The miracle of Penang Jazz
By James Lochhead
February 2011 FEATURE
The Seventh Penang Island Jazz Festival was spread over four days in early December 2010. It may not yet be “seventh heaven” but it is something of a small miracle that this festival started, survived and has begun to flourish.PENANG'S JAZZ FESTIVAL is a small miracle. I say “small miracle” partly because “jazz” is not the most userfriendly word in the dictionary, let alone Penangites’ musical dictionary. Connotations come to mind of small, dingy, smoke-filled rooms, full of not many...
James Lochhead
has been involved with a wide variety of initiatives in Penang since 1980. These include initiatives related to local democracy, gender equality, arts and creativity, child protection, human trafficking, and work with migrant and refugee communities. He was one of the original team for the Gender Responsive Budgeting project, started under Penang Women's Development Corporation in 2011.
