16 jazz bands from Beijing, Shanghai and other countries like the United States, Russia and Austria will bring a jazz music banquet to Beijing audiences starting from May 25.

The second Beijing Ninegates Jazz Week, which was named after the nine city gates of old Beijing, is part of the Sino-French Cultural Exchanges.

Big names like violinist Didier Lockwood from France, drummer Rony Holan from Israel and veteran jazz pianist Emil Viklicky from Czech Republic are expected to team up with local jazz musicians like Liu Yuan and Xia Jia's band and jazz singer Coco from Shanghai.

New rising starlets like Philipp Nykrin from Austria and funk jazz musician Seligo are also invited to perform at the jazz week.

Last year's jazz week drew in full houses to the Forbidden City Concert Hall for three days.

The organizer, Huang Yong announced that this year's jazz week will last six days at several venues including the Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Anniversary Hall of Peking University and the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy.

Some lectures about jazz music are also scheduled.

According to the organizer, the lowest ticket price is only 30 yuan, allowing more students to attend.
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(CRI.cn May 11, 2007)