Ubud Village Jazz Festival

The Ubud Village Jazz Festival is a massive community concert held over two days near Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali.

The festival traces its humble beginnings to 2013, following the gathering of artists in an intimate gathering. The first event featured 20 performances on three platforms over two days, bringing together 100 musicians.

Today, the festival features various types of jazz music by international performers and also runs workshops for budding artists. Visitors can learn more about jazz music and hone their skills with jazz experts during these workshops.

This 10th Year Celebration marked a Come-Back-with-Full-Force, after the worldwide lockdown. A diverse and talented lineup of musicians from around the world and the archipelago came together for the two-day event, bringing you on a journey of musical exploration and discovery. Among them were the very well-known and respected Kevin Hays Trio (USA), along with Pere Bujosa Trio (Spain), Henk Kraajeveld Quintet (The Netherlands), MANNA Trio featuring Indonesian bass living legend Mates, Rio Moreno Latin Combo (Indonesia), Amanda Lee (Singapore), SCAT C.A.T (Canada-Indonesia), Wilson Quah (Malaysia-Indonesia), Second Brain (France),
Yuri Mahatma & Astrid Sulaiman (Indonesia), and the young and gifted pianist Nadine Adriana (Indonesia), to mention a few.

Ubud Village Jazz Festival, an annual event, is made possible by the support of the local Ubud community. Finances from the festival are sourced through sponsors, advertisers, and ticket fees paid by attendees.

Tickets are available online closer to the event, and those buying online will receive a voucher, which can be exchanged at the ticket booth on location.

You can get to Ubud by taxi or private car from Kuta, which will take around 90 minutes. Bali has many metered taxis, particularly in the tourist areas of Denpasar, Kuta, Seminyak, Sanur, Ubud and Nusa Dua. Finding a taxi is extremely easy as taxis usually crawl along the main road, beeping at tourists. Make sure to get a taxi with a meter; look for the Bluebird Group taxis; otherwise, ensure you negotiate a price before getting in. As a guide, a 5km trip will cost around 40,000-50,000 IDR ($4-$5 AUD or $3-$4 USD).

A taxi trip to Ubud can cost up to 400,000-500,000 IDR ($40-$50 AUD). It is, therefore, cheaper to hire a private driver for the day so that they will wait for you and do the return trip.