Festival will show how electronics has sparked a new era in jazz

Bebop, standard jazz, swing or jazz-rock, these are familiar to Chinese jazz fans but somehow old. Today's jazz also belongs to young musicians, who transform and create new sounds by mixing jazz and electronic music. Former swing artists and DJs find themselves thrown into this "fish-tank" of sounds and offer a creativity that draws younger crowds.

This weekend at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Jazz-E festival, organized by the French company Eyesight Group and Eyesight Media, presents a rich and eclectic variety of artists. The well-known Chinese musicians Dou Wei and the Redhand Jazz Band will be among those who will participate in the festival.

"Jazz is a very popular musical genre in China but its evolution toward electro-jazz is still slow," says Michel Lombardo, producer of the festival.