The 5th year of Java Jazz Festival

The Idea
Within three years, Java Festival Production has succeeded in making Java Jazz Festival one of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world. A number of international artists have even gone to confirm that this festival is the largest in the world. For sure, this annual festival, held every first weekend of March, is undoubtedly the largest in the southern hemisphere.

The idea to create this gargantuan jazz festival came from Peter F. Gontha in 2004. Peter F. Gontha (60 years old) is a true jazz aficionado and a senior entrepreneur in Indonesia. His involvement in the jazz world started a long time ago. In addition to owning a prestigious jazz club in Indonesia, Peter has also on a number of occasions sponsored Indonesian musicians to perform at the stages of North Sea Jazz Festival and Temecula Wine and Music Festival.

Since the beginning, Peter F. Gontha has aimed for Java Jazz Festival to be the largest in the world; that is the only option to ensure that the world’s pays attention to Java Jazz Festival and Indonesia.

His vision was to widely spread messages of peace and harmony through the language of jazz, packaged in a jazz festival. Peter F. Gontha then founded Java Festival Production and held the first Java Jazz Festival in 2005.

The first edition of the festival highlighted the topic of Indonesia (which at that time was infamous for its terrorist issue – due to the Bali Bombing, and also a country devastated by the Tsunami).


Java Jazz Festival is not only a festival showcasing just jazz; similar to the likes of Montreux Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival, it also features genres of “jazz and beyond”. Thus, Java Jazz Festival may accommodate the music lovers’ taste in general whilst socializing jazz to a wider public.

The mission “Bringing the World to Indonesia” is also a motto for Java Jazz Festival. In 2005, featured in the festival were James Brown, Jeff Lorber, Deodato, George Duke, Angie Stone, Incognito, Michael Paulo, Steve Thornton, Jeff Kashiwa, Tania Maria, Laura Fygi, Vinny Valentino, Gilles Peterson, Brian Simpson, Eric Benet, Tetsuo Sakurai and Amp Fiddler. Godfather of Soul James Brown’s performance at the festival was one of his lasts. Almost a year after, the hardest working man passed away.

Since then, Java Jazz Festival became a word of mouth, amongst both jazz musicians and jazz aficionados in general.

The 5th Year of Java Jazz Festival

Initiating with 11 stages featuring 146 shows in 2005, a few years later, in 2008, the number grew to 18 stages and 300 shows during a three-day stretch. In 2008, the festival attracted 69,000 visitors.

Approaching the fifth edition of the Festival, its organizer, Java Festival Production, faces challenges such as increasing value of Dollar against Rupiah, and increasing production costs. Initially, this year’s festival was supposed to be smaller in size. However, so many artists continued to show their support and stated their desire to perform at the Festival.

For that reason, Java Jazz Festival 2009, scheduled for 6, 7 and 8 March 2009 will continue to feature hundreds of performance on 19 stages, during its three-day stretch. Due to perform are the likes of Dianne Reeves, Ivan Lins, Roy Ayers, Eliane Elias, Everette Harp, Harvey Mason, Eric Darius, Jason Mraz, Matt Bianco, Isao Suzuki, Chieli Menucci, David Garfield dengan Karizma dan Alex Ligertwood, Veronica Nunn, Michael Paulo, Mike Stern,Brian Simpsons, Prasanna, TAAQ, Oleta Adams, Brian McKnight, Laura Fygi, Royce Campbell, Tom Scott, Paulette Williams, Tony Monaco, Stefano Bollani, Kirk Whalum, Dave Weckl, Simon Philips, Moon Arra, Peabo Bryson, Ledisi, Ron King Big Band, New York Voices, Jeff Lorber, Gamelan Shokbreaker, Chuck Loeb, Sensual, Toku, Kamal Musallam and many more. Indonesian artists who will also be showcasing their skills include Tohpati, Dwiki Dharmawan, Dewa Bujana, Glen Fredly, Nial Djuliarso, Oele Pattiselanno, Benny Mustafa van Diest, Joppie Item, Yance Manusama, Nikita Dompas, Deviana Daudsjah, Eugene Bounty, Elfa Secioria, Humania, Soulvibe, Idang Rasjidi, Riza Arsyad, Adjie Rao, Bambang Nugroho and Dira.

Java Jazz Festival 2009 is the largest jazz festivals in the world, where the message of peace and harmony is voiced through the language of jazz. The 5th year of Java Jazz Festival