Focus on Asia
Introduktion
JazzDanmark has focused on Asia for two decades as a particularly attractive continent for Danish jazz music. Read more about our experiences with the world’s largest music market here.
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20 Years in the World’s Largest Music Market
Since 2004, JazzDanmark has focused on Asia as a particularly attractive continent for Danish jazz music. A steadily growing middle class combined with an interest in Western culture has led to numerous initiatives across several of the continent’s key countries, with China, Japan, Korea, and India emerging as prominent recipients of various projects over the past 20 years.
China and Japan
In 2024, Japan and China are two of the largest touring markets for Danish jazz. JazzDanmark has positioned itself as a key player and leading partner for exchange projects and initiatives promoting Danish jazz in these two major markets.
Potentials in India and Korea
The newest territories in JazzDanmark’s project portfolio are India and Korea. With their steadily growing, young, and music-interested middle class, these countries present promising development markets for Danish jazz. Major festivals, strong touring opportunities, and the fact that over 90% of the population in large cities has internet access make India and Korea ideal music markets with significant growth potential
Summer Session Kina is a Chinese edition of the traditional Danish jazz event, held annually from 2023 to 2026.
Initiatives in Asia
Japan is, after Germany, the largest international touring market for Danish jazz musicians, measured by the number of applications to JazzDanmark’s grant pool for international transport. Japan has been a focus area for JazzDanmark since 2016.
Selected Projects:
- 2016: Japanese Visitor Program at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival
- 2017: Opposite 2017 – Jazzhouse relocates to Tokyo. [See more on Instagram.]
- 2021: Asia Day 2021 – Mini-conference for musicians interested in Japan, China, and Korea
- 2023: Tokyo Nordic Jazz Festival 2023 – Coordinated initiative in collaboration with the Nordic embassies in Tokyo
- 2025: Sonic Diplomacy: Singalong – Interpretations of the danish folk high school song book targeted at a Japanese audience. Joint project together with Tempi.
In 2019, Asia’s largest jazz festival, the Jarasum International Jazz Festival in Korea, featured Denmark as the focus country, coordinated in collaboration with JazzDanmark. Four ensembles and the DR Big Band traveled to Korea to perform at the major festival and subsequently held concerts across South Korea. This kickstarted a new focus on a country where interest in jazz is on the rise.
Selected Projects:
- 2019: Focus country at Jarasum International Jazz Festival.
- 2022: DKxSMW – Exchange project with the showcase festival Seoul Music Week, featuring 3 Korean bands in Denmark and 3 Danish bands in Korea.
Denmark and India have entered into a comprehensive agreement for a cultural exchange program running until 2026. JazzDanmark is contributing to the program, which aims to support the exchange of Danish and Indian art and culture, as well as collaboration between Danish and Indian cultural institutions and artists. Read about the project.
