or a chat on the phone... ;-)

Navin, Sylvie and Tery.